I'm not gonna do a well researched thread, I'll leave that up to you younglings with disposable free time. However, I would like to make a few points on why I feel the entire structure of the job market and higher education is a sham.
First of all, it's just one of those things no one questions anymore.
What do you want to be when you grow up? I dunno but I better go to college!
I think the shift towards looking for college educated workers started with the baby boomers. The boomers as young adults in the late 60's and 70's, liked to get high- and so they went to college, where pretty much everyone hung out and got high. Some of them even got degrees, completely unnecessary at the time though they were.
Workers in the 1960s and 70s, adjusted for inflation, enjoyed higher wages than us combined with lower costs of living AND jobs that required little education. So, if you're coming up on 60 and you're broke, you really fucked up.
Anyway- this is when the "grow up and go to college" culture started. It's when employers had so many college educated candidates, they pretty much began expecting it. Others had to go to get degrees, to compete with people who got degrees. Until here we are today, where you might have a BA and make $13/hr, working in an office doing MINDLESS work- something that has nothing to do with your degree... and you're LUCKY to be doing that.
I didn't check the source, but I read ok wikipedia that in 2002, Americans spent 282 Billion dollars on higher education.
How much has that cost us over the years?
I think of people had spent this money on assets or set it aside for savings, both of which grow, were talking across decades here- that America wouldn't be such shit today.
And is it a coincidence that the 1970s is when we shifted to the service industry? (means bullshit artist industry) It's almost a what came first, chicken or the egg deal.
However, I seriously doubt people at the time had the foresight to perceive the shift to the service industry and said woah man, like, i better get my ass in college, far out. It is entirely possible that college grads, professional students and lazy boomers kept the price of labor artificially high enough, for long enough- to cause the shift away from manufacturing and production.
*shrugs*
What really bothers me is where does this money go? How many billions to the greedy bankers and lenders get? What do the colleges do with the money? After all the overhead is paid off- do they just use so much money to further their own interests and political agendas? Financing charged research and biased studies?
At the end of the day, that money has been spent on nothing. You didn't get any assets. You didn't get any hard goods. You didn't really produce anything. You are expected to recoup your LOSSES by getting a job, hopefully one that pays well.
But again, maybe you don't get that job. Maybe... you never even graduate and waste a shit load of money.
This happens day in and day out- money wasted on higher education that never truly becomes an investment because the income levels with the degree don't improve as expected.
And then we wonder why so many businesses are owned by foreigners. What do you think you could have done with all that tuition money? You've got a degree, but odds are you'll still be under some bosses thumb.
Why not get a small business loan instead?
You have to go to college first and get a business degree first you say? *face palm*
So this is just me, saying something's gotta give. They have vocational schools that focus on specialized training for specific skilled jobs or trades- but those cost more than the fucking colleges a lot of the time.
You do not need to take all the general ed nonsense classes that academics tell you are important so they can keep receiving a pay check; just to be a nurse.
(That's another thing, everyone thinks they're going to be a nurse... like 1 in 3 people I know are in school for nursing. The US is just gonna be one big hospital in 20 years they must figure. Jesus tap dancing christ.)
But we can yell, scream, jump and down; articles in the wall street journal and new york times. Won't change a thing. The system is in place, employers want college grads.
So either we shift back to small business and break the cycle, or we make cheap training centers that give candidates only the skills they need, and they perform better than college grads enough for employers to notice. I got nothing.
First of all, it's just one of those things no one questions anymore.
What do you want to be when you grow up? I dunno but I better go to college!
I think the shift towards looking for college educated workers started with the baby boomers. The boomers as young adults in the late 60's and 70's, liked to get high- and so they went to college, where pretty much everyone hung out and got high. Some of them even got degrees, completely unnecessary at the time though they were.
Workers in the 1960s and 70s, adjusted for inflation, enjoyed higher wages than us combined with lower costs of living AND jobs that required little education. So, if you're coming up on 60 and you're broke, you really fucked up.
Anyway- this is when the "grow up and go to college" culture started. It's when employers had so many college educated candidates, they pretty much began expecting it. Others had to go to get degrees, to compete with people who got degrees. Until here we are today, where you might have a BA and make $13/hr, working in an office doing MINDLESS work- something that has nothing to do with your degree... and you're LUCKY to be doing that.
I didn't check the source, but I read ok wikipedia that in 2002, Americans spent 282 Billion dollars on higher education.
How much has that cost us over the years?
I think of people had spent this money on assets or set it aside for savings, both of which grow, were talking across decades here- that America wouldn't be such shit today.
And is it a coincidence that the 1970s is when we shifted to the service industry? (means bullshit artist industry) It's almost a what came first, chicken or the egg deal.
However, I seriously doubt people at the time had the foresight to perceive the shift to the service industry and said woah man, like, i better get my ass in college, far out. It is entirely possible that college grads, professional students and lazy boomers kept the price of labor artificially high enough, for long enough- to cause the shift away from manufacturing and production.
*shrugs*
What really bothers me is where does this money go? How many billions to the greedy bankers and lenders get? What do the colleges do with the money? After all the overhead is paid off- do they just use so much money to further their own interests and political agendas? Financing charged research and biased studies?
At the end of the day, that money has been spent on nothing. You didn't get any assets. You didn't get any hard goods. You didn't really produce anything. You are expected to recoup your LOSSES by getting a job, hopefully one that pays well.
But again, maybe you don't get that job. Maybe... you never even graduate and waste a shit load of money.
This happens day in and day out- money wasted on higher education that never truly becomes an investment because the income levels with the degree don't improve as expected.
And then we wonder why so many businesses are owned by foreigners. What do you think you could have done with all that tuition money? You've got a degree, but odds are you'll still be under some bosses thumb.
Why not get a small business loan instead?
You have to go to college first and get a business degree first you say? *face palm*
So this is just me, saying something's gotta give. They have vocational schools that focus on specialized training for specific skilled jobs or trades- but those cost more than the fucking colleges a lot of the time.
You do not need to take all the general ed nonsense classes that academics tell you are important so they can keep receiving a pay check; just to be a nurse.
(That's another thing, everyone thinks they're going to be a nurse... like 1 in 3 people I know are in school for nursing. The US is just gonna be one big hospital in 20 years they must figure. Jesus tap dancing christ.)
But we can yell, scream, jump and down; articles in the wall street journal and new york times. Won't change a thing. The system is in place, employers want college grads.
So either we shift back to small business and break the cycle, or we make cheap training centers that give candidates only the skills they need, and they perform better than college grads enough for employers to notice. I got nothing.