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.

[Alberta's Child]

A Duke University publication suggests that the best prospect for good engineering jobs is for the U.S. government to start another major project like going to the moon.

This probably explains why 40% of their engineering graduates can't find work in their field of study. The notion that college graduates are reliant on massive government spending initiatives for employment is indicative of an attitude I would have expected to find among middle-school students.

[Barnacle]

That’s certainly not true in the tech/engineering world.

That's what you think. My cousin has 16 years experience as an EE and can't find work.

It's all gone to China and India thanks to international mindset and greed of American corporations and government.

[Alberta's Child]

The son of one of my co-workers has earned somewhere around $150,000 this year working as an HVAC technician. He could have earned more, but he refused to work on Sundays.

There's plenty of money to be made out there for reasonably bright, dedicated high school graduates if you get into the right field.

[Alberta's Child]

There is a dirty little secret out in the world, certain big companies are hiring MS or better only. The reason being with grade inflation, a BA is BS.

You might be right about companies hiring MS or better, but not for this reason. My experience is that grade inflation is more of a problem in graduate school than on the undergraduate level. Many graduate students who attend on a part-time basis are having some or all of their costs covered by their current employers, and these employers usually require a grade of B or better in order to have their costs reimbursed. Instructors know this, and grade their students accordingly.

[Alberta's Child]

A degree is only as useful as the skill(s) it represents. Degrees can be devalued just like anything else. Most people don't benefit from the modern college degree. They'd have been better off learning a trade. Their time in college is just to further delay adulthood.

Excellent post.

[MarkL]

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.)

Yup!!! George Bush personally rounded up all the accounting jobs and sent them to India!

I'd wager that the contents of this post is far more likely the reason you can't get a job as an accountant than President Bush outsourcing all the accounting jobs...

Hey, I hear Pizza Hut is looking for delivery-people...

Mark

[MarkL]

In the mean time, the student loan people are sending me letters everyday wondering where the money that they sent to the college for my tuition is.

Are you saying that you paid your own tuition, AND the college took loans in your name for the tuition, effectively double-billing you? If so, I'd contact your state AG office for fraud.

Mark

[MarkL]

Bush even outlawed telemarketing

You show a remarkable misunderstanding of the political system of the USA...

They are maximizing profits for the shareholders.

Ummm.... This is the job of the corporation... If they didn't, they (the board and other officers) could be held liable for fiduciary malfeasance by the shareholders, who happen to actually own the corporation. No wonder you can't get a job in accounting... I'd suggest you keep away from financial services for a job... Can you even make change?

Their opinion is to screw the American Worker.

Troll alert, Troll alert!

Mark

[MarkL]

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

I used to work with a guy who graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering, and when he got out, it was one of those "down cycles" where he just couldn't find a job... Through a family connection he was able to get into an electrician intern program, and keeping his degree a secret, eventually became a journeyman electrician. Now, he's constantly being bombarded by job offers from all over the country. Being both an electrical engineer AND an electrician!

Mark

[Young Scholar]

I’ve seen it enough to know it’s true for some schools. But it would be worthwhile to check a few employment stats for a prospective college before paying for a degree.

[rwfromkansas]

It can be bad.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Your Statement: "Much of the intellectual property required to actually make good product left our companies with those laid-off workers."

Response: A major point. I would put it as the destruction of human capital.

[rwfromkansas]

See, this is why these articles are confusing. One article says computer science is impossible to find a good-paying job in anymore. Another article says you still can easily.

Who knows what the heck the truth is????

[razorback-bert]

I have been told this by some major oil company recruiters, the students have passed the grad school test and the recruiters can read their dissertation and interview the professors.

By reading the dissertations the recruiters can tell how well the students present their ideas and most important that the students can read and write functionally.

[rwfromkansas]

Teaching is much more difficult than people think. Take it from this first-year middle school teacher.

We need that summer off to try to prepare for the next year to make it better.

The kids insult you, make fun of you, and are nasty as all get out......and I am at a “good” school.

Thank heavens I get to start all over in January, and I think it will be much better.

I hope so. I don’t know what I would do next year...go back to school and do something I actually would make money in I guess. I don’t know how my wife and I would survive though.

I really felt called to teach, and the money wasn’t an issue...we get by just fine. But, some days are just pure hell.

[rwfromkansas]

Pay doesn’t go up quickly at all unless you get a doctorate.

Even that isn’t that quickly.

Otherwise, all you get are little cost of living increases.

[RochesterFan]

Education degrees are not certificates of attendance. The anti-teacher attitude in this forum astounds me.

Correct. However, in general, an education degree is much less rigorous than a degree in a traditional major (history, math, chemistry, physics, etc.) with an education minor. Far too many ill-conceived theories come from education departments.

For example, here in Rochester we have seen some really foolish math education plans that have been a disaster. No teacher I know says, "How can I make this dry and boring." However, in many cases there is no substitute for hard work to solve what we called "the problem sets from hell" that are required for a student to master the material.

Far too many American youth resist this because it is not fun. These youth need to be reminded that there are numerous Indians, Koreans, and Chinese students who are all to happy to do the hard work and take the limited skilled jobs that are available in this global economy. Our youth are going to kick themselves when they are adults, trying to support families in poor paying retail jobs. After a while, asking, "Would you like fries with that?" is a very boring way to make a meager living.

[dljordan]

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

I’m sorry, I was referring to IT specialists and not engineering. No, I don’t think I flatter myself unjustifiably as it takes years to gain the knowledge to do the job and you wind up working 50 - 70 hours a week. Ibm and most large corporations don’t hire idiots and entrust them with billions of dollars worth of data. Most of the young people we hired transferred to server operations or San design which is not as difficult.

[OCCASparky]

(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.)

I beg to differ. Find some of those folks and have them drop by my office sometime.

Sincerely,
Former Navy Nuke/BSAST/nuclear power plant worker

[Vision]

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.

You can't find a job because you don't think straight.