Academia is used as an excuse to hold the youth back

[skreetsmart]

I'm all for scientific exploration, research and studies that lead to improvements in our standards of living. this has however turned into a protectionist mechanism for keeping youths and less wealthy individuals out of industries and unable to compete with the vets and those that had more time to accumulate resources.

 

[Mathematician]

I'm all for scientific exploration, research and studies that lead to improvements in our standards of living. this has however turned into a protectionist mechanism for keeping youths and less wealthy individuals out of industries and unable to compete with the vets and those that had more time to accumulate resources.

Inability to recognize the value of knowledge and education is sheer ignorance.

 

[Tigger]

Inability to recognize the value of knowledge and education is sheer ignorance.

Inability to recognize and value Faith, Tradition, and the Wisdom of Common Sense is as surely ignorance as the lack of knowledge and education. In fact, I would suggest that Faith, Tradition, Wisdom, and Common Sense should be much more highly sought after than pure knowledge.

We waste our time, energy, and money trying to teach people things they have no interest in or use for; then we are amazed that they don't want to and end up not learning them. Why teach physics to a student who is obviously going to be wearing a uniform with his name on the front for the next 25 years? Especially when he can't even speak/read sufficient english to understand the text book? Why teach trig or calculus to someone whose resume is going to say "mom" for the entirety of their life? What purpose does this serve?

 

[DDD]

We waste our time, energy, and money trying to teach people things they have no interest in or use for; then we are amazed that they don't want to and end up not learning them. Why teach physics to a student who is obviously going to be wearing a uniform with his name on the front for the next 25 years? Especially when he can't even speak/read sufficient english to understand the text book? Why teach trig or calculus to someone whose resume is going to say "mom" for the entirety of their life? What purpose does this serve?

The day it is very obvious to the rest of us also how one's fate in life will turn out to be, without any alternatives to that chosen fate of that particular person, that day will be the start of fate specific teachings. Since we do not have access to such information we teach everything at start so as to boost options, for you may never know what tomorrow may bring.

 

[imagep]

I became licensed many years ago, I took a one or two week course, took a test, and wham I was licensed. Absolutely nothing about the process was overly burdensome, it was actually one of the easiest things that I have ever accomplished.

99% of what is taught in real estate school is real estate law, and it is exceptionally important that anyone who is helping others with buying or selling real estate is knowledable about real estate law. Honestly, even a monkey could pass the real estate exam. As for the cost of becoming licensed, if one can't come up with a thousand dollars, one certainly shouldn't be trying to become a real estate agent. Real estate agents are self employeed, and often go months without ever earning a commission. They have to be able to manage money. And since they often deal with money, taking deposits and setting up escrow accounts, I really wouldn't want someone who can't come up with a measly thousand dollars to be my agent.

 

[choiceone]

Inability to recognize and value Faith, Tradition, and the Wisdom of Common Sense is as surely ignorance as the lack of knowledge and education. In fact, I would suggest that Faith, Tradition, Wisdom, and Common Sense should be much more highly sought after than pure knowledge.

We waste our time, energy, and money trying to teach people things they have no interest in or use for; then we are amazed that they don't want to and end up not learning them. Why teach physics to a student who is obviously going to be wearing a uniform with his name on the front for the next 25 years? Especially when he can't even speak/read sufficient english to understand the text book? Why teach trig or calculus to someone whose resume is going to say "mom" for the entirety of their life? What purpose does this serve?

Education is not job training. The main purpose of a general education is to help the young learn how to ask questions, develop rigorous and often ingenious means of answering them, and explore existing questions, answers, and perspectives in various domains of knowledge. That should help them expand their breadth of perspective and imagination. Someone really educated will find that education useful whether he or she has to become a soldier, a mom, or a political hostage in a prison. Someone who finds it useless will have wasted all his or her time, because he or she never got a genuine education. A person with job training can do a job. A person with education can invent jobs and training for them.

 

[Northern Light]

Educational requirements are getting higher and higher even for menial work, mostly because of job scarcity and employers can be more selective.

I'm happy with my career but honestly my advice to any young person thinking about post-secondary is that they should only do it if they can get relevant experience and if their work sector has good hiring rates. The cost of education is mostly not worth it anymore and the market is saturated with degree holders.

My sister has been applying for work as an administrative receptionist and I am shocked to hear that some companies are actually asking for degree holders only. Seriously? To work a front desk? How lazy companies have become... you used to get on the job training or even apprenticeship, and now they just expect you to know everything on arrival.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Inability to recognize and value Faith, Tradition, and the Wisdom of Common Sense is as surely ignorance as the lack of knowledge and education. In fact, I would suggest that Faith, Tradition, Wisdom, and Common Sense should be much more highly sought after than pure knowledge.

We waste our time, energy, and money trying to teach people things they have no interest in or use for; then we are amazed that they don't want to and end up not learning them. Why teach physics to a student who is obviously going to be wearing a uniform with his name on the front for the next 25 years? Especially when he can't even speak/read sufficient english to understand the text book? Why teach trig or calculus to someone whose resume is going to say "mom" for the entirety of their life? What purpose does this serve?

The purpose this serves is simple to understand. Nobody can predict the future, so its best to give all a chance and avoid the problem of creating a caste system. The unpromising kid of today could easily be the leader of tomorrow.

 

[Tigger]

Education is not job training. The main purpose of a general education is to help the young learn how to ask questions, develop rigorous and often ingenious means of answering them, and explore existing questions, answers, and perspectives in various domains of knowledge. That should help them expand their breadth of perspective and imagination. Someone really educated will find that education useful whether he or she has to become a soldier, a mom, or a political hostage in a prison. Someone who finds it useless will have wasted all his or her time, because he or she never got a genuine education. A person with job training can do a job. A person with education can invent jobs and training for them.

I disagree. The main point of education needs to be primarily focused on creating people who are willing and capable of flourishing in the society/culture of the country and then secondarily on ensuring marketable job skills. After those two things are completed, then and only then, is education for the sake of education a useful undertaking.

That's the reason I went to the college I did. There were no extraneous filler classes. Everything was focused on the career path for that skill set. The entire point of that University at that time was to produce individuals who were highly capable in their field. Not to turn out "well rounded" individuals who had no marketable job skills. The change that school has undergone in the last two decades is why I will no longer support it financially.

The purpose this serves is simple to understand. Nobody can predict the future, so its best to give all a chance and avoid the problem of creating a caste system. The unpromising kid of today could easily be the leader of tomorrow.

Some of us would prefer to have a caste system, mega. Understanding is wonderful when it leads to something; but like so many of our college students today.... Unless the education has a career at the end of it, what is it truly worth? The greatest philosopher of all time can starve just as easily as the bum because he has no marketable job skills.

 

[skreetsmart]

real estate was a small example of a deeper principle ... actually that is the reason i am personally gettin' my RE license.. because that process is simple... but in other fields... such as pc repair, mechanic work.. styling, they will come after you if you start offering your services directly to public and actually start doing good at it.. yea.. they'll let u make it as long as u remain in your basement .

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Educational requirements are getting higher and higher even for menial work, mostly because of job scarcity and employers can be more selective.

I'm happy with my career but honestly my advice to any young person thinking about post-secondary is that they should only do it if they can get relevant experience and if their work sector has good hiring rates. The cost of education is mostly not worth it anymore and the market is saturated with degree holders.

My sister has been applying for work as an administrative receptionist and I am shocked to hear that some companies are actually asking for degree holders only. Seriously? To work a front desk? How lazy companies have become... you used to get on the job training or even apprenticeship, and now they just expect you to know everything on arrival.

What do you expect and I'm not trying to be a jerk, but people have had the, "education is our future" stuff pumped into their heads for decades now.
It's only natural that they would want an educated receptionist, rather than someone else.

One of the ways out, is to stop subsidizing education, to a degree.
Not the preferable way, but one way.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

Some of us would prefer to have a caste system, mega. Understanding is wonderful when it leads to something; but like so many of our college students today.... Unless the education has a career at the end of it, what is it truly worth? The greatest philosopher of all time can starve just as easily as the bum because he has no marketable job skills.

Profound stuff.
It's great that people can ask deeper questions and all that, but at the cost of $100k-200k.
Was it really worth it, because the library is nearly free and you can learn the same material there.

 

[Tigger]

Profound stuff.
It's great that people can ask deeper questions and all that, but at the cost of $100k-200k.
Was it really worth it, because the library is nearly free and you can learn the same material there.

The fact that the concept is so unheardof is what truly scares me. The idea that college is seen as a place to "find yourself" is ludicrous. You're there to set yourself up for a Career. Anything else is a massive waste of time and money.

 

[Helix]

education is weight lifting for the mind. seemingly "unnecessary" courses are as necessary as weightlifting is for an athlete. he or she may not lift massive metal objects in the course of the game, but will most certainly benefit from the strength gained, as will the team as a whole.

 

[DDD]

education is weight lifting for the mind. seemingly "unnecessary" courses are as necessary as weightlifting is for an athlete. he or she may not lift massive metal objects in the course of the game, but will most certainly benefit from the strength gained, as will the team as a whole.

Unbelievable! It is exactly what I believe also! Do you practice both?

 

[Tigger]

education is weight lifting for the mind. seemingly "unnecessary" courses are as necessary as weightlifting is for an athlete. he or she may not lift massive metal objects in the course of the game, but will most certainly benefit from the strength gained, as will the team as a whole.

Okay. Let's use that analogy. I do a job that requires me to life 65 lbs. of mental weight. Why the hell would I waste my time and money learning to life 150 lbs. of mental weight? Espeically when I pay for the ability to lift 70 lbs. of mental weight and then work to build additional mental strength on my own after that fact.

For example.... I have an Associates Degree in my chosen field. That's all I need to get by in this line of work. Why would I have wasted an additional two years to get my Bachelor's degree? Two years more of expenses and two years less of income. Seems like a pretty stupid equation to me.

 

[DDD]

Profound stuff.
It's great that people can ask deeper questions and all that, but at the cost of $100k-200k.
Was it really worth it, because the library is nearly free and you can learn the same material there.

There are far less expensive and good universities in USA.

 

[DDD]

For example.... I have an Associates Degree in my chosen field. That's all I need to get by in this line of work. Why would I have wasted an additional two years to get my Bachelor's degree? Two years more of expenses and two years less of income. Seems like a pretty stupid equation to me.

You do not have to. But if you do it should be available, all the while some companies would give you a raise more easily if you did upgrade your education to Bachelor's degree.

 

[Tigger]

You do not have to. But if you do it should be available, all the while some companies would give you a raise more easily if you did upgrade your education to Bachelor's degree.

I have no problem with it being available, so long as I'm not subsidizing people getting more education than they need. If they want to pay for it themselves, that's fine.

Actually in my field a Bachelor's Degree only has value if you want to go into the management side of things. If you're happy to stay as a designer/drafter then even an Associates Degree (which is standard now) used to be unnecessary. I definitely wouldn't pay anyone in my field more for having a Bachelor's Degree.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

There are far less expensive and good universities in USA.

Believe me, I know this.
At my current school and my transfer school, I'll graduate with 0 or near 0 debt.

A lot of people want the big names though and they pay a high price for it.

 

[Harry Guerrilla]

education is weight lifting for the mind. seemingly "unnecessary" courses are as necessary as weightlifting is for an athlete. he or she may not lift massive metal objects in the course of the game, but will most certainly benefit from the strength gained, as will the team as a whole.

Like I said, that's all well and good, if you can finish with low or no debt, but if you finish with enough debt for a down payment on a house and you're a barista at Starbucks.
It was a huge waste.

 

[mak2]

Pure science is often not immediately applicable, but the vast amount of knowledge aquired for no reason often turns out to be very valuable someday. I view education this way too. I wish it was possible for all to get a liberal arts degree then pursue their vocation. Life would be much richer. Many people I know know their jobs, but damn little else.

Education is not job training. The main purpose of a general education is to help the young learn how to ask questions, develop rigorous and often ingenious means of answering them, and explore existing questions, answers, and perspectives in various domains of knowledge. That should help them expand their breadth of perspective and imagination. Someone really educated will find that education useful whether he or she has to become a soldier, a mom, or a political hostage in a prison. Someone who finds it useless will have wasted all his or her time, because he or she never got a genuine education. A person with job training can do a job. A person with education can invent jobs and training for them.

 

[Helix]

Unbelievable! It is exactly what I believe also! Do you practice both?

myself? yes, both literally and figuratively.

 

[Helix]

Okay. Let's use that analogy. I do a job that requires me to life 65 lbs. of mental weight. Why the hell would I waste my time and money learning to life 150 lbs. of mental weight? Espeically when I pay for the ability to lift 70 lbs. of mental weight and then work to build additional mental strength on my own after that fact.

For example.... I have an Associates Degree in my chosen field. That's all I need to get by in this line of work. Why would I have wasted an additional two years to get my Bachelor's degree? Two years more of expenses and two years less of income. Seems like a pretty stupid equation to me.

while i think that college is vastly overpriced, the answer is that there is a lot more to your life and to your role as a citizen than just your job. the country benefits from a well educated population.

 

[DDD]

Believe me, I know this.
At my current school and my transfer school, I'll graduate with 0 or near 0 debt.

A lot of people want the big names though and they pay a high price for it.

I think it is smarter to stay away from debt for the benefit of a name.