Has life in America always felt like a race to beat the cost of living? (ethic, school)
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Yes, to me. I'm similar in age to you, and it has always felt that way.
I'm hesitant to say this is a new thing as the "rat race" concept is nothing new. However, I know the costs for certain things (e.g. education, housing, healthcare) are spiraling more and more out of control, even after adjusting for inflation...so I doubt it'll get any better any time soon.
You know why it's spiraling out of control?
Think about it.
Take college for an example.
What was drilled into our heads from kindergarten on? College is the end all be all to success.
When you're in highschool, how many colleges come with booths and a shady used car salesman to con you into jumping into their school following immediately upon graduation? Between being indoctrinated by teachers, employers seeking college degrees... viola.
When college admins parking lot have Mercedes Landover jaguars BMW Cadillac Lincoln etc luxury brand parked in the reserved for parking spaces... can't tell me the cost of an education has gone up because cost of paper has risen 2000%
Can't tell me the college is not for profit when I can copy the ISBN numbers off of the books and buy them on amazon for up to 100 bucks less new in the wrapper...
So what happens.
Starry eyed kids go off to college to take on debts they can not default on, in the name of a piece of paper.
Kids, listen, take 2 3 years off from school, work in a trade that appeals to you save your money, don't worry about the social life, that's a distraction. Refrain from having kids for mom and dad to feed and raise, save your money wisely. You may find out that career path isn't what it's cracked up to be instead of finding out halfway through a 4 year degree... save your money then go to school with what you can afford.
Get a whole generation to sit out from going to college right off of the bat eating that used car salesman's tactics of its such a good deal it'll be gone tomorrow. You shot yourself in the foot.
I'd bet get an entire generation to sit out going to school for 2 3 years, college tuitions will plummet due to lack of demand. I can promise that.
You know why it's spiraling out of control?
Think about it.
Take college for an example.
What was drilled into our heads from kindergarten on? College is the end all be all to success.
When you're in highschool, how many colleges come with booths and a shady used car salesman to con you into jumping into their school following immediately upon graduation? Between being indoctrinated by teachers, employers seeking college degrees... viola.
When college admins parking lot have Mercedes Landover jaguars BMW Cadillac Lincoln etc luxury brand parked in the reserved for parking spaces... can't tell me the cost of an education has gone up because cost of paper has risen 2000%
Can't tell me the college is not for profit when I can copy the ISBN numbers off of the books and buy them on amazon for up to 100 bucks less new in the wrapper...
So what happens.
Starry eyed kids go off to college to take on debts they can not default on, in the name of a piece of paper.
Kids, listen, take 2 3 years off from school, work in a trade that appeals to you save your money, don't worry about the social life, that's a distraction. Refrain from having kids for mom and dad to feed and raise, save your money wisely. You may find out that career path isn't what it's cracked up to be instead of finding out halfway through a 4 year degree... save your money then go to school with what you can afford.
Get a whole generation to sit out from going to college right off of the bat eating that used car salesman's tactics of its such a good deal it'll be gone tomorrow. You shot yourself in the foot.
I'd bet get an entire generation to sit out going to school for 2 3 years, college tuitions will plummet due to lack of demand. I can promise that.
Eh my degree has served me well, I would say the trick is recognizing that, in a world where everyone has a degree, degrees in the same thing everyone else takes (most of the time because it is easy) are worse than worthless. Now if instead, you pursue the hardest thing you can find, the courses that scare off most of the other people, when you get out your degree might end up actually being useful. Supply and demand. Search for fields that have strong intellectual or other barriers to entry that happen to align with your talents. I get that this will not be viable for everyone... you need some base level of marketable innate talent... be it a propensity for math, business, law, medicine, etc... but hard work can also overcome many of those barriers with brute force.
Yes, to me. I'm similar in age to you, and it has always felt that way.
I'm hesitant to say this is a new thing as the "rat race" concept is nothing new. However, I know the costs for certain things (e.g. education, housing, healthcare) are spiraling more and more out of control, even after adjusting for inflation...so I doubt it'll get any better any time soon.
Nobody gets rich by working for someone else. Middle class should be easy peasy though.
People get rich by working for themselves.
In this country, if one can't get to middle class, it's really his/her own fault or the parents' fault.
Further more the education system here sucks. It's backwards. Actually insulting would be a better term...
Here's the part where I laugh.
Poor math science and reading/literary scores.
But we're going to praise college as the almighty road to success...
How many here can read a ruler? Perform basic algebra without a calculator? Calculate area? Read a micrometer or caliper?
Sad when you ask someone within 5 years of my age what the length of something is and get back 27 and 4 little lines.
But they went to college though. They've got that degree. That means something right? LOL
Further more the education system here sucks. It's backwards. Actually insulting would be a better term...
Here's the part where I laugh.
Poor math science and reading/literary scores.
But we're going to praise college as the almighty road to success...
How many here can read a ruler? Perform basic algebra without a calculator? Calculate area? Read a micrometer or caliper?
Sad when you ask someone within 5 years of my age what the length of something is and get back 27 and 4 little lines.
But they went to college though. They've got that degree. That means something right? LOL
Like I said, those are the people who pursued the easy way out, cheese their way through pre-req classes with C averages and got their business degree with their graduating class of 1800 other people who did exactly the same thing. I am sure that the student who pursued the hardest classes, that has done well all the way up to calculus 4+, discrete math, high level statistics and geometry, high level science courses, etc would be able to do everything you just described and more. So you may just be looking for the right expertise in the wrong field.
Hell, lots of people will say that kind of math is useless, but I use high level math on a day to day basis
and do pretty good.
Recent example - figure out the intersection of 2 lines.
Easy enough, except the 2 lines are mapped on a globe - so now you seek out formulas for the intersection of arc projections across the surface of a sphere, getting a bit more complicated now.
Not crazy hard but beyond what most people would understand.
Some people may call it useless, I call it an extremely useful barrier to entry, decreasing competition for my area of expertise.
Last edited by zzzSnorlax; 09-26-2017 at 02:30 PM..
It's always felt like some sort of rat race to me (millenial too). More to advance in career than just to cover costs though. I can't blame anyone but myself because I keep choosing to live in high churn cities like SF, NYC, etc.
Are you on an employer plan? That cost sounds outrageous (but I'm no expert)!
You know why it's spiraling out of control?
Think about it.
Take college for an example.
What was drilled into our heads from kindergarten on? College is the end all be all to success.
When you're in highschool, how many colleges come with booths and a shady used car salesman to con you into jumping into their school following immediately upon graduation? Between being indoctrinated by teachers, employers seeking college degrees... viola.
When college admins parking lot have Mercedes Landover jaguars BMW Cadillac Lincoln etc luxury brand parked in the reserved for parking spaces... can't tell me the cost of an education has gone up because cost of paper has risen 2000%
Can't tell me the college is not for profit when I can copy the ISBN numbers off of the books and buy them on amazon for up to 100 bucks less new in the wrapper...
So what happens.
Starry eyed kids go off to college to take on debts they can not default on, in the name of a piece of paper.
Kids, listen, take 2 3 years off from school, work in a trade that appeals to you save your money, don't worry about the social life, that's a distraction. Refrain from having kids for mom and dad to feed and raise, save your money wisely. You may find out that career path isn't what it's cracked up to be instead of finding out halfway through a 4 year degree... save your money then go to school with what you can afford.
Get a whole generation to sit out from going to college right off of the bat eating that used car salesman's tactics of its such a good deal it'll be gone tomorrow. You shot yourself in the foot.
I'd bet get an entire generation to sit out going to school for 2 3 years, college tuitions will plummet due to lack of demand. I can promise that.
I'm aware of most of the issues you mention. I do know how these things came to be for education costs, which further leads me to believe that these costs are not going to be controlled any time soon.
Hmm...debatable. The middle class is disappearing. It's very apparent when you look at any data regarding income/wealth inequality.
North Korea doesn't have any income inequality.
Income and wealth inequity is a great thing. If everybody is equally rich, it literally means everybody is equally poor.
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