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Does America Need More BA Degrees?

Posted on 07/29/2016 8:05:55 AM PDT by pinochet

If you were to give career advice to a high school student of average intellectual ability (he is not going to medical or engineering school), what kind of advice would it be?

We have a shortage of well-trained car mechanics, plumbers, electricians, painters, roofers, and the like. But we have all these BA graduates walking around jobless.


TOPICS: Education; Society
KEYWORDS: badegrees; jobs; skills
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To: Borges

They have work-arounds for it. The “behavioral based” interview, the aptitude tests devised by psychologists, etc.


41 posted on 07/29/2016 8:31:08 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: sagar

I wasn’t posting it because of what he was protesting, just that he has always been a protestor which led him into politics.


42 posted on 07/29/2016 8:31:37 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Borges

“A lot of employers require an undergrad degree. If employers were allowed to give general aptitude tests they would drop this requirement.”

Aptitude tests are by definition racist


43 posted on 07/29/2016 8:32:14 AM PDT by dsrtsage (One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%en)
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To: pinochet

At some point employers were no longer permitted to give IQ or intelligence tests to new recruits. The degrees became a cheap proxy for intelligence, as at least a demonstration of some basic skills, since a high school diploma did not guarantee this any more. A multi-trillion dollar scam because intelligence tests are “racist.”


44 posted on 07/29/2016 8:32:46 AM PDT by Blue Devil Reaganite (Left lane is for passing. Hurry up and then move over.)
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To: pinochet
I only techncially have a high school diploma.

Went to college but did not finish my degree.

I have saved in my 401k since I was 23. I am now 54.

$408,000,000 accumulated.

I know its not enough to retire but heck for a HS diploma I should do OK save the govt I do not trust......

The degree has value if you can support yourself with it.

In contrast my niece is in Medical school, my nephew, 27 has a PHD in Environmental Engineering and is one of 5 worldwide expert on a certain code...very proud of them but they had scholarships too.

I don't have kids but encourage many friends with kids to consider trade school.....

45 posted on 07/29/2016 8:33:21 AM PDT by Uversabound (Our Military past and present: Our Highest example of Brotherhood of Man & Doing God's Will)
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To: fireman15

Tell them if they want to save the world, study engineering. They can invent devices to solve the problems that environmentalists can only fret about.

The looming environmental disaster of the late 1800’s was solved by the invention of the car, not by banning horses.


46 posted on 07/29/2016 8:35:44 AM PDT by Ellendra (Those who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with.)
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To: pinochet

We need to stop letting kids go to college for free. Yes, using student loans to pay all your expenses is free, because most kids going to college that way don’t even think about paying back the loans while they are in school.

If you have to pay for it, you will take it more seriously and get something out of it, and you’ll graduate with actual skills and abilities that are useful.

If you go for free, you’ll have a good time and party and go to just enough classes to stay on the gravy train and you’ll graduate with a big debt but very little else.

Every student should need to have a job, work and earn money in order to qualify for a student loan, and they should be required to pay for part of their college expenses (say half), in order to get loans for the other half. Then they will take it seriously and actually work. And the ones who have no business in college won’t go.


47 posted on 07/29/2016 8:36:39 AM PDT by pb929
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To: Uversabound
$408,000,000 accumulated.

To paraphrase: If you can't stand in front of it with an AR-15 and defend it, you don't own it. (See MF Global) Nice job. Protect yourself.

48 posted on 07/29/2016 8:38:45 AM PDT by Stentor (Every time I read "Trump needs..." I release the catch on my Browning.)
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To: Uversabound

> $408,000,000 accumulated.

That’s pretty good for a 401K. ;-)


49 posted on 07/29/2016 8:40:09 AM PDT by glorgau
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To: Robert DeLong

Well, Bernie is doing the right thing in that old picture, protesting segregation. Of course, the left used civil rights as a cover for other agendas...


50 posted on 07/29/2016 8:41:06 AM PDT by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: sagar

“This assumes that the unemployment among college graduates is higher than the non-graduates. Is that true?”

Dunno the stats for sure, but I would bet that anybody with skills in plumbing, or electrician, or any other solid skill, is in much more demand than any recent graduate with the word “studies”, or “science” in his degree title. Its not like demand for plumbers goes down over time, especially with this generation that requires safety warnings on screw drivers to prevent them from jamming them into their eye sockets


51 posted on 07/29/2016 8:41:50 AM PDT by dsrtsage (One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%en)
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To: Uversabound

You can’t afford to retire on $408 MILION?

Where the heck do you live? On the moon?


52 posted on 07/29/2016 8:43:15 AM PDT by arl295
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To: pinochet

I would advise your hypothetical student to go to college and study science and to finance their education by a job that involves a trade skill.


53 posted on 07/29/2016 8:46:26 AM PDT by Tau Food (Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.)
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To: Wilhelm Tell

Yes he was, but now of course some blacks want segregation to come back by taking over southern states and making them exclusively black states. No whites allowed.


54 posted on 07/29/2016 8:47:11 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: Borges

Employers are allowed to test for skills directly related to the job they are applying for.

When I applied for a cashiering job back in college, they were allowed to test my math skills. They were not allowed to give a math test to the guy applying to stock shelves.

I’m in favor of aptitude tests, they weed out a lot of the “administrative passers” who got their degrees without actually learning anything.


55 posted on 07/29/2016 8:47:39 AM PDT by Ellendra (Those who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with.)
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To: Blue Devil Reaganite

The Supreme Court decision Griggs v. Duke Power in the early 1970s was the turning point. Competency/intelligence tests were deemed discriminatory, so a college degree became the substitute.


56 posted on 07/29/2016 8:48:03 AM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")
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To: arl295

oh well I guess the education makes you all error proof!

LOL

Sorry my mistake.....four hundred thousand...oh you knew...

LOL

GO TRUMP! SAVE MY 401K FROM THE GOVT.....

HAPPY FRIDAY....

lol


57 posted on 07/29/2016 8:49:41 AM PDT by Uversabound (Our Military past and present: Our Highest example of Brotherhood of Man & Doing God's Will)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

EMPLOYERS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. Go read Griggs vs Duke Power. The problem is the courts.


58 posted on 07/29/2016 8:50:41 AM PDT by achilles2000 ("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")
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To: GOPJ
The BA of today is the high school diploma of yesteryear...

Somewhat true. At one time, a high school diploma meant that you could read, write and reason; do basic math and had a fairly broad knowledge of science, history, civics, literature and the arts. Unfortunately, a BA does not necessarily guarantee that anymore.

Some years ago, I had a boss who insisted on hiring only college grads for assistants in the office. I found that it was hit or miss as to whether they were intelligent employees capable of solving problems with reason. When I got the responsibility of hiring, I based the decision on how well they could think, reason and communicate.

59 posted on 07/29/2016 8:50:44 AM PDT by DeFault User
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To: Buckeye McFrog

My 1/2 Hispanic niece who could have probably had a free univ education chose votech.. welding....been gainfully employed for 3+years.


60 posted on 07/29/2016 8:52:19 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Alinsky.....it's what's for dinner: with Cloward Piven for Dessert)
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