Interesting video ...
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...education-the-biggest-scam-in-us-history.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...education-the-biggest-scam-in-us-history.aspx
-
Biblical Families is not a dating website. It is a forum to discuss issues relating to marriage and the Bible, and to offer guidance and support, not to find a wife. Click here for more information.
Is A College Education A Scam?
- Thread starter CecilW
- Start date
I cant watch the video till tonight but I've often wondered why we cant have testing centers in major cities where you can go and test, at a set price, for college credits sorta like CLEP tests. That way folks could learn at their own pace, focus on the subjects that they prefer, take the test and get the credits. The credits could just accumulate and apply to degree programs as earned. It would encourage life time study, no debt, more independent thinking and I'm guessing a more diversified skill set throughout the population.
I saw that video a while ago and from memory the total debt owed by students was in the billions and escalated each year. Incredible dollars involved, someone must be making a lot of money there. Vested interests to protect.
Even so, I am encouraging my children to attend university (what college is called in Australia). I think the first will do engineering which you really need a degree to practise in at a professional level. The second might do science or geology, again advanced knowledge that you need a university to learn in. But of course there are alternative pathways in life, and I would be very happy to have an electrician and a plumber in the family. The thing is to develop marketable skills, in whatever way you choose.
ylop
Even so, I am encouraging my children to attend university (what college is called in Australia). I think the first will do engineering which you really need a degree to practise in at a professional level. The second might do science or geology, again advanced knowledge that you need a university to learn in. But of course there are alternative pathways in life, and I would be very happy to have an electrician and a plumber in the family. The thing is to develop marketable skills, in whatever way you choose.
ylop
Another interesting thing - you don't need a college education to see that an entire new topic I posted a few hours ago, which was just before this one, has completely disappeared.
I knew I should have quoted more original hebrew in the introduction. If only I had done linguistics at college.
ylop
pariah
I knew I should have quoted more original hebrew in the introduction. If only I had done linguistics at college.
ylop
pariah
Stop raining on my parade dude. This forum ain't big enough for two agitators!!!!
Back to topic.
Living (semi) independently can often really help kids, grow into adults. I have seen far too many over indulged 20 somethings who can't boil an egg, pay a bill or wash laundry because they always had parents around to coddle them!
Bels (mean lady)
Back to topic.
Living (semi) independently can often really help kids, grow into adults. I have seen far too many over indulged 20 somethings who can't boil an egg, pay a bill or wash laundry because they always had parents around to coddle them!
Bels (mean lady)
I just had a university graduate resign from my employment yesterday. She held a diploma, bachelors and was studying a masters, spoke 5 languages, her resume looked fantastic on paper, yet struggled with basic tasks like processing transactions on a computer, sending structured emails and following written procedures.
Another employee I had finished her commerce degree while in my employ, yet I had to cut back her role to just customer facing tasks as she could not handle advanced transactions. really nice person though.
To balance that a bit...ylopsonlywife and ylop each hold multiple degrees!
So maybe it is more about the individual and what circumstances they are born into; and how they choose to apply the talents they are entrusted with.
ylop
Another employee I had finished her commerce degree while in my employ, yet I had to cut back her role to just customer facing tasks as she could not handle advanced transactions. really nice person though.
To balance that a bit...ylopsonlywife and ylop each hold multiple degrees!
So maybe it is more about the individual and what circumstances they are born into; and how they choose to apply the talents they are entrusted with.
ylop
A
Anonymous
Guest
There are some professions in life in which I want someone with a degree to be practicing, including Medicine. Do you really want someone off the street doing surgery on you? I think not. For other things, there may not be a necessity for a degree.
I think college is very valuable. I read many years ago that the difference between 'American style and European style' college is that Europeans tend to view college as a life learning lesson and americans tend to focus on job skills more than personal growth. I think college is very valuable but way over priced; Graduating $100,000.00 in debt can't be worth it.
A
Anonymous
Guest
I agree with the agitater. Thats you bels, just in case you didn't recognize your name 
The college kids are clueless. It is play time no parents, party hardy. I worked as a nurse in two university towns, Gainesville, Fla. U of F. and Kansas City UMKC. They have no direction, just floatin along till they are kicked out. ( Of course, this is not all). I call them functionally illiterate.
As a nurse, I needed to go to have the foundation to grow on. I learned to be a nurse once I was on the job. I believe there are young adults who are
not cut out to go to college and would do great in a Tech school and learn a
vocation. Sometimes its the parent who trys to mold the kid into what they think is right for them and it really isn't. Those kids get lost in the college scene and flunk out. Then they get a menial job to make some money to live on because they are adults and obviously are not smart enough to go to school. That is a shame. The parents doled out thousands and the kid couldn't make the grade and truth be told their heart wasn't in it. They could have gone to a community college or tech school and learned a trade that
sometimes makes more money than some Master's degree.
Where am I going with this. I don't know
I don't think the college education is a scam I think it is a mixture of
parental pressure, or permissive society that makes college a big party and the parents continue to dole out the big bucks. So spoiled kids, or pressured kid that is trying to be a lawyer when all he wants to do is be a mechanic.
Bottom line it is the parents.
The college kids are clueless. It is play time no parents, party hardy. I worked as a nurse in two university towns, Gainesville, Fla. U of F. and Kansas City UMKC. They have no direction, just floatin along till they are kicked out. ( Of course, this is not all). I call them functionally illiterate. As a nurse, I needed to go to have the foundation to grow on. I learned to be a nurse once I was on the job. I believe there are young adults who are
not cut out to go to college and would do great in a Tech school and learn a
vocation. Sometimes its the parent who trys to mold the kid into what they think is right for them and it really isn't. Those kids get lost in the college scene and flunk out. Then they get a menial job to make some money to live on because they are adults and obviously are not smart enough to go to school. That is a shame. The parents doled out thousands and the kid couldn't make the grade and truth be told their heart wasn't in it. They could have gone to a community college or tech school and learned a trade that
sometimes makes more money than some Master's degree.
Where am I going with this. I don't know
I don't think the college education is a scam I think it is a mixture of
parental pressure, or permissive society that makes college a big party and the parents continue to dole out the big bucks. So spoiled kids, or pressured kid that is trying to be a lawyer when all he wants to do is be a mechanic.
Bottom line it is the parents.
And that is much the point of the video. NOT that education is worthless, but that the process of getting one by going to a conventional college and ending up so many thousands of dollars in debt is not worth the price paid. That colleges are overpriced, and deliberately overpricing books and such so as to generate income while the long term effect is to leave their students permanently in debt.
I look at my Alma Mater, as an example. Cost $5-6k to go to school for a year when I was a teenager. I worked part-time and left school with a few hundred in loans. Now? About $30k/yr! The campus has grown. New buildings, etc. And thus the cost of plant maintenance. Has the student enrollment? Well, no ... about the same.
Education? Definitely! Make it a lifetime habit! Degrees? Perhaps. "The College Experience"? Maybe not so much.
I look at my Alma Mater, as an example. Cost $5-6k to go to school for a year when I was a teenager. I worked part-time and left school with a few hundred in loans. Now? About $30k/yr! The campus has grown. New buildings, etc. And thus the cost of plant maintenance. Has the student enrollment? Well, no ... about the same.
Education? Definitely! Make it a lifetime habit! Degrees? Perhaps. "The College Experience"? Maybe not so much.
My dentist told me that he's have his student loans paid off one year before his oldest kid (who was in elementary school) started college. That is a sad thing. That's why I'm all for independent studies for non-technical stuff, and being able to test without any type of matriculation or affilation for the most part. That would allow more compeitition and lower prices.
Well, yes, oh my the debt of college....been there done that.
Education is extremely important but the expense today is draining for most of us. That can indeed hurt those who are married and in a family. I don't know I would see it as a scam but I certainly think it has gone the way of materialism, new buildings, the finest this and that, really education ought to be more about knowledge and practical application of that knowledge. Years ago many lawyers were able to be an apprentice to another lawyer and then enter the field based on their knowledge and skill of applying it. Much could return back to that as I see it.
Sherry
Education is extremely important but the expense today is draining for most of us. That can indeed hurt those who are married and in a family. I don't know I would see it as a scam but I certainly think it has gone the way of materialism, new buildings, the finest this and that, really education ought to be more about knowledge and practical application of that knowledge. Years ago many lawyers were able to be an apprentice to another lawyer and then enter the field based on their knowledge and skill of applying it. Much could return back to that as I see it.
Sherry
I think some alternatives (the apprenticeship is a great idea) make a lot of sense, and it may well be true that a lot of higher-education today may be a waste (or worse, in terms of values instilled), I'll still add a point:
It ain't all bad: I can't tell you how grateful I am for the Liberal Arts education I received from a Christian College, that focused on my entire person (I'd have likely never discovered Bonhoeffer or some other important Christian authors), even though I received a Computer Science degree: I like to point out to folks that today in my career I use exactly nothing I learned in Computer Science classes in the 80s (OK, some concepts are still valid, nothing else), but I was shaped by the discussions in my Christian world view general education classes. Yes, these schools are often even more expensive, and some have 'gone around the bend', so do your research, but for the right students, these schools can still be a game changer.
It ain't all bad: I can't tell you how grateful I am for the Liberal Arts education I received from a Christian College, that focused on my entire person (I'd have likely never discovered Bonhoeffer or some other important Christian authors), even though I received a Computer Science degree: I like to point out to folks that today in my career I use exactly nothing I learned in Computer Science classes in the 80s (OK, some concepts are still valid, nothing else), but I was shaped by the discussions in my Christian world view general education classes. Yes, these schools are often even more expensive, and some have 'gone around the bend', so do your research, but for the right students, these schools can still be a game changer.
Isabella wrote:
sad.
And I know a 30-something-year-old momma's boy who still lives at home, can't (actually won't) get a job, has a wife and 2 kids, all supported by daddy.
sad.