Pretty soon, no longer....
Posted on 07/09/2021 8:24:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
“The world needs ditch diggers, too!: ;-)
Hell, I didn’t pay off my stupid columbia U loans for a poltical science degree until I was in my 40’s. Most useless thing I ever did. I have done many a useless things. After four years of high school and four years of college—I knew how to do precisely one thing that had some employment possibilities. Type.
I learned to type in high school. In college I learned to do essentially nothing that was gainful.
College students are stupid. Really stupid. Few understood how really preditory the universities were becoming even back in the day
He wasn’t thinking. Rather he was living in the church of what’s happening right now.
WOW! Better be UN-hackable!
I thought I would toss in some perspective here.
I lived my life as an “artist” for 15 years after a career in telecommunications and banking. I built a sports photography business from the ground up—until I was billing deep into 6 figures annually. It was fun and very hard work.
My daughter has both an undergrad BFA and an MFA. She has degrees in, of all things “ceramic Arts” and “American Craft Design and Art.” Both of those degrees were from top 5 schools. She has a modest amount of student debt—much less than the national average.
We’ve had these conversations about the “value” of her degree. Her takeaway is that she knew EXACTLY what she was going to do with her degree; and she is doing it. She teaches and has a residency that provides a stipend. It covers all of her bills.
What she also recognized—because of watching me build a company and clientele, is that this is very, very hard work. You don’t make any money for literally years. She understood this and knew it going in.
Her peers are a different story. They are, generally, a bunch of nice—but very “woke” kids, who think the world is going to rush to their doors and buy their “vagina plates” or videos of “assholes.” (Two things I experienced at her grad shows from her friends.) These are creative kids, and they are talented—but they will never make a living with that stuff.
My daughter’s husband is also an artist. He has 2 MFAs. He focuses in metal work. One of his residencies was at Kohler, helping them design new faucet concepts. Very high end stuff. He has been out of school five years and has a ton of debt.
He worked for years teaching, doing residencies, selling small pieces and “building a reputation. He finally hit it big with a show at Design Miami a couple of years ago.
Now, he works his ass off (60-80 hours a week) building pieces and selling them for $35k a pop. And he has orders to last him another year. His stuff is in galleries and museums literally all over the world (NY, Paris, and soon, the Far East.)
So, there are two people with “worthless” degrees. Between the two of them, their income would put them near the $250k level. They are paying their bills. They bought a home and are putting money away at an alarming rate—because they both understand how fickle the art world is.
They make stuff people want. They are doing their “art”, but they understand they have to “live.”
What art schools DON’T do well is explain the “business” end of this stuff. They do not work with the students to develop their career path. They do not explain taxes, and how to write grants (there is a ton of grant money out there.)
So, long story short—there are many people with these “worthless degrees” who do fine.
But seriously, when my daughter told us what she wanted to do, I turned to my wife and said, “She is never leaving home.” On the contrary, she stared her “art” journey and has never looked back.
A friend of mine got a Bachelors in Philosophy. He was going to get an office and put a sign on the door that said “TRUTH” and hope people would come in to get some truth. And now all he says is “Do you want fried with that?”
Most thoughtful post I've seen in years... and you've helped create artists with the skills to transition their art from their private studios to the world. Hats off to you Vermont Lt. You're daughter was blessed having you as a father...and you blessed having her...
“If the student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy, then lenders will be very hesitant to loan money to students pursuing degrees that will not allow them to repay. “
The federal government took over the student loan program from banks in 2012 during the Obama administration. The taxpayer is on the hook in the event of default, or the president deciding to arbitrarily cancel college loan debt.
A close relative of mine told me that all of her friends, and other students at her college, believed that Obama would give them free college and erase whatever debt they had already acquired for tuition. A huge pool of voters that helped the commie dems elect Obama. Whatever degree a student is going for is no concern of mine, or matters to me if I do not see the value of it. What does concern me and other taxpayers is the idea that somehow we are to foot the bill for the mountain of debt that has been racked up at our expense.We have our own dreams to follow that we do not expect others to pay for.
Barry Diller, head of two Hollywood studios just said that movies are dying.
Do you suppose he knows something all those debtor children do not?
Well I guess mortgaging the family farm for that Masters Degree in Interpretive Afro-Haitian Dance just isn’t going to translate into the corner office and $400,000 a year. Bummer dude.
Stupid kid. Should have learned plumbing.
Plumbers make great money.
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