Posted on 07/31/2013 7:46:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
For years we've heard the propaganda line that everyone needs to go to college -- that a degree will improve your status and standard of living.
It has become politically incorrect to even suggest that a higher education degree might not be right for every young American. So it's not surprising that those without a college degree often feel inferior and marginalized.
Has a college degree become the litmus test for whether a person is well educated and successful? These highly successfully individuals would likely disagree with that premise.
Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Simon Cowell, Barry Diller, Ted Turner, Ralph Lauren, Governor Jan Brewer, Governor Scott Walker, Governor Gary Herbert, Peter Jennings, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, William Safire, Larry King, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Woody Allen, Karl Rove, and 33 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
What do they all have in common? Not one received a college degree!
A college degree has long been considered the golden ticket to a more fulfilling life both financially and intellectually. Now the bloom seems to be off the rose. Students are graduating, armed with a politically-driven pseudo education, to find themselves jobless or underemployed, debt ridden, and perhaps living again with parents.
Political leaders, college presidents, and prominent foundations argue that the U.S. must increase the proportionate number of adults with college degrees if it is to remain competitive in the global economy. But this premise is incompatible with the cold facts.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I agree with the other poster, mate. I survived at least two (un-named) Depressions when I was working in Silicon Valley, and during some of the most difficult periods, I frequently had Engineers working for Me as Temps with BS degrees, and more PhD's than you would believe working in Production and Product Repair.
For some reason, the more advanced the degree, the more they would just bloody suck at figuring out how to fix something...
They forge the licenses. Falsifying documents is a big industry around here. Our local employers are some of the biggest crooks you’ll ever meet. They don’t check the paperwork very carefully.
That’s right.
Also, the 1%’ers had discovered a way to pass on training expenses to the taxpayers.
Point being, I was working toward a real degree, but having some "fun" classes, too.
When else in your life are you going to get that opportunity?
Problem is when someone gets an asinine degree like Women's Studies, or Political Science. Unless you say, go to law school, what kind of job do you THINK you're going to get?
“It has become politically incorrect to even suggest that a higher education degree might not be right for every young American.”
This is more true than most folks know. Even cognitively challenged young people are encouraged to go to college.
For example: “More youths with mental disabilities going to college”, article in USA Today. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-10-16-disability-college_N.htm
Charles Murray, whose research on this topic is definitive, is correct: The BA degree is (usually) the work of the devil.
Do you have an engineering degree? If so, the OP says it, "...is noting (sic) but a piece of paper for stupid people to hide behind and claim superiority."
Do you really think that is the case for all degrees and all people who earn them?
...and that anyone who does is an idiot.
Not all degrees and all people fall into that category, however I CAN state categorically that far too many of them do indeed have a barely room-temp level of cognition.
Even, later, being tasked with looking over Resumes for prospective hires, I was astounded at times what I saw (pre- Pentium computers and Spellcheck) there, and during personal interviews, just the lack of (not-so) common sense unconsciously displayed.
University of Hue? What are the school colors? All of them?
I understand what you both posted. Even many non tech jobs require a 4 year degree. Much of the degree won’t be applied in the job, but HR uses it as a skimming criteria.
I think that far too many people get degrees. I went to University for engineering, where a four/five year degree is necessary. If someone is majoring in “nonsense” then they shouldn’t pay for college. There are tons of free resources to educate oneself.
Kind of like Zeros -"Officers", for you non-military types. More than you would believe are indeed 'perfumed princes', from 'upper class' families or politically-connected ones, there to create a history for their careers or because it was expected of them before they returned to civilian life and became VP of Daddy's Company or went off to Washington DC, with little patience for us enlisted lowlifes.
Some, however, truly cared -and they were the ones we knew were the kind we would always follow unquestioningly. Their sense of selflessness and honor just made it impossible to do otherwise.
Ever heard of Bob Pease? He is just as eccentric in person, perhaps even more so, than he came across in print. Talking to the man, however, he definitely knew his stuff. Just the things he came up with off the top of his head during a conversation made you reconsider what you knew of electronics more often than you would believe.
“Ever work around engineers?”
Many. You’re just perpetuating an untrue stereotype. Some lack common sense, but most engineers are bright, motivated, and hard working.
Note: you’re = your
pet peeve
auto correct... pet peeve
as far as not following career path in the Dakotas, well you’d be shocked to find that there are professional jobs in the Dakotas. I’m in Texas but this might interest you if you have an emergency medicine skill set.
http://www.comphealth.com/thirdparty/?jobid=742998&source=Indeed-pd-phys
same with petroleum engineer, and other skills that are under represented but needed in an emerging economy.
I have a buddy that is a software developer that is living next to Denali in Alaska and loves it there.
My point was that you(or anybody) has to look around for a job that may be in areas that might not seem obvious at first but may be a place that you make a living, get experience and open up other opportunities. If someone wants to live in one spot then good for them. Free country etc.... live where you want, but sometimes the jobs and money are in areas of the country that at first might seem out of the way or harsh but might be just the thing for a person to gain in experience and money.
Actually, I'm not so sure about lawyers. Thomas Jefferson “read the law” for his legal education under the supervision of a tutor. In Virginia and a few other states, at least until very recently, you could still do that ... although the American Bar Association monopoly didn't like it.
I'm very skeptical about online education or other forms of self-directed study for the vast majority of people. Yes, there are curricula for which it might make sense and, yes, there are highly motivated, self-starters who have the discipline to follow through with it. But for most people, and I include myself in that group, I doubt that it would work very well.
Lost In Seattle...
A helicopter was flying around above Seattle when an electrical malfunction
disabled all of the aircraft’s electronic navigation and communications
equipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the
helicopter’s position and course to steer to the airport.
The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten
sign, and held it in the helicopter’s window. The pilot’s sign said ‘WHERE
AM I?’ in large letters.
People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large
sign, and held it in a building window. Their sign said ‘YOU ARE IN A
HELICOPTER.’
The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map, determined the course to steer
to SEATAC airport, and landed safely.
After they were on the ground, the copilot asked the pilot how the ‘YOU ARE
IN A HELICOPTER’ sign helped determine their position.
The pilot responded ‘I knew that had to be the MICROSOFT building because
they gave me a technically correct, but completely useless answer.’
Wanna try again?
A single anecdote is hardly proof of anything.
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