A Degree of Insignificance (College Degrees getting to be useless nowadays)

WorldnetDaily ^ | 12/29/2007 | Phyllis Schlafly

[SeekAndFind]

.S. News & World Report, which has made a name for itself by ranking and announcing the best colleges every year, is now ranking and listing the best careers for young people. A comparison of the latest lists shows a shocking disconnect and makes for dispiriting holiday reading.

While the price of a college education has skyrocketed far faster than inflation, many careers for which colleges prepare their graduates are disappearing. U.S. News' Best Careers guide concludes, "college grads might want to consider blue-collar careers" because bachelor's degree holders "are having trouble finding jobs that require college-graduate skills."

Incredibly, U.S. News is telling college graduates to look for jobs that do not require a college diploma. Among the 31 best opportunities for 2008 are the careers of firefighter, hairstylist, cosmetologist, locksmith and security-system technician.

Where did the higher-skill jobs go? Both large and small companies are "quietly increasing off-shoring efforts."

Ten years ago, we were told we really didn't need manufacturing because it can be done more cheaply elsewhere, that auto workers and others should move to information-age jobs. But now the information jobs are moving offshore, too, as well as marketing research and even many varieties of innovation.

The flight overseas includes professional as well as low-wage jobs, with engineering jobs offshored to India and China. Thousands of bright Asian engineers are willing to work for a fraction of U.S. wages, which is why Boeing just signed a 10-year, $1 billion-a-year deal with a government-run company in India.

Society has been telling high school students that college is the ticket to get a life, and politicians are pandering to parents' desire for their children to be better educated and so have a higher standard of living.

[Nahanni]

I guess you missed out on that course in Reality 101.

I am going to guess that you expected representatives of companies showing up at your door with job offers, BMW’s and bonuses like the three wise men just because you got a degree in accounting.

Guess what?

Real life doesn’t work that way.

As to your moaning about there being “no jobs in accounting” I really have to laugh. One of my best friends just happens to be a great accountant and she just snagged a great job (with great benefits) with a Fortune 500 company. Of course she is no where in your league because she is just a “lowly CPA” and doesn’t have a Master’s in accounting. She does, however, live in a place called the real world and knows that you are only going to get what you want by working for it and not expectiong someone to give it to you.

[NVDave]

How very, very, very true.

I’ve got a BS Engineering. Been an engineer. Then became a farmer (where an engineering degree gave me quite a bit of math and analysis background) and out of this succession, I came to realize something:

Young people can make boatloads of money in the hard trades - plumbing, electrician, A&P, diesel mechanic, etc. All of these jobs are increasingly technical, they demand results and they pay (quite handsomely) for results.

A young person getting some real training in any of these fields, then busting their butt will be making $40K to $50K+ after five years (say, by the age of 23 to 24), whereas the typical liberal arts grads will be heavily in debt and have scant prospects for getting a job over $30K right out of school. Financially, there is no question that the typical liberal arts degree from American universities today is an albatross for kids — a huge debt obligation with reduced earnings potential going forward.

Why anyone would allow their kid to go to a high-buck school for something as mundane as a liberal arts degree is beyond me. Parents need to start acting like parents and giving their kids some useful life guidance on this issue.

[SeekAndFind]

Train in a trade (electrical, carpentry, plumbing, HVAC ) and write your own cheque.

If you want a good trade, the ones you just enumerated are good ones to master ( and they can never be outsourced ).

And note, with the advent of the internet, there is no dichotomy between being a good (say) plumber and being an educated plumber. A lot of elite colleges are offering courses for FREE on the internet. See here :

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1945856/posts

So, any motivated person can EDUCATE himself with an internet connection. Good Ol' Abe Lincoln would have loved to see this day instead of having to educate himself the old fashion way ( reading by candlelight ).

[bella1]

“No one seems to have told the Georgia Dept. of Ed., which thinks all students should be on college tracks, or the districts that are reducing vo-tech offerings...but it’s gonna be hard to outsource plumbers, electricians, and automobile repairmen, I think.”

every plumber, electrician and auto repairman i know lives an upper middle class life. I told my son that if he wanted a secure job, become a plumber!

[bella1]

maybe you don’t interview well. Anyone can look good on paper, but the interview is make or break.

[bill1952]

firefighter, hairstylist, cosmetologist, locksmith and security-system technician

All of which produce and manufacture nothing at all.

Pure service sector.

[OCCASparky]

Oh, BS. Engineering/tech jobs will ALWAYS be in demand, especially now with the resurgence of nuclear power.

I work in a technical (non-engineering) position with a utility yet my degree gives me the ability to deal with the engineers on a level basis.

Oh, and did I mention that I make a HELLUVA LOT MORE than most college grads, especially the liberal arts weenies?

Problem is, too many kids want to sit in a comfy corner office sipping coffee and going to meetings all day. They've been programmed to believe the world is all rocket scientists and no ditch-diggers rather than the other way around.

If education were REALLY doing its job, it would be steering the kids who aren't going to be good fits in college into hands-on tech or trade programs rather than setting them up for failure their freshman year of college. The average 18-year old might not think my job is very impressive, but it's a lot better than reading the want ads.

[bill1952]

Most definitely.

If he has been accepted to both and the funds are there, then the choice is clear.

[OCCASparky]

Bingo--like I stated earlier, it may not require a college degree to do my job (actually, most utilities ask for an AS for a relay position) but it helps when dealing with engineers.

School counselors take pride in telling everyone how many of their seniors go on to college. Problem is, they never tell you how many STAY there. (Hint: Nearly half drop out by the end of their FRESHMAN year.)

Some of it is because they're not prepared--why not? Why didn't the school recognize that a kid with a 900 SAT isn't the best choice for a 4-year college and instead push them towards a skilled trade which pays a heck of a lot more in many cases than entry-level positions?

[bill1952]

Are you a troll or just another example of why employer pre screening of a prospective employee’s paper is so damn important today.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve told an applicant to put his paper away and talk to me.

You would be the epitome of that concern.

[OCCASparky]

Perhaps it's because they're Duke engineering grads, not NC State engineering grads...

Q: What do most NC State/Duke/UNC engineering grads say at work?

A: Would you like fries with that, sir?

(Go Jackets!)

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

I do appreciate Freeper help on this issue. He spent 3 weeks at a ISU summer math program the summer before last, and three weeks at the Catapult program at Rose Hulman this summer. He loved both of them but when I asked him which one he would really like to go to, he did like Rose Hulman.

The really good news in all this is from a personal standpoint that he adapted and did beautifully at both. It's not going to be easy cutting the apron strings and see him fly on his own but he will do it. God has been unbelievably good to Adam and our family.

[OCCASparky]

When I was a HS senior, I took several classes with a truly gifted young man who did the Catapult program as well (this was the early 80's) and couldn't say enough about it.

Unfortunately I didn't stay the entire year there, so I didn't find out where he ended up going--but he was looking at RH, MIT, or CalTech. Suffice to say he did well wherever he went. And here I had to settle for two years at Ga Tech before I went broke and joined the Navy. I should complain about going to a "lower" school like GT (BTW--it's not. Trust me.)

[seoul62]

Congratulations, but why did he not apply to my husband’s alma mater: Cooper Union - they are tuition free!!!!!! They are also a nationwide-well-known engineering school./Just Asking - seoul62.......

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

My Father graduated as an electrical engineer from “Rose Polytechnic” as it was known then. Therefore, I am partial to it. (In 1971, Rose Polytechnic was renamed Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.)

From Wikipedia:

Rankings & Reputation

As of 2007, the institute has been ranked first in its category (engineering colleges whose highest degree offered is a Bachelors’s or Master’s) by U.S. News & World Report for nine consecutive years (2000-2008). (In both of the most recent years it was tied with Harvey Mudd College.) Each individual program assessed has also been ranked first since the magazine has published individual rankings. These programs are the chemical, civil, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering programs.[8]

Other publications giving Rose-Hulman high marks include: Newsweek, Fiske, Peterson’s, Barron’s, and The Princeton Review.[9]

[Amelia]

If education were REALLY doing its job, it would be steering the kids who aren't going to be good fits in college into hands-on tech or trade programs rather than setting them up for failure their freshman year of college.

A number of my students would prefer the German model, which steers kids either into an apprenticeship or a college prep track after 8th grade -- and they'd much rather be in the apprenticeship, learning how to do a real skill, than sitting in the classroom.

Unfortunately, too many of the adults in charge (as well as the parents) think we should be training them all for college instead.

[visualops]

HVAC is very much in demand.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I see that I repeated what you repeated above...information from Wikipedia.

Good. We are on the same track.

[OCCASparky]

HVAC is very much in demand.

And as long as you flip on a lightswitch, I'll have a job.

[LadyNavyVet]

I don’t know about the Army, but the Navy will recruit someone with a degree directly into an officer program. With a high enough grade on the test and a good physical, one can go directly to OCS.

Also, I understand from friends that FedGov is hiring civilian aquisition types. Apparently they’re very shorthanded. An accounting degree sounds appropriate for that.