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Post date: Feb 24, 2013 7:49:52 PM
Years ago a person went to a college or university for a specific reason, to improve themselves. Today many still go for the same reason, but now days more and more students are graduating with degrees that are meaningless in the real world and with no new meaningful skills. They have ended up indenturing themselves for many years to come for something that has no real value. This raises the question, why are the colleges issuing worthless degrees? [1]
What constitute a worthless course? Well it could be a course like Start Trek vs Theology. If you was hiring people and a person walked in with a such a resume. Would this sway you in any way to hire this person. Especially if the job was something like a secretary position or a carpenter? What field could this be applied to? There are many courses I think I would enjoy but I would need to work them in as more for personal desire and not as an overall job skill. It would have to be justified by me being able to afford it vs borrowing money for it. For example I think I would like to learn some Latin to help me to have a better knowledge of word etymology, but that can not justify going into debt because I don't have any need for Latin in any of my jobs. It isn't going to make me a better Industrial Electrician. The answer to this would to study more in my free time using free resources like the internet etc. There are many free sources to learn from. [2]
For example OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials for colleges and universities.
As for what has happen with the institutes of higher learning, we need to go back and look at a bit of history. Years ago a person could go to college, work a part time job, still afford a clunker. Then it changed. The first and leading root is simple, easy money. When money became too easy for students to obtain to go to college, this infusion of money soon led to colleges going on a spending spree. This was compounded by the baby boom and the myth that everyone needed go to college which swelled the rolls. Colleges started to build more and more buildings and expanding. Years later they are saddled with aging infrastructure, debts as the baby boom is over.
Today most colleges are forced to keep their rolls filled with fresh blood, all in an effort to their head afloat. Also they are now charging more and more. [3] So much that a person can never hope to go to college unless they get a student loan, a scholarship, or have rich parents. To add insult to injury, colleges are now offering new "feel good" courses that only satisfies the ego but never helps to fill the grad's belly. In desperation many colleges are now competing by offering crazy things like nightclubs, spas etc. One student said it was like a never ending spring break.
Too many students, fresh out of high school, are taking school loans to go to college. Most have never been taught any responsibly with their finances. And most have a unrealistic short term view of how they are going to pay off their loan. On top of that, they major in some area that will never have any value to potential employers. Are colleges taking advantage of this? I think so.
I believe most people should look at going to a local trade school first, unless they are planning on being a surgeon or going into an engineering field (And I mean a real engineer, not a political correct title like a Sanitary Engineer a.k.a a Janitor)
Another recommendation is, if you are wanting a job that you can do at home, like Computer Programming, first consider learning a field that is more physical in nature as a backup like Computer Networking. The reason I say this is most work at home jobs can be easily outsourced to another country, but it is more difficult for people thousands miles away to plug cables into a server. My point is, diversify your skill set. If you lose your job to something like outsourcing, then you have something to fall back on.
If you are planning on going to college, first stop and think Is this something I can learn at a local trade school? Is this something that going to make the interviewer remember you from out of the forty other college grads that he interviewed? Just because the degree is relative to the field may not be enough for it to be valuable. Remember what the number one thing that makes something valuable. Rarity. Diamonds are valued not just for their beauty but because of their rarity. There are more than enough diamonds currently locked away that has never been circulated, and if they all were to be released into the wild, they would overnight become cheap baubles. A hundred years ago, a person with a college degree was revered and looked up to because of the rarity of his/her degree. But today college degrees are not rare. Just because if you get a college degree will not necessary make you valuable. Especially if there are hundreds more out of work college grads with the same degree. [4] So this step needs a good bit of planning.
Just because you love a certain field, does not mean you can jump in without a plan and will come out on top. It is great if you can work in the field you love, but always have that backup plan. For example if you love teaching, you may want to consider several options to just getting a degree in Early Childhood. The number of teachers in the country is at an all time high, which I feel can not be continually sustained under our current financial situation. For too long we have tried to fix our educational problems by throwing money at it. It is going to take more than money and just hiring more and more teachers. .
Since 1970, the public school workforce has roughly doubled—to 6.4 million from 3.3 million—and two-thirds of those new
hires are teachers or teachers' aides. Over the same period, enrollment rose by a tepid 8.5%. Employment has thus grown
11 times faster than enrollment. -- Andrew J. Coulson, [5]
I can make my living working more than one trade. I am a decent carpenter, computer programmer in multiple languages, a fair welder (Went to welding school, just haven't did much welding except in my workshop) , and a certified Industrial Electrician with a good background in electronics. As you can see, if I can't find work in one field I can shift to another skill. I may not enjoy one as much as another or make as much money. But it is comforting to know they are there.
You can follow up more on this on my other article: The Importance Of A Diploma/Degree
References
Worthless Degrees?
Rising Cost of College Tuition
$15,876 Average tuition, room and board (for in-state students) at the nation's four-year public colleges and universities for an academic year (2008-09). That was more than double the cost in 1990.
Source: U.S. National Center for Education Statistics as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011, Table 289 http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
$40,633 Average tuition, room and board at the nation's four-year private colleges and universities for one academic year (2008-09). That also was more than double the cost in 1990.
Source: U.S. National Center for Education Statistics as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011, Table 289 http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Rising numbers of College Enrollment
19.7 million The projected number of students enrolled in the nation's colleges and universities this fall. This is up from 14.4 million 20 years ago.
Source: U.S. National Center for Education Statistics as cited in the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011, Table 215 http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
America Has Too Many Teachers - Wall Street Journal
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