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The way things are now, the smartest kids will skip college and become plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, and other tradesmen. Even aside from the $50,000 or more college savings, I have no doubt these tradesmen will earn more over their lifetimes than the vast majority of college grads.
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The only college-educated fields now that seem to have a shortage of graduates is in the harder versions of engineering, like chemical engineering. Few college students want to undertake these degrees because they are difficult and demanding, and will require 6 or more hours a day of studying (much more on weekends) even if your IQ is 140 or more. The down side to this is that engineers are badly paid nowadays, with lousy benefits, while being expected to work insane workweeks and never take vacation. It's not a career any current engineer will recommend to young adults.
I can also state from 25 years of experience in the construction field (my husband and I started our own Corp. after he had 30 years of experience in every field of construction around) that today's engineers, architects, and almost all of the government employees granting permits, etc., don't do a very good job. They jump into these positions straight from "receiving their degrees" and never accumulate the years of "experience on the job" that it takes to understand what they might have learned in some classroom taught by some "professor" who also has never had "experience on the job" and how to eliminate the crap they were taught. We never received a set of "approved" prints that were correct; i.e., didn't have some ridiculous mistake(s) in them that either would not work or, many times if built to those prints, would be dangerous. My husband, who handled the field, always had to "correct on the job" the screw ups those college-educated, degree packing "experts" made.
No. Want to crash our economy by making our workforce almost entirely unskilled? Taking government aid out of college education would do it. We NEED it in order to keep our workforce competitive with other countries.
Plus, government aid actually entices students to perform better. I couldn't have afforded college without it, but I had to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep my aid.
First I think a researched and well thought investigation into how all of this money is spent is warrented. I firmly believe they drive up the cost of education and pad the wallets of employees of the universities.
And well some get to reap the benifits going to school for free the rest of us in middle america are flipping the bill.. My kids wont get anything for school and there is NO WAY I can afford college for all of them. They will have to take on massive debt because other "less fortunate" people are going free.
ANYONE should and can afford to go to college. You can get loans, you can work and save, and you can work AND go to school.
There are many affordable colleges around the country.
Our desire to have a well educated workforce is right. But our education dilema in this coutry I do not believe to be an "education" problem but rather a culture and family value issue..
There is a serious lack of choices for parents who want the best education for their children and government tinkering has accomplished nothing! The FEDERAL education dept has done nothing but steal money from taxpayers!
Schools that fail vs schools that succeed are easily tied to the families and family life the children come from.. Money will not fix that either.
And as a society we are so politically divided and motivated.. Countries around the world are producing scientists while we produce lawyers..
I would like to scale EVERYTHING back. cut the dept of education all together.
People always say how Rich the US is... we are sooo rich!....
Yes our open and free market system has achieved much over the last several hundred years but we are not NORWAY and Denmark... those countries are small, gentrified, and wealthy in resources.. Population of a small state in this country. With their influx of immigration we are starting to see them have many difficulties..
Yes, let's do that. That's when our "Founding Fathers" were educated. Remember? Those folks that put together the foundation for our great country including the Constitution, a document that has shown itself to have such longevity and foresight that it is still the best document ever created throughout the history of the world as far as giving Society a fantastic foundation!
Yeah, and most of their fellow countryment were illiterate, which was what I was getting at. Let's keep it for the elite, and not let the masses learn anything. The founding fathers themselves did not intend for civilization as they knew it to make no further progress.
I think there should be no need for government student loans or financial aid because college should be totally free -- 100% funded by taxpayer money, just like it is in Norway and Sweden. We can start a national sales tax to pay for this.
No. I got through college with a government loan... It is paid back with interest. A job helped me get through, but there was no way it could have paid for the entire ordeal unless I took 10 years to get my degree. No thanks, but thank you all for the loan. I appreciate it.
I, too, was helped by a gov't loan - couldn't have done it without it, even with a job while in school and two jobs during summer breaks.
I believe the government should provide tuition, books, room (on or off campus with limits) and a meals stipend for as much education as the student desires to have including post
doctoral studies. The cost of this program would be recovered by placing a surcharge on the student's future income above and beyond the progressive income tax I have proposed elsewhere. Thus the government would have more money being returned by the economically successful student while the unemployable philosopher would have had a nearly free ride.
I believe the government should provide tuition, books, room (on or off campus with limits) and a meals stipend for as much education as the student desires to have including post
doctoral studies. The cost of this program would be recovered by placing a surcharge on the student's future income above and beyond the progressive income tax I have proposed elsewhere. Thus the government would have more money being returned by the economically successful student while the unemployable philosopher would have had a nearly free ride.
Yeah, and most of their fellow countryment were illiterate, which was what I was getting at. Let's keep it for the elite, and not let the masses learn anything. The founding fathers themselves did not intend for civilization as they knew it to make no further progress.
Wow! That's the height of a foolish insult based upon lack of knowledge.
No, their "fellow countrymen" were very schooled on how to grow, preserve and put food on the table 365 days a year without refrigeration/freezers/microwaves, how to put meat on the table and protect their families and way of life and much more. Those are the people who understood and worked with nature, elements and used their brains and hands to move forward to the creation of all the wonders we enjoy in life today. They could "read" weather, people, conditions, etc., etc., whether they might be able to read the written word or not. They were of superior knowledge on the basics of life. They were tough and smart without all the government "nets" of today. Many traveled West and built the rest of our country with nothing but their own hands and what nature provided. Whew, could write a book on this one!
How many of today's society do you think could survive without electricity, vehicles/transportation, houses they would have to build themselves, farming without tractors, fuel, etc., etc.
Wow! That's the height of a foolish insult based upon lack of knowledge.
No, their "fellow countrymen" were very schooled on how to grow, preserve and put food on the table 365 days a year without refrigeration/freezers/microwaves, how to put meat on the table and protect their families and way of life and much more. Those are the people who understood and worked with nature, elements and used their brains and hands to move forward to the creation of all the wonders we enjoy in life today. They could "read" weather, people, conditions, etc., etc., whether they might be able to read the written word or not. They were of superior knowledge on the basics of life. They were tough and smart without all the government "nets" of today. Many traveled West and built the rest of our country with nothing but their own hands and what nature provided. Whew, could write a book on this one!
How many of today's society do you think could survive without electricity, vehicles/transportation, houses they would have to build themselves, farming without tractors, fuel, etc., etc.
That's just for starters.
Wow! Way to glorify the misery of the past.
How many of those well schooled, fellow countryman survived without electricity, vehicles/transportation, proper housing, safe food, antibiotics, etc? Not many. The average life expectancy was around 35. Infant mortality was high and women commonly died in childbirth. You go back and live during colonial times, I'll take 2011 any day.
Wow! That's the height of a foolish insult based upon lack of knowledge.
No, their "fellow countrymen" were very schooled on how to grow, preserve and put food on the table 365 days a year without refrigeration/freezers/microwaves, how to put meat on the table and protect their families and way of life and much more. Those are the people who understood and worked with nature, elements and used their brains and hands to move forward to the creation of all the wonders we enjoy in life today. They could "read" weather, people, conditions, etc., etc., whether they might be able to read the written word or not. They were of superior knowledge on the basics of life. They were tough and smart without all the government "nets" of today. Many traveled West and built the rest of our country with nothing but their own hands and what nature provided. Whew, could write a book on this one!
How many of today's society do you think could survive without electricity, vehicles/transportation, houses they would have to build themselves, farming without tractors, fuel, etc., etc.
That's just for starters.
George Washington's "doctors" bled him and probably killed him. Women were regarded as chattel; the founding fathers who some worship like gods didn't even give women the right to vote, and they would not abolish slavery. People were tried and executed for being "witches". Some people actually thought the moon was made from green cheese.
If you think the "common man" (and it's usally expressed that way, not the common people) were smarter than we are today, take a look at the life expectancy in 1776 or thereabouts.
I don't think I'm the one lacking knowledge.
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