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.

[cgbg]

Given the low quality of CPA firm audits that I have seen lately you may be right that they have "outsourced" the work.

It would be nice if they had a human being touch and sniff a client's general ledger now and then.

:-)

[reg45]

An accountant without a CPA is like a lawyer that has not passed the bar exam.

[Cvengr]

There has been a globalist push over the past 60 years to send the professions overseas. With the advent of the computer age, we today live in an economy where the fruits of professional service are nearly procurable from off-the-shelf, over-the-counter products.

At present, steady working tradesmen will probably out produce the profesional in services rendered for cost, and in the next decade will probably receive most of the market share.

Unfortunately, systemwide catastrophic failures foreseeable by professional acumen, standards, and methodologies are not so intuitive to the tradesman. When they occur, and they will, it still remains to be seen if the professional will return to their prominence, or if society will simply adapt by throwing away the failed system to rebuild from scratch.

Without the professional, society will function fine, provided enough resources are available to squander on such a system. IMHO, time will tell.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

A college degree means what a high school diploma once meant in terms of knowledge of the basics like simple math and English. More often than not, a college degree means that the recipient was forced through indocrination to believe that all Whites are racist, the USA is fundamentally evil and racist, communism is the way to go, gay is great and God is no more.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

If my friend is any measure, high school teachers put in long hours before and after class preparing lesson plans, grading homework and the like. She spends at last 2 hours on this every weekend evening and and 5-6 hours on weekends, and says that many of her co-workers do the same. Pretty hard to stay unmotivated do this for very long for 32-35K the first few years when you are also facing an uphill battle to teach students who are often apathetic or hostile to educations, and battling two bureaucracies at the same time.

Another thing about those low starting salaries: they make it VERY difficult to attract older individuals from other carries once they have undertaken family financial responsibilities.

what do education majors expect?....to be paid like they are nuclear engineers?...

Someone who has the intelligence and educational background to be a really good high school biology, physics or chemistry instructor CAN by an engineer or industrial chemist or bio-tech researcher. If you want people of equivalent ability, you need to provide them with equivalent pay.

(BTW, present day "nuclear engineering" is regarded by much of the engineering profession as a field populated largely by second-raters, a line of work you go into if you can't handler the tough stuff.)

[Cvengr]

I’ve been in similar circumstances, and worse. My best recommendation is to use this time as an opportunity to make sure you have a relationship with God on His terms. Keep it simple. Simple faith alone in Christ alone and let Him guide your way.

From eternity past, He has had a plan for your life. From eternity past He has prepared to provide logistical grace for every believer who remains in faith through Him and explicitly yourself.

If doors are constantly being closed, even when you are in faith and fellowship with Him, that is a strong indicator that you are not at the right place at the right time to meet His planned place to use your resources, but might also be positioning you in body, soul and spirit to perform where He wants you.

Nobody has to accept that plan, but there is nowhere to run to if one wants to evade Him. He will allow people to run away, but they won’t get anywhere for any significant time.

For every suffering persevered through faith in Him, there is a blessing. On the contrary, without remaining in fellowship with Him, any blessing might become a cursing.

God loves to use the down and out, the meek and disadvantaged, the poor and needy, to demonstrate to the entire Creation His magnificent love and grace.

Bitterness will only damage yourself and scar your thinking processes to further reject love for our fellow man, even when it is justifiable.

Remember, no matter what the situation, He has known exactly from eternity past what your situation is, has been, and will be and has a plan prepared for your best interests. A winner will always place Him first, and let Him handle the situation.

FWIW, the most miserable people I have ever met, have been the some of the most wealthy, influential, and worldly successful people I’ve seen. Riches, power, and order are not excluded from the righteous, but as objects of our focus, they become cursings.

It is possible to be joyous without happiness and that is far more valuable than worldly treasures.

[antisocial]

“Without the professional, society will function fine, provided enough resources are available to squander on such a system. IMHO, time will tell.”

I’m amazed at this thread. I’ve read the entire thing an have not seen one mention of the nursing profession. Almost anyone can get a BS in nursing and have their education paid for by a local hospital, with the agreement to work there for five years. Around here RNs can start out around $50K and after their five year obligation, there are almost unlimited jobs for them in many different specialties.

[avacado]

"I recently received a Master’s Degree in Accounting and I cannot find a good job. The degree seems to be worthless. I think George Bush eliminated the accounting jobs and outsourced them to India. He has been such a disaster for the USA. I voted for him twice and I now I realize that he sold out the USA. I can’t wait till I never have to hear the name Bush again. (the only thing I got from the degree is a great big student loan to repay. I did not receive any of the money, the shyster college kept getting loans for me and taking the money for tuition. The teachers at my college sucked! I cannot pay the loans because I cannot get a job.)"

You have got to be kidding me! You have that degree and cannot find a job? In Houston unemployment is 3.8% and you'll be able to entertain multiple job offers. What city are you looking for work? And Bush has been good for the economy. Your story sounds like you might be a liberal.

[dljordan]

“I work in IT, and a college degree for an IT person is nearly useless. As a matter of fact the more educated people have been that Ive worked with over the years, the less ‘smart’ they are about the job.”

I’ve seen the same thing. I took an Associates Degree from a no-nonsense technical school in 79’. I had started in IT back in 76’ and just got laid off from IBM in May after my account was off-shored to Brazil. I’ve spent 25 years in IT and some of the absolute best nerds I’ve seen haven’t had a degree. In my department we hired several recent college grads but none of them wanted to stay because the work was just too complicated (mainframe storage administration) almost all of us were over 50. I watched IBM lay off some very good, loyal workers and fill their positions with H1B’s from India saying they just couldn’t find American workers to fill the positions.

[Jim Noble]

politicians are pandering to parents' desire for their children to be better educated and so have a higher standard of living

In a free market (no loans, no affirmative action, highly competitive college admissions) degree holders have higher incomes because there are no lazy, stupid, loser degree holders.

As government action increases the number of lazy, stupid, loser degree holders, the standard of living of degree holders falls.

What's surprising about that?

[bert]

That at least is the school propaganda.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

Sorry, two typos completely changed the meaning of that post, SHOULD be:

-------

If my friend is any measure, high school teachers put in long hours before and after class preparing lesson plans, grading homework and the like. She spends at last 2 hours on this every weekday evening and and 5-6 hours on weekends, and says that many of her co-workers do the same. Pretty hard to stay motivated do this for very long for 32-35K the first few years when you are also facing an uphill battle to teach students who are often apathetic or hostile to education and battling two bureaucracies at the same time.

Another thing about those low starting salaries: they make it VERY difficult to attract older individuals from other carries once they have undertaken family financial responsibilities.

"what do education majors expect?....to be paid like they are nuclear engineers?..."

Someone who has the intelligence and educational background to be a really good high school biology, physics or chemistry instructor CAN by an engineer or industrial chemist or bio-tech researcher. If you want people of equivalent ability, you need to provide them with equivalent pay.

(BTW, present day US "nuclear engineering" is regarded by much of the engineering profession as a field populated largely by second-raters, a line of work you go into if you can't handle the tough stuff.)

[AndyJackson]

BTW, present day US "nuclear engineering"is regarded by much of the engineering profession as a field populated largely by second-raters

BTW this changed. The demand in industry is expanding and there are a lot of opportunities now. Even radicals are beginning to understand that it is the only alternative to coal and the business is looking up - and picking up.

[AndyJackson]

the work was just too complicated (mainframe storage administration)

You flatter yourself unjustifiably. NO reasonably intelligent degreed engineer is going to want to do THAT.

[Alberta's Child]

I have long said that a college education is a complete waste of time unless it is accompanied by a dedicated improvement in personal "life skills" that aren't learned in the classroom. Things like simple common sense, communication skills, a good work ethic, etc. are all too often missing from today's college graduates.

In fact, I would suggest that the pursuit of a bachelor's degree on a full-time basis right out of high school probably reduces a person's ability to compete in the job market when he/she gets into their mid-20s.

[Alberta's Child]

A college degree gives you nothing but a “foot in the door.” The rest is up to your own personal initiative.

Very good point.

[Alberta's Child]

My grandson has been accepted at Iowa State and Rose Hulman. He will be studying engineering. Is the degree from Rose Hulman worth that much more than the degree from Iowa State?

Your grandson has a very interesting -- and important -- decision to make here. He should keep in mind that he should be comparing not only the schools themselves, but the departments within the schools in his area of study. And he should realize that there IS a financial side to this decision, too.

I had to make a similar decision when I was accepted into several engineering schools -- basically between a public and private school (the private one had the better reputation). Ultimately, I made up my mind after speaking to a family friend who had attended the private engineering school some years earlier.

He basically said it wasn't worth the higher cost to attend the private school . . . because for about the same amount of money an undergraduate degree from the private school would cost, I could get an undergraduate degree from the state school AND a master's degree from a top engineering program (MIT, Stanford, etc.).

[Alberta's Child]

I don't know you at all, but a sense a serious lack of maturity in your post. No wonder you can't get a job despite having a master's degree in accounting.

I would suggest you go out and get any kind of job you can -- even if it's outside your field of study. It will teach you some humility and help you develop a good work ethic, and hopefully you'll ultimately find your way back onto your career path in the long run.

[Alberta's Child]

Confirm that with daughter about to graduate with MS Mech Eng; one (large) company has been practically begging her to quit school and come to work NOW.

That's a great position for her to be in. I started work as an intern while I was still an undergraduate in engineering school, and my company offered me enough money to work full-time that I finished school at night. When I finally graduated I was one step ahead of my fellow graduates and several steps ahead of the students I would have graduated with several years earlier.

[Fawn]

I think you might be holding out for alot of money or something and just not accepting jobs. If you have to start out as a clerk or bookkeeper then you should do it. You aren’t just going to pop into a high paying accounting job....get your foot in a door. You can’t blame Bush for your high expectations.