Posted on 11/29/2011 8:06:19 AM PST by UltraConservative
Young people spend their time in college getting high, getting drunk, and getting off. So why shouldn’t they major in it? This seems to be the philosophy of Yale University, where a doctoral candidate is leading a course titled “Dance Music and Nightlife Culture in New York City.” The class includes DJ speakers, trips to chic clubs Le Bain and the Boom Boom Room, and a seminar on “Looks, Doors and Guest Lists: Getting Past the Velvet Rope.” The teacher, Madison Moore, says he’s worried “about whether people will think this is serious. But it’s not just about getting drunk. It’s about the history of it, the Harlem cabarets, understanding race, gender, sex, Prohibition and the law.” For just the bargain basement price of $53,070per annum, you can attend Yale and partake in such glorious and insightful learning.
With a $200,000+ degree in Clubbing, no wonder so many college students are joining Occupy Wall Street, where they are calling for jobs commensurate with their educational achievements. The problem is this: they already have jobs commensurate with their educational achievements. They are sitting in a park doing nothing for no pay. Sounds fair when all you know how to do is bat your eyelashes at bouncers.
Stay in school. Most jobs require a Bachelor’s Degree today and that includes most low wage job. Getting a degree shows the company that you can finish something you start. You guys probably were supporting kids quit high school back in the day. You are going to end up having children in poverty if you keep up this anti-college nonsense. My kids are going to college or into the military and that is it. There is no way I would support getting a job out of high school....what do you think 10 years down the road they are gong to be able to do? Sure a minute few individuals do very well with just a high school degree. But you guys are acting like those idiots who make their children practice playing basketball from birth 24/7 because they MIGHT get into the NBA. Does not make sense at all.
Charles Murray is right. What is needed are credentialing exams so that employers and others could know that certain subjects had been mastered.
Are employers really interested in degrees, or do they want motivated, smart, and educated employees and some way that measures that? I'd say it is the latter.
Most of the work done in banking, accounting, bureaucracy, and business, does not need a specific degree to do the work. Since the existence of European presence on this continent this work was done by people who did not attend college. Most in fact were homeschooled or attended one room schools in a spotty manner...even up to my father's day ( born 1913).
Even in professions such as medicine, dentistry, architecture, ( and especially law), qualifying exams could replace many of the basic and fact-based courses. Mentoring, of course, would still be required but the cost to the student could be greatly reduced by the use of qualifying exams for many courses.
Qualifying exams could start in first grade. For example, once a child demonstrates mastery of addition math facts, he would immediately move on to subtraction math facts.
All courses provided by state elementary, high school, and universities should be available on-line. The taxpayer paid for it so access should be free to all. Private qualifying exams could prove that the student mastered the material.
Finally....This could be a Mark Zuckerman opportunity. Those who privately produce Internet material and provide the certifiable exams could offer the material to the students for **free**. They could become as rich as Zuckerman, if they accepted advertising.
Nope. Chuck Testa.
I like this idea a lot. For one thing it actually will put kids where they can succeed. The military does this exact thing. You are given the ASVAB test where they show where your “specialties” are. You are give a couple of areas that you exceed in and you can decide which one you would like to pursue. Some will say, “but what if they don’t like it or if they are not as good as the test say”. Sure this happens but it is rare. If that happens, then take another test and see if there is something else that would work. This really would work! It would save a lot of heartaches for people that is for sure.
Please forgive me for being picky.
High schools give diplomas. Colleges and universities award degrees.
By the way....My kids all went to college and finished. Two have M.S. degrees. One partly finished a masters. As things stand, they are better off with the degrees than without. But...I would like to see a move toward qualifying exams.
This obsession with college degrees wastes a lot of the young person's life. Is inefficient, and keeps them out of the workforce which is a cost as well. Not only does tuition have a price tag, the lost income from not holding down a full time job in a career has a cost as well.
One of the benefits of homeschooling was that 2 of my four kids finished B.S. degrees in math by the age of 18. As I drive past my local high school I **know** that the top 10% could be finishing B.S. or B.A. degrees by age 18 as well. Those extra 4 years in the workforce adds up to a very large amount of wages.
“Today, if the 20-something doesn’t poop on the carpet, we feel the need to reward them.”
Dittos! I say the same thing. We would follow the Dr. Spock thing and say, while cleaning it up ourselves, “Gee, I am disappointed in you. Next time I hope you can do better and make it to the bathroom, but I still love you.”
Those extra 4 years in the workforce adds up to a very large amount of wages.
That is VERY true. What a difference saving money for 42 years instead of 38 years. It would be huge. Plus a lot of those kids at the high school are so bored. They really don’t know how to individualize high school. I know it is hard with thousands of kids but a better way of doing this would actually help the school in the long run.
It's still the case today, that men in their early 20's are made responsible for people's lives and millions of dollars of complex equipment in the military.
“What is needed are credentialing exams so that employers and others could know that certain subjects had been mastered.
“
Employers used to have a better system: They checked on colleges and degree programs and would only accept those that had demonstrated quality. A person needed to have the appropriate degree from an accepted college for the degree to count.
Still not as good as Northwestern University’s sex toy class. You get an A if you put the batteries in right. If you put the batteries in upside down, you get to go to law school.
“Please forgive me for being picky. High schools give diplomas. Colleges and universities award degrees.”
Wrong! Yet, one more demonstration of the lack of knowledge in this country. Colleges do issue diplomas for degrees.
“A good college education is in no way a waste of money for a stay at home mom.”
Well, if you have the money and wish to learn, it isn’t a waste, but it certainly isn’t an investment.
wow
Such testing used to be the norm. It was effectively outlawed by the Supreme Court in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. in 1971. Since then, any test which has "disparate impact" (different pass rates for blacks and whites) is declared racially discriminatory. Coincident with this, companies started to push for college degrees as a way to select for more-intelligent applicants.
We would need to repeal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in order to restore sanity.
There’s nothing wrong with going to college, so long as you don’t slack off and get a degree in something completely useless like Transgendered Studies.
I certainly agree with you, but I was speaking to the reality of the current situation. You are unlikely to get any of my listed jobs without a degree, though it is possible to have careers as an undegreed engineer, accountant, or banker, your chances are close to zero in getting your foot in the door unless you are entering a family business. Credential exams would be great, but it won’t happen as it would take the power away from big education. Can you think of any reason why I should have to go to law school to take the bar exam... or have 100+ credits in accounting to take the CPA exam? If I think I know the material and am willing to pay for the test, why should I have to spend money on formal education. You realize Bill Gates is unqualified to teach a high school businuss class?
What is a ‘world class DJ’?
don’t they just spin records?
Job Opportunities: 0
Potential Salary: $0.00"
Except you need a third category:
Government Job Opportunities and salary: Upper Management at over $150K.
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