Your mom goes to college.
Posted on 08/17/2012 11:22:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As fall approaches, hundreds of thousands of high school students are being asked that nagging question: “What college are you going to?” These students would be wise to follow the advice of Peter Thiel, a billionaire Silicon Valley investor. For most of us, college is an expensive waste of time.
Not only is entrepreneurship a nearly impossible skill to truly teach at college since true entrepreneurship boils down to risk-taking (read: outside the box thinking) and self-motivation (read: not a classroom environment) — but enormous amounts of student debt severely limit the options of graduates in the marketplace by forcing them to take jobs that cover loan costs and provide for basic living costs.
This may be the ultimate folly of college education in my eyes. How many bright, young people are stuck in the rat race of professional jobs, or worse government, who are simply unable to follow their passions, be entrepreneurial, or develop something socially useful because they took on $100,000 in student loans when they were 18 and they just are not able to take the risk due to that looming $600/mo tuition payment.
This is why the Thiel Foundation is offering $100,000 scholarships to budding entrepreneurs to drop out of college for two years and develop their ideas. At least 20 students are awarded the scholarship each year, with some impressive results.
40% of full-time students fail to get a degree in six years, and with roughly one of three college graduates in a job the Labor Department says requires less than a bachelor’s degree, it is clear that our emphasis on the need to go to college is misguided.
People are spending a large amount of time getting degrees for jobs that may never be there.
Today, the proportion of society’s resources going to fund higher education has tripled during the last 50 years. College, which continues to require a larger portion of families income, is artificially expensive because through government-backing of loans and grants, money is essentially dropped out of helicopters over universities, which proceed to use the money extremely inefficiently.
And while accreditation-issues and government regulations make it challenging to start a new universities, demand continues to skyrocket due to the availability of credit, which allows universities to keep tuition costs rising much faster than inflation.
Sound familiar? People had the same incentive structure when they took on debt for the American dream of owning a home that caused the last bubble.
As a country, we now have more than $1 trillion in outstanding student debt. As defaults continue to rise, this burden will become unsustainable, and we will see another financial crash similar to the 2007 housing collapse.
Accomplished graduate students may believe their current teaching position will lead to becoming an Associate Professorship. But in the era of Obama and with an uncertain economy, tenured professors will stay in those positions longer than ever, prohibiting universities from hiring young talent.
Remember also that there are 15 years or more of graduates ahead of you who are also aiming for those academic jobs.
As an employer myself I am eager to hire bright employees with entrepreneurial spirit and motivation to do more better — and really pay no mind to college degrees.
After all, the technology our company utilizes for clients evolves faster than professors could ever hope to keep up with - especially those who have no incentive to innovate due to a non-competitive tenure system. With high salaries and without the burden of school loan payments, our young programmers are free to be creative, innovate, and develop cutting-edge web applications in ways that no university could teach.
Before considering college, especially right out of high school, graduates should examine the true costs while exploring possibilities of becoming entrepreneurial through starting your own business or beginning your higher education with internships. With initiative and risk taking, the market will soon be driving young people to avoid debt to allow them to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.
Unless it’s my alma mater, Hillsdale.
Also, the College of the Ozarks, a Christian-oriented school, known as “Hard Work U” which doesn’t charge tuition, each student is a work/study. Some kids, such as those heading to a professional field, have to attend college, but it makes little sense for the rest. Sales, for instance, usually pay much better than other fields, and there are few sales openings, even today, that actually require a degree.
I read that Bill Gates spent most of his time at Harvard playing late night poker games. He claimed he learned more about succeeding in business at the poker table than he ever did in class.
I went to college after got out of the military and from personal experience, I would recommend a good Community College where one can get a better education than most 4 year institutions
I ended up going on and getting a BA degree, but other than the sheepskin itself the other 2 years were a waste as I got mostly theoretical instruction as opposed to actual experience lessons from the mostly adjunct professors (who were working in the real world and taught part time) while attending the Community College.
I too went to a community college and learned machine shop skills, invaluable skills I still use to this day, skills that always earn me a decent wage.
My son who is 18 and in a foster care home is being indoctrinated to go to a college by his social worker. he would rather apprentice under me learning all the tricks of my various trades instead.
Home schooling at its best I guess.
It is **far** more than 1 in 3.
Look at the work done by people of my father's generation ( born 1913). How many of them had college degrees but look at what they built.
Honestly....Why does the check-in clerk at the Marriott need a bachelor's degree? Answer: Because government schooling is so inadequate requiring a college degree is one of the few ways that employers can determine if a person is sufficiently numerate, literate, and motivated enough to do the job.
And...Today, even a bachelor's degree is not enough. Employers are demanding **internships**!!
I have a suggestion:
Employers should use SAT and ACT scores to screen applicants and then offer internships. Dump the college requirement. For those who have leadership qualities the businesses should offer to pay for night school or online attendance at selected college courses.
If there were certifiable qualifying exams for the courses I have already taken by way of ITune-U, I would then be able to show an employer that I was literate, numerate, and **self** motivated.
This is merely theoretical since I am retired and not interested in returning to work, but it would be a possibility, combined with adequate SAT and ACT scores, and internship's for those who would like to skip college.
click here-> Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
The opportunity to attend an Ivy League school is priceless, not for the BS liberal bull crap and indoctrination but the instant access to the fortune 500 hiring pipeline upon graduation.
Charles Murray, author of the “Bell Curve”, is an advocate for competency exams. His feeling is that with the use of competency exams the numbers needing to strive for a bachelors degree could be greatly reduced.
I agree provided the exams are certifiable. This is possible because I know of accountants who take their CPA exams at a local testing center.
The competency exams should start in first grade. If a child passes addition and subtraction they should immediately move on to multiplication and division and this should continue, subject by subject, through high school and college level work, and even graduate school.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121858688764535107.html
I’m a graduate of the Art Instruction School. I often found myself doodling and so I wondered if I had the kind of talent to become a big time artist like Picasso or Michaelangelo or the guy who drew Peanuts. I filled out an application on the back of a matchbook cover and they sent me a qualifying exam- I copied a picture of a dog and a pirate. I got an 800 on the pirate, but only a 650 for the dog. Nonetheless, I was accepted at this fine institution and, after 7 years, graduated magna cum laude. I now find I’m able to doodle a lot more often with a lot more confidence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griggs_v._Duke_Power_Company
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What not use the SAT and ACT exams? They are widely accepted as not being racially biased.
But....I know of people who are full-time students at privately owned and run ateliers ( art schools). These are highly demanding and very rigorous programs and well respected by art critics and gallery owners. When the student finishes, if they have the stamina and determination to do this, they **are** highly accomplished master painters.
My advice to anyone considering art as a career is to dump college and to attend an atelier and learning under the direction of a master painter. That's how it was done in the past and it is working today.
How long did it take them to convert over to that system? I understand it is so successful that other conservative colleges (Grove City, Brigham Young and others) are now in the process of of getting Fedzilla off campus completely. Kudos to Hillsdale for pioneering it!
Kudos to College of the Ozarks for pioneering their work for tuition arrangement. But not every college can be located in a tourist mecca where jobs are plentiful.
Your mom goes to college.
Unfortunately, in a series of rulings, the SCOTUS has made it so hard for corporations to hire new employees based on entrance examinations, that they almost have to hire based on college degrees.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=401&invol=424
Connecticut v. Teal
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=457&invol=440
True. If your goal is to be a highly paid employee in the Wall Street-DC elites, you will get great connections and be a part of the club. But you probably won't learn much about being an entrepreneur.
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