College grads become 'boomerangs,' return home after graduation (How will they afford Commiecare™?)

NBC 17 ^ | 5/13/11 | Justin Quesinberry

[RipSawyer]

There are certainly plenty of infantile “children” now, some of them are forty years old! I thought I had it really tough growing up on the farm and I did in a way. I missed out on all the things that the kids who lived in town took for granted but I also learned how to make it on my own, I learned to enjoy going out and doing a job from scratch to finish by myself as a twelve year old. There was a real satisfaction in looking at the result and realizing I could do things without help if I had to. I learned to figure out things that most have to be taught by others.

[RipSawyer]

“I would have never asked, though, but that’s another difference between now and then.”
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That is the big difference, I hated to ask anyone for anything, ESPECIALLY my parents! Young people now in all too many cases seem to think that their parents should be supporting them at an age when people used to be supporting their parents.

[muawiyah]

Those guys are learning quickly that money is green too, and far more important than the color of the algae eating the poop at the sewage processing plant.

[RipSawyer]

It all begins with the fact that most recent college graduates have far less than what used to be a public high school education. They have a “sheepskin” that represents very little in the way of actual learning.

[panthermom]

It would NEVER happen in my house and my kids knew it! Sorry, get a job, get 2 jobs, get some roommates! Figure it out!

[Nowhere Man]

I graduated with a chemical engineering degree back in 1998, in what was hailed by the media as the best economy in human history (due to Clinton). It took me three months to find any sort of job, and I didn’t a real engineering position until two years after graduation. I distinctly remember reading a newspaper article at the time about an illegal alien with a felony record getting a tree-trimming job paying $24K... while I was happy to finally get a tech position paying $9.50/hour.

Yeah, I think the days of the good jobs started to decline even way before the economic mess we are in now. I used to listen to "For the People" with Chuck Harder and he always claimed that our standard of living started to go down from 1973 to now. Myself, I don't know, I guess depending on which field you're in, the date could vary, but all I can say is the good times are over.

[Almondjoy]

Part of the problem is that there is too many people in college.

[OldPossum]

I think your missing the point badly. The point is why spend $50-200k for a degree in something like Czech language posted earlier.

I haven't missed the point at all. Perhaps you do not understand the primary purpose of higher education. It is not--repeat, not--a job training experience though many colleges have become exactly that. It is a means to advance the understanding of one's place in the society in which we live.

That probably went by you too, so, let me elucidate. If properly administered via courses in Western civilization and the like, one comes to grasp the history of mankind, and more specifically, that of Americans and how we got to be here and the underpinnings of our political system. Exposure to higher education is a means of grasping the norms of society, the arts, the sciences, all that contribute to the desired output, which is a cultured, sophisticated person.

You, and those like you, see higher education as the means to a job. Fine, go to trade school.

And oh yes, higher education provides a means for you to learn how to read and write proper English. The third word in your first sentence should be "you're" (the contraction of "you" and "are"), not "your" which is a possessive pronoun. And as for the second sentence, well, look at those last two words. I gather what you are trying to say but it's presented in a poor fashion. You insult me, I insult you. I would think that that person who spent much money on a degree in the Czech language might have been combining what I tried to explain to you with the acquisition of the Czech language. If not, he or she did spend a lot of money to acquire something that could have been obtained from Berlitz.

All of this is written to tell you that college should not be job training. It has a higher purpose.

[ladyjane]

Imagine looking to hire someone and seeing “Womyn’s Studies” on the resume.

[ScottyinTN]

Imagine looking to hire someone and seeing “Womyn’s Studies” on the resume.

Imagine interviewing someone (black female) for a bench tech job and the person claims to have an BS in electrical engineering. And the person doesn't even know Ohm's law. Honestly, this person was so ignorant about electronics that I would not trust her to plug in a lamp.

[Rennes Templar]

Thanks for the tip. Not everyone is able to do military or go to China, but I will pass it on to my aquaintance.

[Niuhuru]

“Sometimes I do wonder if our prosperity from 1945 until a few years ago was more of an aberration. My quote, “The good times are over and someone has heisted the Kawasaki””

No, it was the beginning of a wonderful to build on, but was squandered by the most spoiled generation in history. It could have not just continued, but also built on to greater and greater things.