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It takes about 5 seconds for them to google search job ads, most of which ask for a bachelors degree as a requirement. It takes another 5 seconds to see which majors are marketable and which aren't.
Chalk it up to all the ridiculous advice out there saying "just study what you love." No, study something that will pay the bills and consult a private tutor if you're having trouble.
Well, it's the real world, and they're going to learn the hard way. Their parents should've warned them as well.
All of us at one time were young and ignorant, or as you say "stupid". The problem I have with this whole student loan industry is the way the loans are pushed by high school counselors and other .edu cheerleaders who view these kids as little more than grist for the mill. It's easy to convince an ignorant kid to sign on the line that is dotted. Car dealers have been getting away with it forever, but unlike a car loan these student loans are going to haunt them for the rest of their lives.
All of us at one time were young and ignorant, or as you say "stupid". The problem I have with this whole student loan industry is the way the loans are pushed by high school counselors and other .edu cheerleaders who view these kids as little more than grist for the mill. It's easy to convince an ignorant kid to sign on the line that is dotted. Car dealers have been getting away with it forever, but unlike a car loan these student loans are going to haunt them for the rest of their lives.
I couldn't agree more. We as a society are also to blame. I remember vividly my high school counselor talking about how to fill out a FAFSA, young kids should not be exposed to that type of debt.
In the education section of this site, I also pointed out that a standard bachelor degree requirement (120 credits) contains 30 credits of bloated and unnecessary general elective courses, for no other reason than to keep professors employed and schools making money under the disguise of "broadening your horizon."
So now the responsibility comes down to the parents to inform the child/future college student of what is at stake and steer them in the right direction. Society doesn't care, they want kids in debt. Students don't know what they want, they're not even old enough to drink. Most parents can't pay for college for their kids education, but certainly they can steer them away form the music and sociology majors. But yeah, society just can't be pushing these massive loans onto kids, then allowing them to major in kinesiology.
I majored in history, a so-called worthless major, and have done fine. In fact my net worth is top 10% for my age.
You people are just projecting your own biases.
There are about 30 majors that pay a lot - the engineering ones, computer ones. Coincidentally most of them have high attrition weed-out classes, ie: calculus, which about 50% of students fail at an average college.
Then the next 100 or so major choices pay about the same. That includes most of the traditional arts and sciences.
The lowest paid ~50 or so majors are things like social work, theology, early childhood education, and hospitality. Honestly some of those should be 2-year degrees and not 4-year ones.
I couldn't agree more. We as a society are also to blame. I remember vividly my high school counselor talking about how to fill out a FAFSA, young kids should not be exposed to that type of debt.
In the education section of this site, I also pointed out that a standard bachelor degree requirement (120 credits) contains 30 credits of bloated and unnecessary general elective courses, for no other reason than to keep professors employed and schools making money under the disguise of "broadening your horizon."
So now the responsibility comes down to the parents to inform the child/future college student of what is at stake and steer them in the right direction. Society doesn't care, they want kids in debt. Students don't know what they want, they're not even old enough to drink. Most parents can't pay for college for their kids education, but certainly they can steer them away form the music and sociology majors. But yeah, society just can't be pushing these massive loans onto kids, then allowing them to major in kinesiology.
Statistics show that for most people, when they leave school, the number of books they read per year drops like a rock, particularly literature. After college, the likelihood people will get exposed to literature is close to zero unless they have some reason to.
Certainly it's true for myself. Between work and family I just don't have the time to read as many books as I'd like.
A mission of higher ed is indeed to "broaden horizons" which you so blithely dismiss as unimportant. If colleges stopped doing that they should just shut down. We would only need job training academies in that case.
To give an example... I was not an AP student in high school, so literature class in college was the first and only time I read Kafka. I didn't much like it, but I know what it means when I read an article that says something is "Kafkaesque," and when it's used incorrectly, and it's pretty commonly used - just do a google news search. The first article I came up with was this: https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/art...e-out-of-kafka
The two most valuable classes I had in college, in the sense that I can actually remember to this day what I learned - were philosophy and middle eastern history. I remember only snippets at best from the rest of my classes, or aspects about them that have nothing to do with the material.
Oh sure, literature is free at the library. A lot of classics are even free on your kindle. But if no one spurs you to read them, you won't.
Last edited by redguard57; 04-23-2018 at 02:47 AM..
I don't believe the student loan crisis will cause a financial recession in the same vein as the housing crisis, but I do believe it will hinder our economy. As long as large sums of debt restrain people (even in a general sense), their ability to spend, save, and invest is hindered. That cascades throughout the economy.
What makes the student loan crisis so damaging is that it is so unlike other debt, there is no asset to act as collateral and the law has made them so that one cannot simple default on it short of an extreme circumstance (which is almost no one). Add in a culture in society that has told children that college is the only way to "make it" in life and you have yourself in a pickle.
I don't believe the student loan crisis will cause a financial recession in the same vein as the housing crisis, but I do believe it will hinder our economy. As long as large sums of debt restrain people (even in a general sense), their ability to spend, save, and invest is hindered. That cascades throughout the economy.
What makes the student loan crisis so damaging is that it is so unlike other debt, there is no asset to act as collateral and the law has made them so that one cannot simple default on it short of an extreme circumstance (which is almost no one). Add in a culture in society that has told children that college is the only way to "make it" in life and you have yourself in a pickle.
Because the only people who do worse than college graduates, are high school graduates. Every conceivable statistical metric of success including income, divorce rates, credit rating, home ownership, all of it, is better for college graduates as a group than for high school graduates as a group.
You can "make it" without college, but it's a hell of a lot harder.
Oh I know someone will call out their cousin or neighbor who makes 100k as a plumber, but that's like me saying because I have a black friend who's a lawyer, that all black people are doing great.
For most people, their college degree is worth what they make of it. You can't foreclose on that.
My dad majored in music, and he did have a secondary career as a church choir director, but it barely ever paid off and was basically volunteer work. His business was business and then real estate. He could have pursued the music business but chose not to.
I suppose his college degree was worthless? I saw the joy he brought people through his musicianship and the pride it brought him to do it. High school didn't teach him how to do that.
The difference with the housing crisis is that there is not an asset value on a college degree that will collapse.
I know music (Theology, Philosophy, English...) majors that are doing quite well. No, it didn't lead to a concrete career path like a CPA might have, BUT, they got entry level jobs and advanced in their careers, far beyond where they could have without a degree...
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