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Details matter. I was graduated from high school and went to college. My best friend went to welding school. He took the extra step of learning how to weld exotic metals, and during the 80s he was one of a handful of welders in Texas who could repair oil drill bits in the field.
A broken drill bit costs oil companies thousands of dollars a minute. Companies called him without even asking his fee--only whether he was immediately available: "Can we send a helicopter for you now?"
He retired back in the 90s. I'm still working.
Which is very much the exception, rather than the rule in the trades.
Higher education and society are best served when students study the subjects in which they excel - not those thrust upon them by anxious and overzealous parents and a media that serves corporations.
I've known many students who were pushed into STEM majors or clusters such as pre-med, engineering, or biochemistry, only to find that they hated these subjects and had zero aptitude for them. This does not mean that they were not smart - or not college material - it means that their aptitude was elsewhere.
Since social sciences and liberal arts oft times require a masters degree, acceptance into such a program became impossible or extremely difficult - with a 2.0 average.
We will always need social workers, writers, professors, teachers, linguists, lawyers, therapists, writers, advertising executives, public policy specialists, historians, sales people, and a people with the skills gleaned from a liberal arts education who have the intellectual flexibility to work in a myriad of fields that require crystallized knowledge gleaned from a diverse education.
A liberal arts education.
Let's stop attempting to model ourselves after the former Soviet Union. Everyone can not, and should not - study STEM.
Details matter. I was graduated from high school and went to college. My best friend went to welding school. He took the extra step of learning how to weld exotic metals, and during the 80s he was one of a handful of welders in Texas who could repair oil drill bits in the field.
A broken drill bit costs oil companies thousands of dollars a minute. Companies called him without even asking his fee--only whether he was immediately available: "Can we send a helicopter for you now?"
Which is very much the exception, rather than the rule in the trades.
The "exception" lies in my statement that he took the extra step of learning to weld exotic materials--such as those used in oil drill bits--to make himself exceptional.
Such "exceptions" are always the exception in any line of work; you create your own exceptions. A person entering the trades ought to be starting with the concept of someday owning his own business and hiring people to do the heavy labor by the time he's feeling too old to do it.
Higher education and society are best served when students study the subjects in which they excel - not those thrust upon them by anxious and overzealous parents and a media that serves corporations.
I've known many students who were pushed into STEM majors or clusters such as pre-med, engineering, or biochemistry, only to find that they hated these subjects and had zero aptitude for them. This does not mean that they were not smart - or not college material - it means that their aptitude was elsewhere.
Since social sciences and liberal arts oft times require a masters degree, acceptance into such a program became impossible or extremely difficult - with a 2.0 average.
We will always need social workers, writers, professors, teachers, linguists, lawyers, therapists, writers, advertising executives, public policy specialists, historians, sales people, and a people with the skills gleaned from a liberal arts education who have the intellectual flexibility to work in a myriad of fields that require crystallized knowledge gleaned from a diverse education.
A liberal arts education.
Let's stop attempting to model ourselves after the former Soviet Union. Everyone can not, and should not - study STEM.
There are a lot of jobs for which people thought there would always be a demand that no longer exist. Not saying STEM is some saving grace, but many fields are going to shrink or be obsolete.
I'm doing just fine in the field along with the majority of folks that I stayed close with after college.
There are dregs in every field, and STEM is no exception. However, the probability to succeed is much higher than that of other majors IMO. That being said, you still need to put in hard work and have some degree of aptitude.
I feel sorry for people who believed a science degree would be there salvation in the job world. I see many unemployed or marginally employed people in these fields. People who studied their asses off in these competitive majors and then end up working $15/hr contract grunt work in labs before getting laid off. I think you're better off majoring in liberal arts. A Philsophy degree is just as employable as a Biology degree and with the former you at least can party for your 4 years in college.
According to John Miano in his book Sold Out the "Stem Crisis" is a scam perpetuated by Microsoft. They create this artificial shortage to justify raising the limit on the H-1b visa. Remember that Microsoft is a software company. Depressing salaries across the board is part of their cost control strategy.
Yep I definitely notice they lay off hundreds of American programmers and then the next day are testifying in front of congress how the lack of programmers available is hurting their business and they need more h1b's. The next time they try it they should be thrown in jail for perjury.
Yep I definitely notice they lay off hundreds of American programmers and then the next day are testifying in front of congress how the lack of programmers available is hurting their business and they need more h1b's. The next time they try it they should be thrown in jail for perjury.
Read "Sold Out" by John Miano and Michelle Malkin. It is about the H-1b scam and how Congress and the billionaires are happily in bed together. Even Obama has let their wives come here to work. It costs $28 in Barnes and Nobles.
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Stem Sham
