Posted on 05/12/2014 11:23:13 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
George Mason economics professor Bryan Caplan, at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, said that college is not worth it for both taxpayers and for low-performing students coming out of high school. He examined it with two important questions:
Is college worthwhile for the student and is it a good investment? Is college a good investment for taxpayers?
Caplan said, “Education is a wasteful arms race, the more you get, the more you need to avoid looking like a loser.” For example, “in 1945, only about 25% of Americans over the age of 25 finished high school.” One used to impress parents and others that you graduated high school, said Caplan, but “not so anymore.” The reason behind this societal change is, “not so much because the jobs that people do have changed radically, but rather, the credentials of the competition have gone up, and you need to match them in order to continue to impress.”
Caplan found that college graduates do indeed make up to 83% more in salaries than do high school graduates. Nevertheless, he avers, “high ability students tend to do the hard majors that pay well.” Thus, Caplan states, “Engineering majors not only have higher quantitative SAT scores than English majors, they have higher verbal scores than engineering majors.” Caplan calls the difference in wages between college and high school graduates “the education premium” and finds that it varies widely between “soft” studies and harder disciplines. In other words, “the education premium ranges from 24% in education majors…whereas getting a bachelors’ degree will increase your earnings by about 60%,” Caplan explains.
He noted that while most engineering students “don’t see the light of day” in college, other majors “enjoy life” on campus because “most majors are not remotely vocational,” or difficult.
Most of the recent college grads I’ve mat are not smart enough to be in college, much less to be employed in intellectually demanding work.
The truth of the matter is that the average student graduating High School in the US has a very low chance of getting a $50 per hour job and you and I both know it.
Again if you do not have a technical/trade school cert or a college degree you are at a great disadvantage as my high IQ nephew and Mr. GG2’s high IQ son have learned the hard way.
More dumbing down of the American Youth! Any education is worthwhile and to say it is not is pure BS!
I am a tradesman that went into business and with the business education I did not get made things tougher! Business OJT is not pretty!
Betweeen engineering classes, homework and my work-study job, I was consistantly doing 110-120 hours/week. OTOH, the non-science Arts majors at my fraternity started the weekend on Thursday night.
This shaped how I view the MSM. Journalists used to be journalism majors. Thus they had a lot of extra time for protesting the cause-de-jour, art festivals, drinking and drugs. They are neither responsible or particularily bright people, but their profession gives them a whole lot of undeserved publicity.
written by an English major.
“Business OJT is not pretty!”
So true.
All of this ink spilled and I have to be the first one to point out that a high school graduate of 70 years ago had to have the approximate math and writing skills of an average college graduate today?
whut?
Eh...whut?
I have an e gineering degree (BS in computer science from Texas A&M), but I haven’t worked in almst 20 years while I’ve been a stay at home mom.
I would like to get back to working, but it seems my degree and 10 years in the workforce doesn!t make a difference.
Wonder if it was worth the money and hard work. Grant ut, I met my husband at work, so that is basically what my degree got me.
You mean 8th grade graduate.
This statement has conflicting information.
But you can get a technical cert for a less than $10k. Some obtain them for the cost of the book...about $40.
FWIW, my mother taught high school in a big city after the big war. A semester's experience convinced her to accept Dad's marriage proposal and bail.
They weren't dealing drugs and dangerous back in those days, but they weren't much interested in learning.
College grads earning more does not mean that if EVERYONE goes to college everyone will earn more. Yet that is what has been pushed. Most smart people make more money. Most smart people go to college. But going to college alone neither makes people smart nor well paid.
I have long maintained the major purpose of college is to employee unemployable losers. That is the only way to explain ridiculous courses and majors we see in colleges across the country.
No kidding! I had 3 under 3, and one of my twins has special needs. I haven’t worked for a company in almost 20 years! :)
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