I was an English major when they still taught English, and it has served me very well in my chosen profession for almost fifty years.
However, had I studied lumpen-Marxism, hooking up, and smoking dope, I’m not sure I would have done as well.
Using Florida’s prepaid college program my son graduated F.A.U. With a business degree.
He is4 months away from his M.B.A. International bid ness and says he will Never be able to thank his mom and I cause he owes not a dime.
Author makes a number of valid arguments, but misses the point that traditional college is not the only way to obtain the same value.
These "academics" certainly are full of themselves!
So?......How much more over a lifetime does someone with an IQ above 115 earn in a lifetime with or without a college degree?
Charles Murray's work points out that the minimum needed to have any reasonable chance of graduating from college is an IQ of 115 and much higher for the STEM courses.
Intelligence and drive ( not the college degree) are likely the key ingredients in how much a person earns.
This week in my class in Design we needed to hand in our first project. One young woman was in tears. Her project did not meet the specifications for size. I spoke with her during break. She told me that she does not know how to measure using a ruler or tape measure. Fractions and decimals are a mystery. What? Measure 1.5 inches from the top and 2 inches from the bottom? She couldn't do it.
This young woman's goal is to be a graphic designer. There is NO NO NO possible way she can reach that goal without a complete reeducation in basic arithmetic. The college is taking money from a student that has no hope of completing the program without major remedial courses . She is accumulating debt on her hopeless quest.
My conclusion: Colleges are a racket and, in this girl's case, it will be the taxpayers who will get the final bill.
So, the intangible value of a college education versus the tangible cost of same. The ROI appears to be very bad.
Kids coming out of high school 50 years ago were probably more educated that (some) college graduates today.
The value of education cannot be overestimated, but there are many ways to educate yourself. The biggest benefit of education is the ability to think critically about the world. Those who hide behind dogma and try to fit the entire world into their box of perception are intellectually lazy and short-sighted. The big advances in science, industry and technology come from people who think differently about how things are and how they can be, and they do not necessarily have a college degree. Rather, what they all have is a mind that is open to possibilities.
That said, formal higher education is worth a great deal if it teaches you to actually think.
That may be true for people who went to college a lifetime ago.
But given the exorbitant increase in tuition costs over that "lifetime," and the transformation of colleges during that "lifetime" into idiot factories that mainly teach racism and left wing indoctrination, I don't think the "lifetime" statistic has any relevance at all.
In fact, I think it's downright misleading, because it has nothing to do with the modern college experience.
If it didn’t come with Marxist indoctrination the writer may have a point.
I went to college (45 years ago) to get an education and never viewed college as vocational training. But I was serious about getting a real education and took the hard courses in science, mathematics and economics. My education served me well.
The majors in Sociology, Black Studies, Elementary Education, Gender Theory and the like are a complete waste of time and money. They are simply the “path of least resistance”, and employers know that. I have no idea why parents allow their kids to waste 4 years on such drivel.
government has no place in education...
everything it touches becomes MORE EXPENSIVE AND INEFFICIENT...AND corrupt
Conservatives with a college education can count the number of votes in an election.
Liberals with a college education can tell you how to get more people to vote for the Democrat candidate in an election.
A college education is less about what you learn than about who you establish relationships with. That is why a degree from one of the ivy league, elite schools is worth more. It is not because the education is superior. It is because of the people you connect with.
What high schools need are shop classes.
http://profoundlydisconnected.com/foundation/
The mikeroweWORKS Foundation promotes hard work and supports the skilled trades in a variety of areas. We award scholarships to men and women who have demonstrated an interest in and an aptitude for mastering a specific trade. The mikeroweWORKS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The Foundation’s focus is on supporting the specific skilled trades that help close the Country’s skills gap and those that represent the significant bulk of our unfilled jobs.
The Foundation has participated in more than $2.5 million awarded in scholarships to schools around the country, including Midwest Technical Institute, Tulsa Welding School, The Refrigeration School and Universal Technical Institute.