Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The reason no one has jobs is because of philosophy class?
With record low unemployment, how can you say "no one has jobs"?
Quote:
Originally Posted by redguard57
I recently inherited my uncle's papers. He kept a lot of his college notes in boxes. He went to Princeton University from 1959-1963, majored in economics. What struck me, were how easy his STEM classes were. The stuff he was doing in chemistry class -- at PRINCETON, mind you -- was similar to what I did in 10th grade high school chemistry.
In the 1950s and before, most undergraduate Ivy League courses were "Gentleman B" courses. If you showed up to class and you were a gentleman, you were awarded a "B".
Instead, take a look at what 1950s undergraduate chemistry was at, say, CalTech or MIT or UChicago or Oxford.
Today, of course, there has been massive grade inflation across the country. The reasons are well documented: students rate professors and give higher ratings to professors who give out higher grades. Professors with higher student ratings are more likely to receive promotions & tenure. Professors, acting in their own best interest, give out higher grades than they did in the 50s - even at the Gentleman B universities.
Much of that is underemployment. Remember, the median individual wage in the US is only 33K.
The layoffs are starting and will only accelerate as the Fed will implement necessary pain to the economy. It's gonna take more than $10k to heal for most families that will soon get the pink slips. As the great economic boom the last 10+ years will now require painful job cutting.
With record low unemployment, how can you say "no one has jobs"?
Jobs that pay their student loans. Which I doubt they can find one because they read a philosophy book in one class.
Quote:
In the 1950s and before, most undergraduate Ivy League courses were "Gentleman B" courses. If you showed up to class and you were a gentleman, you were awarded a "B".
Instead, take a look at what 1950s undergraduate chemistry was at, say, CalTech or MIT or UChicago or Oxford.
My point was that the humanities have been watered down. Not the other way around. We obsess about STEM now; clearly you've never set foot in a high school in 20 years, how much they obsess about it. Humanities majors are dying at colleges around the country for lack of enrollment because we've gotten a constant drumbeat for 50 years that ALL of that material is "useless." All people hear about is underemployed baristas with their humanities degrees (even though this isn't true - the food service industry only had about 10% of its workforce with college degrees below management).
Quote:
Today, of course, there has been massive grade inflation across the country. The reasons are well documented: students rate professors and give higher ratings to professors who give out higher grades. Professors with higher student ratings are more likely to receive promotions & tenure. Professors, acting in their own best interest, give out higher grades than they did in the 50s - even at the Gentleman B universities.
That's what we call a feedback loop. We could fix that but I bet we won't.
Last edited by redguard57; 08-29-2022 at 02:56 PM..
Higher Education today has little financial incentive to ensure that their graduates have in-demand skills and education. Universities are paid up front cash-on-the-barrel-head, and our government is now writing off the cost on the back end.
This is indeed not the way to finance it. And notably, no other developed country finances college this way. Because it's stupid.
Quote:
I don't know if the above is the best way - there are other ways to give universities proper incentives.
I'm curious how making the universities co-signers of student loans will be any different than making college tuition-free?
If it's a public university system... what you're saying is, the STATES, and thus their taxpayers, are on the hook for those loans. At that point we should just dispense with the loans.
In the 1950s and before, most undergraduate Ivy League courses were "Gentleman B" courses. If you showed up to class and you were a gentleman, you were awarded a "B".
Accurately, it was a "Gentlemen's C" - and no one got it for just showing up in class.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redguard57
I recently inherited my uncle's papers. He kept a lot of his college notes in boxes. He went to Princeton University from 1959-1963, majored in economics. What struck me, were how easy his STEM classes were. The stuff he was doing in chemistry class -- at PRINCETON, mind you -- was similar to what I did in 10th grade high school chemistry.
What was harder, were his humanities. He was reading material in literature, history, etc.. and wow ESPECIALLY foreign language, that was far FAR beyond what I did in undergrad college. The difficulty of what he did in 200-level French blew all the language classes I ever took out of the water. I would have failed his French classes, HARD. His liberal arts & social sciences such as political science, etc... were also considerably harder & required more challenging readings than what I had in college in the 00s. Reminded me more of what I had in grad school.
This is so true. Back when a Gentlemen's C was a thing, the worst insult was "he knows a little Latin and less Greek."
Quote:
Originally Posted by TMSRetired
Why do you say that ? Student loans were nationalized under Obama.
It's the Federal Government that is giving out these loans now.
Quote:
There are two choices of loans available to borrowers. Federal loans, which are government-backed loans with lower interest rates. And there are private loans which are loans not guaranteed by the government, with much higher interest rates.
Lockert: “You know, there's always a recommendation that you should take out federal student loans first because they have robust and generous benefits for the borrowers. They have fixed interest rates, they have income-driven repayment.”
But federal loans have lower caps than private loans. Undergraduates can only borrow up to $12,500 annually and $57,500 total. However, the average cost of tuition is $35,720 annually. Getting federal loans can be like getting a gift card for $25 dollars to Prada, which is why you'll need another gift card.
Our oldest and his wife barely qualify for the $10K amount. They said their repayment durations for their Law School debt will be decreased by one year with this plan.
They have already been repaying for 12 years.
They attended the least expensive Tier 1 School.
The school was a State university.
The state had very liberal citizenship rules at the time, so 5 of their 6 semesters were at the lower In-State tuition rate.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
