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And I'm quite familiar with people who use alleged concern for others to make themselves look good or feel good. Of course, often the poor don't benefit from such "charity" and remain as wretched as ever.
How many inner-city children have you mentored, thus far?
I can see your point but as a veteran it ticks me off to see how we spend tons of money on other countries but do very little for ours. I think a lot of it has to do with desire, it doesn't matter where you started, it's how you end up that makes the biggest difference. Parents I think play a big role and my wife and I have 2 boys and they come from a stable home which according to researchers, kids who come from stability have a greater chance at success then the ones who don't and I would just add that success has different meanings to each individual. Materialistic things are a poor judgment of success, at least in my opinion, however it can be a good measure of how much debt one has.
How many inner-city children have you mentored, thus far?
I didn't spend a lot of money on my education to mentor inner city children. Sorry, that deal is not what I signed up for. And it simply will not happen.
I can see your point but as a veteran it ticks me off to see how we spend tons of money on other countries but do very little for ours. I think a lot of it has to do with desire, it doesn't matter where you started, it's how you end up that makes the biggest difference. Parents I think play a big role and my wife and I have 2 boys and they come from a stable home which according to researchers, kids who come from stability have a greater chance at success then the ones who don't and I would just add that success has different meanings to each individual. Materialistic things are a poor judgment of success, at least in my opinion, however it can be a good measure of how much debt one has.
If its any consolation there's povery in every country in the world. And there are social issues everywhere too.
I didn't spend a lot of money on my education to mentor inner city children. Sorry, that deal is not what I signed up for. And it simply will not happen.
But you see I think that is where one of the problems lie, and I don't mean you personally. We as a society stopped mentoring, even if the work force there are very little programs left where a young kid can come in at ground level and work themselves up to the top.
When I was coming up through the ranks of careers, college was good to have but you didn't need it to succeed, and I still debate if you still do depending on what it is you want to be. I have always been a technical guy, I'm hands on, 4 years of college I didn't need, what I did was go 2 years for a STEM in electronics and computer technology. I don't want a desk job, I wanna go out in the field and work, diagnose, maintain, and repair is my interests. Sitting in a cubicle would drive me crazy.
Back on my point now, in my time there was tons of educational opportunities to learn a skilled trade or in some instances even white-collar management type fields. You come in at ground level, bust butt, work hard, and you moved up. Job coaching, apprenticeships, transitioning military skills into civilian occupations, there was programs for it.
Today there is no way I would want to be a young kid just out of college or military because there is nothing for them. I see it with my own kids and they are still very young, one just graduated high school and the other is graduating in 2015.
I've been in the work force for a long time, I've been both military and college, and if I had to give advice to any young kid today I would say that if you're not going to go to college for a technology or medical type profession then you would be better off military or skilled trade.
But you see I think that is where one of the problems lie, and I don't mean you personally. We as a society stopped mentoring, even if the work force there are very little programs left where a young kid can come in at ground level and work themselves up to the top.
When I was coming up through the ranks of careers, college was good to have but you didn't need it to succeed, and I still debate if you still do depending on what it is you want to be. I have always been a technical guy, I'm hands on, 4 years of college I didn't need, what I did was go 2 years for a STEM in electronics and computer technology. I don't want a desk job, I wanna go out in the field and work, diagnose, maintain, and repair is my interests. Sitting in a cubicle would drive me crazy.
Back on my point now, in my time there was tons of educational opportunities to learn a skilled trade or in some instances even white-collar management type fields. You come in at ground level, bust butt, work hard, and you moved up. Job coaching, apprenticeships, transitioning military skills into civilian occupations, there was programs for it.
Today there is no way I would want to be a young kid just out of college or military because there is nothing for them. I see it with my own kids and they are still very young, one just graduated high school and the other is graduating in 2015.
I've been in the work force for a long time, I've been both military and college, and if I had to give advice to any young kid today I would say that if you're not going to go to college for a technology or medical type profession then you would be better off military or skilled trade.
I think people don't understand what education is for, and don't understand how and why people get hired.
For jobs that pay lots of money a major factor in getting hired is your social connections. You have a number of CEOs who came from wealthy families who after getting whatever liberal arts degree, went to law school or MBA school and ended up with careers in the corporate world. Condoleeza Rice was a professor of Eastern European studies at Stanford. She got to know Brent Scowcroft, and he hooked up with a job in the first Bush administration.
Many of the people in Hollywood behind the scenes have degrees too. (Director, agent, producer, screenwriter, studio exe, development exec, manager, etc.) Industry referral and connections are very important in getting those jobs. The same for advertising, investment banking, and the tech sector.
Having personal connections can even be important in knowing what jobs even exist or how to apply for them.
Your thought process sounds very working class, go to school and become a nurse, doctor, engineer. There are many jobs beyond those that do require a degree and some pay much more. But in these jobs its not so much about your major, its about your ability to navigate that industry.
One other thing about education. You actually need to like the subject your studying. If you aren't good at math, engineering is not for you. If you like writing essays, then English, History, etc are majors for you. And there's plenty to do in those fields. You could teach. You could go for a phd and become a professor. You could be a paralegal in a law office. You could get another office job. You could go for law school or MBA school. You could work in publishing or film.
I didn't spend a lot of money on my education to mentor inner city children. Sorry, that deal is not what I signed up for. And it simply will not happen.
I've been in the work force for a long time, I've been both military and college, and if I had to give advice to any young kid today I would say that if you're not going to go to college for a technology or medical type profession then you would be better off military or skilled trade.
The scarier part is that even if u get a STEM degree and even do a few internships, even then theres a high likelihood you wont get hired into something permanent. having up to 2 years of experience isnt enough in a industry that wants @ least 5-7 years of it. Not to mention the technical skills you really need to succeed most of these college programs dont teach them. Granted, a BS in Engineering Technology (esp Electrical Computer or Mechanical) is HIGHLY underrated and it'll teach you engineering and technical skills VERY FEW traditional engineering programs teach....in a good economy you'd hit the ground running but now, the lack of experience factor is inevitable.
the military for years was a great way to come up in society but now its becoming less and less of an option because of the drawdown. Theyre looking to downsize by as many as 200,000 troops and service members if not more.
I'll end this post by saying that people, esp on these boards, that blabber about people being in hard circumstances b/c its their fault.......
its real easy to tell someone to just go get a job/education, and work hard to get out of poverty when they themselves never had to do such a thing. If they had to come up the hard way, most of these people wouldnt say what they say about it.
I think people don't understand what education is for, and don't understand how and why people get hired.
For jobs that pay lots of money a major factor in getting hired is your social connections. You have a number of CEOs who came from wealthy families who after getting whatever liberal arts degree, went to law school or MBA school and ended up with careers in the corporate world. Condoleeza Rice was a professor of Eastern European studies at Stanford. She got to know Brent Scowcroft, and he hooked up with a job in the first Bush administration.
Many of the people in Hollywood behind the scenes have degrees too. (Director, agent, producer, screenwriter, studio exe, development exec, manager, etc.) Industry referral and connections are very important in getting those jobs. The same for advertising, investment banking, and the tech sector.
Having personal connections can even be important in knowing what jobs even exist or how to apply for them.
Your thought process sounds very working class, go to school and become a nurse, doctor, engineer. There are many jobs beyond those that do require a degree and some pay much more. But in these jobs its not so much about your major, its about your ability to navigate that industry.
One other thing about education. You actually need to like the subject your studying. If you aren't good at math, engineering is not for you. If you like writing essays, then English, History, etc are majors for you. And there's plenty to do in those fields. You could teach. You could go for a phd and become a professor. You could be a paralegal in a law office. You could get another office job. You could go for law school or MBA school. You could work in publishing or film.
A lot of those jobs aren't realistic expectations though, There are many inspiring writers and producers working for 9 dollars an hour, for every 1 that makes it, there is hundreds that don't. The internet has killed most writing jobs and there are many newspapers just holding on, even giants like the New York Times and Washington Post have seen better days.
Education is a very big investment in todays world so you need a return on that investment or you just wasted a whole bunch of money. As students and graduates we're basically buying a credential that says I've been trained to do whatever job it is you're interested in. If you spent 30k on 4 years of college and come out making 60k that makes sense, if you spend 60k on 4 years of college and come out making only 30k then that does not make sense. In that scenario your debt is higher then your earnings, in which case can effect your credit score when your debt to income ratio is factored in. They probably aren't telling the kids that when they sign up for college.
Some degrees are simply useless, and there is a big difference between being educated and having common sense, or as the saying goes, book smart common sense dumb.
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