Why College? Heck If I Know.
Timothy Carney, in today’s Washington Examiner, makes the case against college, and a good case he makes.
I’ve long suspected too many kids go to college and finish college — that college is a waste of time and money for many, and our economy and culture would be better if, as a whole, America spent less time at college.
One common pro-college argument is “it’s statistically proven that college pays for itself in higher earning power.”
I’ve long made two rebuttals to question those statistics:
1) Part of that is irrational bias by bosses, who put too much value in a college degree.
2) Part of that is the fact that smart kids with good work ethic tend to go to college. In other words, being able to get into a good college is a sign that you have it what it takes to be successful in the business world.
He has a couple supporting links, including a link to a left-winger who has nearly lost his mind over the notion that someone would pay a young entrepreneur not to go to college.
Here’s where I am on the subject. Too many kids go to college. I dare say that most of the young people in college have no real business there. They’re not learning anything they couldn’t learn from a couple of years working an actual job. They’re not destined for the sort of career that requires four years of extra schooling and the tens of thousands they spend to get that schooling would be much better-spent elsewhere. In plenty of cases, they weren’t particularly good students in high school, so college is going to be a four-year (or more) series of difficult hurdles that they may or may not complete.
Yet a college degree is commonly seen as the bare minimum for most, if not all, white-collar jobs. You can’t teach in a public school and a good number of private schools, without one. Even jobs in the very fast-moving tech field require degrees (that are nearly obsolete by the time the graduate hits the job market). I don’t understand why that’s so and I’m glad that influential pundits are making the case against college as a basic job requirement.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Are College Diplomas Overrated?
- Abusive Teacher Slapped on the Wrist
- In Progressive America, Your Kids Aren’t Your Own Either.
Category: Edyookashun
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jimmie and Jim J. Jim J said: For many kids, college is little more than 13th – 16th grade. RT @jimmiebjr: New Post: Why College? Heck If I Know. http://bit.ly/fE8owh [...]
I agree. I've made a fairly good white-collar living without having obtained a college degree. I'd like to point out that the tech field relies more on certifications than on degrees (unless you want to make management).
With the exception of a few areas of employment (law, medicine, science), I don't see the value added to having a college degree.
But that might be why some people look at me as an uneducated, uninformed, incurious nimrod.
Coming from the world of consulting engineering I can vouch for this perspective.__With no degree I managed to work myself from a drafter to an Electrical Designer. On the job training is far more beneficial IMHO in this line of work than a lot of what I heard in the classroom. __And in some cases, degreed folks did not always have the people skills needed to be really successful in dealing with clients, architects and contractors. That skill is crucial in the construction world.
[...] is no good reason for that debt to exist. College degrees, as I have said here and on The Delivery many times, are overrated and most people do not need [...]