@AngusandBuddhasMom wrote:
@software wrote:
@Spurt wrote:
@software wrote:
Maybe people will now be more encouraged to learn a trade.
Some college degrees are over-rated.
@software
I have thought the same thing software, there only seems to be a small number of professions where a college degree is required. .......I have co-workers that have Master Degrees in Psychology, History, Liberal Arts etc.........so what the heck are they doing working in a business office! And look at all the debt these graduates have accrued, and all the student loans they have to pay back...........Like you I think that people these days are better off going to trade schools for training in Technology or other fields..............
My employer requires a degree for any new hire, even for what you & I would consider a clerical or secretarial job. I work in a college town and my employer thinks we have to compete with the University for employees, I disagree.
I have about 90 college credits, I think I would need about 120 to actually receive a diploma. I applied for jobs as a BOOKKEEPER and was told I need a degree, although I have over 20 years of experience. I also have management experience, being supervisor over other bookeeepers in a corporation, back in the late 1980s. I'm seeing this all over, not just with my employer. I was using an employment service because in the city where I live, (metro area population 1,000,000+) you can hardly get a job without using one. The lady was so nice but told me she would be wasting my time trying to find something for me because all her clients require a college degree.
There is a shortage of electricians, plumbers, framers, etc. These trades can guarantee work, corporations, not so much
The point of a college degree is to show you have the ability to finish and that you are marketable. You have gone beyond high school and have spent another four years learning from new experiences as well as educating yourself in a chosen field. Grad school and beyond furthers that skill and knowledge. While trades are needed to blow off college as a non essential especially in today's world is not the way to go.
It is for some but it is absurd to think that a 4 year degree is for every young person. Some kids simply aren't ready and need a gap year and some will never be ready yet go anyway whether it be that their parents or society pushes them to do so. When they do attend and flunk out it sets them up for feeling like a failure and also in many cases leaves them with huge debt which puts them at a great disadvantage.
For years it was thought that college taught critical thinking skills but researchers are showing now that isn't necessarily the case. The results show that students are not developing their critical thinking skills to the extent we expect. For their 2009 book, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, Richard Arum and Josipsa Rocksa followed a little over 2,300 college students through their first two years of school. They found “a barely noticeable impact on students skills in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing” and “no statistically significant gains [in these skills] for at least 45 percent of the students.”
Not every young person is suited for a 4 yr degree. There are other options that might be much more suited to them like community colleges with 2 yr degree and trade schools. We are in great need for skilled workers and for every 3 that leave/retire from that work force only 1 is joining, so there is definitely a need for that. My plumber is making more yearly than some people I know who have graduated with MBA's from distinguished universities who are in great positions. Germany is a country that recognizes this and they have great training and apprenticeship programs that gives many of their young people world class skills that have made them a leader in precision manufacturing.
I was a student that knew I would have flunked out of college because it wasn't what I wanted to do at all at the time, I just wasn't ready or interested. I was accepted to several great schools including Brown and I killed my father when I decided not to go. I took up a trade and years later went to get my business degree and now employ a little over 30 people. I know I chose the right path for me.
Not every young person should be nor are they meant to be pushed through a single funnel called a 4 yr degree.
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
JFK
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