Inequality, student debt and millennials

Hm, the most educated? I guess people only know what they are "taught" -- and I certainly see a lot of millenials with degrees that can barley take care of themselves.

I've conducted a lot of interviews, and it seems that the freshly graduated kids from college have absolutely no clue about the real world. It's as if 90% of what they "learned" went out the window as soon as they took whatever tests they had to in order to graduate.

I consistently seem to find better job applicants from people without degrees or "some college".

It's almost as if as student debt increases, the quality of their educations decrease.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

What? You think it's a good thing that college coaches are paid that much? I think it is a HUGE slap to the idea of higher learning to pay an instructor for a game millions of dollars rather than putting that money towards what the college is SUPPOSED to be about, learning.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

This is a fallacy. The reason people with more college education appear to be less able to handle themselves in the real world is because they took longer to enter it. We all know that you learn most of your profession through on the job training (no matter what that profession is), so to expect these kids who've spent their whole lives book learning to perform better than someone who got some experience in the real world quicker is just dumb. I'd bet if we went back 20 - 30 years, you'd find the same results for kids leaving higher learning institutions. Millennials aren't anymore special, lazy, entitled, whathaveyou than any other generation.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

What? You think it's a good thing that college coaches are paid that much? I think it is a HUGE slap to the idea of higher learning to pay an instructor for a game millions of dollars rather than putting that money towards what the college is SUPPOSED to be about, learning.

UT paid N Texas 800,000 to come to Austin to play this year.
A major bowl game can pay a university over 10 million for one game.
Tv contracts pay universities millions.
Football can pay for all other sport.
Thats why coaches get fired too.

originally posted by: ScientiaFortisDefendit

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: ScientiaFortisDefendit

The problem with FREE is that it actually isn't. We're all taxed for it. And you do get what you pay for. Look at the wonderful quality of our public education.

College education is free in Europe and my husband sees the caliber of student that comes out of those places. He has had his work ripped off by Euro interns on at least two occasions so they can have a paper for their Master-level degree, and his company currently has workers from all over the world, but very few of them are educated in Europe.

I realize that, but as I mentioned, where would you rather see our tax money go? To bombs and other hardware that kill people or break things, or to education, which will pay dividends forever? Hell, get enough smart people in the same room, maybe they can come up with a cheaper way to break things and kill people, if that ever becomes really necessary (it hasn't been for a long time).

The thing is, most of those engineering, medical, technical disciplines you mention already get scholarships and work their way through and end up with jobs good enough to service their debt, so this issue or change won't do much. The huge college debt you see are the English Major, $100K in the hole, working as a barista.

In addition, I doubt that the "bleeding hearts" would let you be such as meanie as to only limit the assistance to technical and science disciplines. "We need art too."

a reply to: nfflhome

I know how it works and that is my problem with it. So much emphasis is paid on bringing prestige to the college through sports victories when the emphasis should be placed on higher learning. Sports victories are fleeting, knowledge lasts you your lifetime.

originally posted by: Metallicus
I have always believed higher education should be free. Of all the things we can subsidize; an education is one of the few that provides real benefits to both society and the individual.

Except look at how well our public education does and we subsidize that so it's "free."

How is that working out for a lot of kids these days?

a reply to: ScientiaFortisDefendit

So in one breath you admit that free college stinks, but in the other you demand it?

There is a flaw in your thinking somewhere. You value more that which you have to earn and pay for.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

College loans might as well be free until the bill comes due. Then you have people filling their heads with the idea that they ought to find work at nonprofits where their womyn's studies degrees with a minor in underwater basketweaving will make them an instant 6-figures to start without any effort on their part.

Bottom line is our "me me me" culture is failing across the board. Apparently running an entire nation on principles of greed doesn't work.

a reply to: AlaskanDad

Funny, as most colleges, if not damn near 90% are all backed/run by Progressives.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

What? You think it's a good thing that college coaches are paid that much? I think it is a HUGE slap to the idea of higher learning to pay an instructor for a game millions of dollars rather than putting that money towards what the college is SUPPOSED to be about, learning.

The few coaches that make millions actually make the school money. So yes I do agree with paying them huge salaries. Michigan football sells out 7 to 8 games a year. 100k plus tickets for each game.
750k tickets at $50 equals 37.5 million dollars. That's a cheap ticket and does not count all the other money football brings to u of m. So a few million for a good coach sounds like a bargain and he sells more tickets than a english professor.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

So college is about making money now?

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Ask the liberals that run most colleges.

Sports bring students to colleges. That's the simple facts. More students bring in more revenue. More revenue buys better supplies and equipment for the schools. More revenue allows the hiring and retaining of better teachers.

Is it all about money?
No
But money does play a huge part.

a reply to: AlaskanDad

Prices wouldn't continue to rise like this if more states were more flexible about who they are willing to license as higher education providers. It is the combination of a supply inelasticity along with a blank check that causes prices to skyrocket. The same can be seen in the medical industry. Regulation is sensible because it makes sure that providers maintain a high standard of service. Restaurants are regulated. Medicine and education is licensed. Licensing makes zero sense because all it achieves is incubating a small incumbent population of service providers from outside competition.

If you look at areas like California where alternative education has increased the demand for private schooling, the price has actually dropped, and the reason the price dropped is that increased demand decoupled from strict licensing allowed more providers to come onto the scene and to invent methodology that decreased the cost of providing these services.

In most instances throughout human history, an increase in demand has lead in time to a decrease in price as one innovator or another revolutionizes the means of production. Only when governments stand in the way and prevent new competition and new technologies from coming onto the scene do we see these kinds of bottlenecks and price spikes outside of a disaster scenario.

a reply to: tavi45

This "me, me, me" culture has not yet had the chance to take the reigns. In time, once the hierarchic incumbent institutions of the past crumble and the bottleneck caused by the dying puritan masses eases its death grip from around our throats, prosperity will begin to blossom. The beauty of a "me, me, me" generation is that they aren't willing to sacrifice their lives in obscurity for peanuts, so when they do decide to do something, it is a solution to a problem instead of a time consuming treatment. I'm not saying this antithesis to our puritan past will remain in its present form, but as the pendulum begins to swing back towards a golden middle-ground, you'll see a creative upswing, of that, I'm confident.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

And why are the college administrators paid so much? So stupid. It's profit and indoctrination. Destroy creativity, any initiative to change the world and they're taught to pay attention and show concern for a small set of issues.

Profit over people.

College administrators? As if! The highest salaries for colleges in most states are sports coaches.

Yet another perfect example of how ludicrous our society is. We need to be exterminated.

originally posted by: tavi45
Bottom line is our "me me me" culture is failing across the board. Apparently running an entire nation on principles of greed doesn't work.

There's no proof of that!

I almost said that with a straight face...

a reply to: ketsuko

I said neither. Stop putting words in my mouth.

a reply to: Nechash

Uh the whole country is about "me me me" and has been for ages. I wasn't referring to millenials, sorry for the confusion.