It’s time. You’ve been procrastinating for what seems like forever, but now it’s time to have “the talk” with your child. You tell them that you love them, that you care about them, that you respect them. And now it’s time to prove it. No, I’m not talking about the sex talk. I’m talking about the college talk.
MORE
Circa 1990s, employers ramped up requirements for college degree. Even for menial jobs. Then fedgov started offering and gaurenteeing a student loans.
ReplyDeleteIn response, colleges jacked up tuition fees. And because not everyone is cut out for college, the schools offered BS degrees. Everyone welcome, just take a honey of a loan for a degree made just for you. Keep that tuition flowing.
Even online colleges cropped up. Accreditation is iffy but the student is qualified. Study at your own pace. Don't notice that online tuition is as much as that at traditional colleges.
Now here we are. Everyone has a college degree, which means they're worthless, and the student debt debacle is now a crisis.
Tough shit. Signing up for those easy meaningless degrees was an intelligence test which they failed.
Well my kid is 43 so....
ReplyDeleteI have been having this type of conversation with my grandson for awhile now and he's enrolled in a trade school for a well paying secure career..
JD
for years my wife and i have tried to have children but it wasn't in the cards for us. up until 20 yrs ago we thought it was a curse, we now look back and see that God has blessed us without. looking at others kids.
ReplyDeleteit's just me and her against the world. we are happy and debt free.
you can't raise kids without some form of corporal punishment, letting them run free,-- iodine, band aids and mercurochrome without someone knocking on your door.
hell, if they had had child services in the 60's, they would have hauled off my parents and most of the damn neighborhood.
when is the last time you have seen kids out on bicycles
I wouldn't get too depressed. There are little kids out on bikes and scooters every day in my neighborhood, but usually with a parent. Same with my daughter's neighborhood. There are still plenty of good places to raise a kid, and plenty of good people doing it. Easy to be distracted by that electronic sewer - turn it off and go outside.
Deletemy youngest (now 23) desperately wanted to go to the air force academy in Colorado but wasn't accepted. Texas A&M and North Texas State gave him a virtual free ride, but all he could see was the air force. Nevertheless, he went to A&M, graduated with 5000 dollars in debt and made 145,000 dollars last year as a structural engineer. He is definitely the exception in our family. Every one of the rest of us have at least one (unused) degree.
ReplyDeleteThat article is SO spot on. I've nine kids, and my oldest son is now in a plumbing apprenticeship.
ReplyDeleteJohn G
I could not agree more with this article. No way would I send my kid to college today. My twenty year old grand daughter is lazy and sitting on her ass at home. The grandson, a senior and very bright, is looking at college. I've told my daughter so many times, send him to trade school, a community college or look at the military. I think my words fall on deaf ears. My daughter and her parents are college grads. So, I believe she sees it as a duty.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you want your White grandson to go into the military service of a country that hates him and his kind? It's not the same military that (presumably) you knew. Not by a long shot. Knowing what I know now, I never would have joined.
DeleteOff topic: unz.com John Derbyshire, "The Talk, non-black version"
ReplyDeleteYes yes yes.
DeleteUnfortunately, credential inflation for jobs and schools drastically lowering standards means it now takes a Ph.D in particle physics just to get a minimum wage job in retail. H1Bs took the jobs from degree holders, especially in big tech. College is indeed a pretty big scam these days, but my GI bill pays me good money to go get my degree. College, military, trades, and business are all acceptable options. Most kids don't belong in college, but they are there because someone told them to be there.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, anything less than a Ph.D will not go very far in chemistry. I know what I want and I'm racing toward it as fast as I can. Unless it's a non-combat role in the military, sending kids into the workforce is going to set them up for failure. Ageism is real in the workforce and if they don't start early, they will be aged out of jobs even if they are qualified. A degree isn't the advantage it used to be, and someone without the checkbox ticked is at a severe disadvantage because they aren't at the baseline level of competitiveness as other applicants. Employers maybe putting more weight on skills and accomplishments, but the degree still matters.
- Arc
IT depends...
ReplyDeleteFor an engineer, one that wants to create things, yes, that degree is important.
For a doctor, or a pharmacist, yes, it is important.
If, however, you are getting a useless degree, perhaps Political Science, or accounting or finance, then no, it is indeed a waste of money.
Sometimes the degree gives you the knowledge needed in order to do the job.
Some degrees CAN make you big money and CAN lead to better jobs...But most no longer do.
It depends on the level where you want to work.
If the degree is not a job title, it's worthless. Got a BA in history, then an MBA, then I said fuck it all and became a lineman. Never looked back.
DeleteA wise, older fellow told me, as I was wading through the first of a couple of STEM degrees, that I would learn next to nothing of practical use in college, and that the degree was merely proof to a prospective employer that I could be taught. Turned out truer than I believed at the time, as my BS/MS degrees in chemistry bought me entry into computer engineering at a major defense contractor, where I've made my career.
ReplyDeleteSpot on. I graduated with an engineering degree in 1990, pretty much everything I know about engineering today comes from on-the-job training. A college degree was just the ticket to the job, nothing more. Hell, 90% of my daily job has nothing to do with real engineering anyway, it's all check the box stuff, planning, money management, scheduling, etc. The actual engineering is out-sourced to motherfucking India these days and we have 5 am phone conferences to cover their updates.
DeleteThere are times I wished I had just went to a trade school, but then when it's 108 degrees outside and I'm sitting in an air-conditioned office I'm glad I made the choice I did.