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What disturbs me isn't the facts presented by those who say College is a waste of time, it's what they omit. What I've notice is omitted about college are college loan interest can be written off on taxes,after 10 years college loans can be forgiven for public/nonprofit employees, a lot of jobs require some college classes, government certifications requires a college degree and not all colleges are liberal.
I know some colleges and seminaries are very conservative and they offer degrees that have regional accreditation. In southern California a few I can think of are the Master's Seminary and Azusa Pacific University. Texas has Baylor College which I know has very conservative professors in the liberal arts. Rodney Stark is a very conservative professor at Baylor who heads the social sciences department.
Some people are saying that college doesn't get your a job, but most jobs at hospitals that aren't doctors require community college classes and certification. Many jobs in automotive and child care require college classes to meet requirements.
It's true that if someone just gets a college degree thinking it's going to get them a job that person isn't thinking critically. People need to know the full path to the job is all. College cost can make it not worth the effort, but that's only if you don't plan well. If a person becomes a doctor or a lawyer and borrows $200,000 and gets a government/non profit job after 10 years they can have all the debt forgiven. I would say that's a great deal if someone becomes a doctor by the time they're 30 years old because by the time they hit 40 years old the debt gets forgiven. They will have a big IRS bill to pay assuming they're not insolvent and can't get is fully forgiven. Even then they can easily get out of the IRS money owed if they're making a high salary.
Borrowers can write off student loan interest every year too. I write off around $1300 a year on my student loans. So the principle gets paid off still and I normally don't owe the IRS any money. For years I claimed 2 on my taxes when I didn't have 2 just to even things out. So we can factor student loan interest out since it's a tax write off. It's really not big deal if you're paying your loans off.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about with the anti-college rhetoric:
Sadly the more conservative universities are now the rare exception and the more ultra liberal ones are the norm. Some university cost could be reduced by eliminating those worthless courses I refer to as “hate USA and blame the white man for everything” courses. Locally what was once the state vocation school has become part of a community college. Still more affordable than a university, but now more expensive than it was when it was just a vocation school. My niece and nephew started off at the community college. Nephew moved onto the local university.
Sadly the more conservative universities are now the rare exception and the more ultra liberal ones are the norm. Some university cost could be reduced by eliminating those worthless courses I refer to as “hate USA and blame the white man for everything” courses. Locally what was once the state vocation school has become part of a community college. Still more affordable than a university, but now more expensive than it was when it was just a vocation school. My niece and nephew started off at the community college. Nephew moved onto the local university.
This is so true and it is a crying shame. Vocational school is be very low to no cost.
I am glad to see this finally happening. It is absolutely ridiculous that we try to push every child into college. Jobs that require skilled laborers struggle to find people but we have people with master's degrees working behind the counter at McDonald's because it is all they could find after they have been unemployed for months looking for the job they were supposed to be able to have. My nephew who took a 9 month training course and a 2 year apprenticeship, which he was paid while doing, makes more than most of cousins with their college degrees. It took him a week to find a job and start after he finished his vocational program, it took them months. He also has no student loans, so he has far more discretionary money. But the most important aspect of this whole thing is that he simply wasn't an academically inclined kid, he enjoyed working with his hands.
Yes, a percentage of people do belong in college, and we do need to make sure qualified motivated students are not shut out, but pushing everyone to go has been a terrible policy. It has resulted in 1) a generation of young people starting out life in debt, 2) lowering of college admittance standards, 3) lowering of university level academic standards, 5) the value of a college degree being lower to the former value of a high school diploma, 6) the delay in young people assuming adult responsibilities, 7) smaller pools of skilled laborers, 8) public K-12 schools focusing on "college prep" curriculum at the expense of basic academic skills mastery, 9) inflated college tutition, 10) less resources to fund college education for those most likely to succeed, and 11) a large number of young adults who feel they are failures or society failed them because "everyone should be able to get a college degree and a good job" and they either couldn't finish college or the promised good job never materialized.
I am happy with this movement provided it has an equal movement towards a tiered educational system that includes vocational education along the lines of the one in Germany.
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I'm disturbed with the rise of anti-College sentiment.
I we're just seeing the pendulum swinging slowly back toward the center. It used to be that "only the rich" went to college and that poor kids were therefore locked out of certain professions.
Then we saw the rise of taxpayer-funded community colleges and government-backed student loans that allowed poor kids to go to college and earn degrees.
As college became less of an accomplishment it began being taken for granted by many. Lately we've seen kids of all economic backgrounds wasting their time and our tax money in college when they don't belong there.
So I also see the rise of anti-college sentiment, which is fine. My two kids are in college right now. My older son was not too keen on his classes midway thru his sophomore year. This was after he was awarded a 4-year full tuition scholarship. I told him to drop out and join the army (his mother was opposed) and essentially I called his bluff. The bottom line is, each person needs to find there own way. There is no one-size-fits-all path to success, and not everyone will achieve success no matter how much we encourage them to "stay in school".
It seems a lot of kids think college is 4 - 6 more years of partying, and avoiding work, and reality. They take Gender Studies, or Primitive Cultures just to hang out, and party at school. They get no practical skills, and end up working at Starbucks. They also have huge college loan debt as the government keeps giving them money for worthless degrees. Many of these kids would be more successful going to trade school, but no that is too much work.
This is just another absurdist round of reactionary anti-intellectualism. Smart people are the enemy. Listen to us. We are not the smart people. Do not become a smart person. Right.
This is just another absurdist round of reactionary anti-intellectualism. Smart people are the enemy. Listen to us. We are not the smart people. Do not become a smart person. Right.
Like any large organization, I found that 20% of the time/classes/staff/money I spent in college delivered 80% of the benefit.
I started college in 2004. Most of the professors I had were left-leaning, but they were not far left, and most were honest graders, even if they knew the student to be conservative. You could have a discussion with most of these folks and they were reasonable people. There were only a handful of SJW types.
That has changed over the years. Many subjects that should have no political slant at all now do. People are pushing agendas, not necessarily detached academic rigor.
Sadly the more conservative universities are now the rare exception and the more ultra liberal ones are the norm. Some university cost could be reduced by eliminating those worthless courses I refer to as “hate USA and blame the white man for everything” courses. Locally what was once the state vocation school has become part of a community college. Still more affordable than a university, but now more expensive than it was when it was just a vocation school. My niece and nephew started off at the community college. Nephew moved onto the local university.
If you don't want a "liberal arts" education then yeah, go to community college or vocational school or tech school or get a certification.
I wanted a degree that would benefit my LIFE...not just get me a job.
If you don't want a "liberal arts" education then yeah, go to community college or vocational school or tech school or get a certification.
I wanted a degree that would benefit my LIFE...not just get me a job.
ROFL
I a person just reads the books that constitutes a "Liberal Arts" education and does not take the courses, what will they be missing? A teacher paraphrasing the books? I do find it amusing that "Liberal Arts" people make such a big deal about Fahrenheit 451.
Burn those books! LOL
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