I’m always deeply skeptical of this insistence that college offers “little benefit”. But I’ll happily concede that it functions as a bureaucratic hurdle, designed to favor the historically wealthy and socially entrenched over the impoverished and recently arrived.
The costs aren’t really what’s changed. It’s who bares the costs. Teaching a student today isn’t materially more expensive than it was 30 years ago. We’ve just shifted the demand for school revenues from state budgets to family pocketbooks as the number of students entering college has swelled.
Don’t forget college sports. If your parents are early Gen X or Boomers, college sports weren’t quite as big a deal - they weren’t quite as commercialized until the mid-80s, which started salaries for coaches and staff flying.
In many states, the highest paid public employee is a college football coach.
In my experience I see a large part of the college degree is showing you can reliably show up and be in a state to use your brain. The knowledge you get is mostly not in classes but in the labs, most people don’t regularly do tests in work, the build things design things analyze things etc. Yes you learn some stuff in class but when you try to do it, fail, struggle, then figure out what’s wrong, correct it, and it works… That you will remember. It’s like watching a YouTube tutorial vs actually doing a task.
Four years, tens of thousands of dollars, and charades about studying math, literature and history, to get a certified as “able to show up to work sober.”
If that’s your idea of education, you’re part of the problem.
No, that’s not education. My point is from a job perspective that’s what’s most important. Most jobs won’t require anything you learn in calculus III or classical literature.
Let’s say you are getting a EE degree. In a lab while learning about ac circuits, learn to play with an oscilloscope and learn how to really use it. That’s most of the value. That’s something you will likely use in your job.
I’m always deeply skeptical of this insistence that college offers “little benefit”. But I’ll happily concede that it functions as a bureaucratic hurdle, designed to favor the historically wealthy and socially entrenched over the impoverished and recently arrived.
No, the added costs have little benefit.
College itself is great. The added costs have not added to the experience.
The costs aren’t really what’s changed. It’s who bares the costs. Teaching a student today isn’t materially more expensive than it was 30 years ago. We’ve just shifted the demand for school revenues from state budgets to family pocketbooks as the number of students entering college has swelled.
Well, it kind of is, though. Just look at the massively bloated administration budgets/staff.
Don’t forget college sports. If your parents are early Gen X or Boomers, college sports weren’t quite as big a deal - they weren’t quite as commercialized until the mid-80s, which started salaries for coaches and staff flying.
In many states, the highest paid public employee is a college football coach.
It’s the hockey coach here 🙋♂️
In my experience I see a large part of the college degree is showing you can reliably show up and be in a state to use your brain. The knowledge you get is mostly not in classes but in the labs, most people don’t regularly do tests in work, the build things design things analyze things etc. Yes you learn some stuff in class but when you try to do it, fail, struggle, then figure out what’s wrong, correct it, and it works… That you will remember. It’s like watching a YouTube tutorial vs actually doing a task.
Four years, tens of thousands of dollars, and charades about studying math, literature and history, to get a certified as “able to show up to work sober.”
If that’s your idea of education, you’re part of the problem.
No, that’s not education. My point is from a job perspective that’s what’s most important. Most jobs won’t require anything you learn in calculus III or classical literature.
Let’s say you are getting a EE degree. In a lab while learning about ac circuits, learn to play with an oscilloscope and learn how to really use it. That’s most of the value. That’s something you will likely use in your job.