Not so sure about this. I think the Ivy Leagues are going to lose their reputation in 10-20 years.
Good post. Thank you. Anyone know if there's a financial / stock market ping list on Free Republic? I've been looking for one.
Invest that $100 grand plus into the Dow Industrial index and your child can retire by the time they are 50. And he or she won't need a high paying, high stress job.
Alternate path = 2yrs at the local J.C. & a $100,000 down payment on a Cat D8, etc.
better return
faster return
no workplace drama/trauma
in charge of one's destiny.
Democrats need not apply !
Rightly or wrongly, there is a certain amount of credibility one has, even in "non-credentialed" fields like those above, that a degree brings. A non-degreed person may very well be as or more intelligent than one with a degree. But that non-degreed one will find it harder to be accepted professionally, as his or her peers that went to college will say, "what do you know about <-fill in the blank->?"
Wanna take a class at Cal? MIT? Stanford? They're FREE
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm
http://itunes.stanford.edu/
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses/index.php
Interesting.
Considering what is going on in these days (see Horowitz, The Professors), I see zero (or perhaps even negative) value in a so-called "liberal arts" degree. Sooner or later, the public will wake up to this reality, one would hope. Then the looney "professors" will have to find another scam.
Engineering and science is another matter, of course.
Elite liberal arts schools are not worth the money because they stopped hiring professors based on merit but rather skin color and gender, forcing the best and brightest to seek employment elsewhere.
Its REALLY gotten me thinking as well....
Is education a free market? apparently not. Like healthcare, its regulated, protected, subsidized and pampered. Which is why its product prices dont reflect their true value in a more competitive environment.
I too think the overrated 4 yr college education craze will fall by the wayside. I don't quite think that art=fart but can see why people who do, do. The liberal arts education offered today is plain atrccious.
bttt
My husband has three college degrees, one BS and two MS's. He used the first one to fill out the paper work to get into the AF then never used it again. The first MS was to satisfy AF promotion boards; never used. The last MS was for his own edification and enjoyment. He has used it where he could. He and I agree college is highly overrated. Employers in techie fields(my husband's career)don't care if you know what a computer is; they want to know if you can run one (IE experience).
A college education USED to PROVE that you had "sticktoitiveness" and persistence.....AND that you had a certain amount of stamina.....today, in liberal arts that's NOT true, and in some other areas, also. Like someone else said....communication and math abilities along with a willingness to work hard and learn are keys to success....NOT a college education.
Aside from fields where you need to know specific skills and knowledge such as engineering and science for example, what do you really need to function well in the world? Math and literate English skills, much of which you can learn before college. I don't even know if kids need 12 years of schooling before college or work.
Good manners, geography, history. Self-confidence, discipline, persistance, hard work. Ethics, common sense.
Can they teach people to think? Can they teach people pragmatism and reality?
There are intangible benefits to going to a good college. A good education is not all about money. It is about enhancing one's overall quality of life.
Though I should be able to break into banking eventually, it may take several more years for me because of this.
I think that a four-year degree will continue to be vital to success -- especially if it is from a top Chinese university or from one of the Indian Institutes of Technology.