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Aside from STEM degrees is anyone very disappointed or even angered that their bachelor's or master's degree from a public university did not open doorways to great workplaces?
Many of us worked hard to earn good grades for classes that would be applicable for workplaces but once hired of course after going on a tedious job search the workplace turns out to offer low pay for the overload of disorganized work projects and poor management that one has to deal with.
It often feels that the bachelor's degree and or master's degree is highly overrated and doesn't open up great opportunities in a lot of cases.
No. It's solely the fault of college students who didn't do their own research and come up with their own data about what jobs their college degrees would get them, and what the pay would be.
Come on. How could you not see or conclude how much competition there would be for work, when looking at ALL the college students around you AND at the other colleges and universities? And for those idiots who majored in the liberal arts, what sort of job do you think that would get you in the adult world????
Majoring in the liberal arts is fine as long as mummy and daddy are rich and it's not needed to find a job after graduation. For the rest of you from middle class or lower backgrounds and on financial and having student loans, those were stupid majors to be in.
If you are a young adult, it's not to late to find a skilled trade to apprentice in.
No. It's solely the fault of college students who didn't do their own research and come up with their own data about what jobs their college degrees would get them, and what the pay would be.
Come on. How could you not see or conclude how much competition there would be for work, when looking at ALL the college students around you AND at the other colleges and universities? And for those idiots who majored in the liberal arts, what sort of job do you think that would get you in the adult world????
Majoring in the liberal arts is fine as long as mummy and daddy are rich and it's not needed to find a job after graduation. For the rest of you from middle class or lower backgrounds and on financial and having student loans, those were stupid majors to be in.
If you are a young adult, it's not to late to find a skilled trade to apprentice in.
If people are expecting an 18 year old to know the ins and outs of what degrees are in demand, what schools have the best programs, what schools employers draw from, what's in demand in any given local area, etc., it's unrealistic.
If people are expecting an 18 year old to know the ins and outs of what degrees are in demand, what schools have the best programs, what schools employers draw from, what's in demand in any given local area, etc., it's unrealistic.
Not only is it unrealistic, the information is extremely obscured.
I've been doing information analysis for a long time--I could figure it out. And I've got a lifetime of just plain observation of life.
But all the information resources that had been funneled to Millennial their entire lives touted a bachelor's degree--any bachelor's degree--as the only route to a decent life. They were consistently told by every respectable source that anything else was a booby prize.
Any source saying anything else was a vanishingly small minority voice, including me when I tried to get kids to consider trades and even the military 20 years ago. But one old man against their parents an all their teachers and the government and every survey saying that otherwise? No contest.
I received my Bachelor's in PE, took multiple certification exams and passed them, and seminars. I had to sub for 2 years until I finally landed my full time job as a PE teacher. While working full time I got my Master's degree in PE and professional certificate. Education works differently. I'm in my 9th year now and just making a decent income. I also have to coach 2 jobs to supplement.
If I had to do it over, I would have started a small business. Even if you're working long days, it's a great option for someone who's self motivated, disciplined and likes the challenge of it. I think the trades, too, are good options. Money is good and lots of time you're fairly independent.
I have been saying that on CDF since 2007
Mocked jeering and ridiculed the entire time
The stats showing college grads outearn all others are 40 years old
Star bucks is 70% college grad
If you get an actual degree in a field that's in demand from a real university then you can get hired in that field (mechanical engineering; accounting, etc.).
If you get an actual liberal arts degree from a real university with high grades you may be able to start low on the totem pole in a non-technical field (for example, english lit from U. Chicago; European history from Duke; etc.)
If you get a generic degree from an institution that really ought to be called a "business college", then it probably won't do a darn thing for you (Bachelor's in Business Admin. from "Amber University', for example).
The number of real universities, and the number of students attending these, hasn't really gone up that much in the last 50 years. The number of institutions that call themselves "university" and the number of students attending those has exploded.
If you get an actual degree in a field that's in demand from a real university then you can get hired in that field (mechanical engineering; accounting, etc.).
If you get an actual liberal arts degree from a real university with high grades you may be able to start low on the totem pole in a non-technical field (for example, english lit from U. Chicago; European history from Duke; etc.)
If you get a generic degree from an institution that really ought to be called a "business college", then it probably won't do a darn thing for you (Bachelor's in Business Admin. from "Amber University', for example).
The number of real universities, and the number of students attending these, hasn't really gone up that much in the last 50 years. The number of institutions that call themselves "university" and the number of students attending those has exploded.
Well, the number of students who actually get a bachelor's degree in anything hasn't really changed that much over the last 50 years. Since WWII (and the GI Bill), the percentage rose to 25%.
Today in the Millennial generation, the percentage is a bit over 30% (something like 20% of blacks, 30% of whites, 40% of Asians).
A couple of things troubling: First, combined with what you have said, even though the percentage of bachelor degree holders is about the same, I fear the percentage of those holding significant degrees such as you've described has slipped. Fifty years ago, maybe 80% of the 25% had solid degrees from solid schools in their fields. Today it may be only half of the 30%.
Much worse, though, is that with the education industry and government giving bachelor degrees (any bachelor degree) their full attention and support to the detriment of anything else, that 70% of kids who don't get a bachelor degree is left out in the cold. They get less support than they got 50 years ago.
Fifty years ago, a non-college track was recognized as valid and there were various information sources flowing to kids about those opportunities. There was a production industry with good blue-collar jobs available. There were lots of small businesses around kids, easily visible as good viable alternatives.
There were vocational classes and vocational schools that--by their very existence--indicated good alternatives to bachelors degrees were viable. There were high school ROTC units all around giving visibility of the military as a good alternative.
Without those, what we see now is a terrible sag of income in the 70% of those who don't get college degrees that didn't happen 50 years ago.
Back in the mid 90s, the governor of Hawaii took a look at the real job opportunities in his state, then he looked at what the high schools were teaching their kids, and he stated bluntly, "We are wasting their time, and they know it."
That need not be the case. There are certainly non-degree opportunities for kids who get technical skill certifications. But they don't get that information when they need to get it.
They need to get the information that there are good non-degree technical alternatives when they are in middle school, while they have time to point their educational attention toward it, and schools need tech-prep curriculums for them...with the knowledge that tech-prep is the better alternative for 70% of the student body.
I agree with the above but go anywhere and say it, even the education forum here on CD and expect to be attacked instantly with a crowd poo-pooing any mention of high school votech instead of college as blasfimy.
If I had to do it over, I would have started a small business.
If I had to do it over, I would have started Amazon.
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