I don't think most people are looking for more than $50,000 - $75,000/year in a salaried desk job with benefits. Retail management jobs, like all other supervisory positions, are going to be more selective and possibly even more arbitrary in terms of actual placement, and the wages and skill development leading up to them are horrible. Blue-collar jobs are shift-based and will have declining wages because foreign companies will always be able to price out American workers. Unions don't have the numeric leverage or legal protection to pre-empt layoffs and off-shoring because most of the populace isn't in a union, they're in office jobs and telling their kids to go to college. The only unique solutions that would improve what is actually a near ideal system are more foreign language classes for elementary and junior high kids and study abroad opportunities for high schoolers, so they're as inclined to live and work outside of their own country as European kids are.
Americans seeking jobs in Mexico? They'll ask for too much money to ever get hired and then complain about lack of safety (not that USA is perfect) or something else.
Is Formal Education even about education anymore? Too much added crap that dilutes the education Politics and Social Engineering then the push to rid us of that 'free' education so that education becomes an assembly line. Education another PRODUCT to be SOLD A New Market to Exploit. Education was about teaching kids to be well rounded Someone who could do Higher Calculus and play the Piano or quote Shakespeare. But . . . .Pianos and Shakespeare are seen as t*** on a Bull of our Scientist class So . . .having a bunch of socially awkward uni-focused people whose overall quality of life maybe lessen is quite acceptable as long as they produce the next cash cow. If we could start kids at 3 and make them the Tiger Woods of whatever field we want for them . . . . and cut out all that unnecessary stuff like. . uhm. . . LIFE! . . .we'd do it . . . because All we care about is the results. . . who cares if the kid is well adjusted, or happy or satisfied with their life. . .. All that matters is that they are PRODUCTIVE Rocket River GET IN YOUR PLACE YOU COG IN THE GREAT WHEEL YOU!!!
Also The usefulness of a Formal Ed on a Resume is it is simply a divider You have Job A . . and you have 3000 applicants Now, generally speaking about 2500 of them can do the job IT's not rocket science . . . . So How do your cut that down to a manageable size? College Educated? WOW! now that number is down to 1500. Much more manageable than 3000 GOOD COLLEGE? Down to 500 GOOD Major? Down to 250 GOOD GPA? Down to 100 Is the resume on colored paper? Down to 50 Rocket River
That's an interesting point in that it's used as a divider. What I can't understand is why now all of sudden you almost can't get an internship unless it's for college credit. As if the only motivated people trying to do something are in college. I've met high school dropouts who are bright and more engaging than people with multiple degrees. Although it's fair to say they're the exception to the rule, it proves knowledge and education are not as inaccessible as they used to be and even those who didn't take their schooling and education seriously early on can catch up and be educated. This isn't 1850 when the majority of people lived on a farm or really small town far from any legit formal education, and thus had to go away to places like a university that had great teaching and libraries with books to read. Now we have libraries everywhere, Amazon.com, bookstores, countless cable channels about learning and the internet (for better or worse). Knowledge isn't nearly as hard to get as it used to be and that degree from a highly reputable college may not mean as much as it used to. Yeah, it only makes sense to have a degree if you're a doctor because there are certain things you won't be able to do effectively no matter how much you read on a page but in most areas, most people are capable without going through the assembly line (as it was put earlier).
I will just give two examples of people I know, they were best friends: One person was sent to a four year public school and studied electric engineering, worked in the computer industry but got downsized and is currently working as a manager in the airline industry. The switch in the field was very simple and easy. The second person was sent to a private college and studied stage management, could not find work after graduating, and have been working at minimum wage retail. At the time of high school graduation, the one went to public school was so envious of the friend that went to expensive private college to chase the dream. As parents, which should we value more, the economic well being of our kids or what they think are their happiness and dream when they are 18? Obviously many kids follow their dream and become successful, the question is, as a parent, do you let your kids go into fields that have far smaller chance of success or into fields that have much greater chance of success. One of the reasons why Asians as group have higher income is that the parents generally guide the kids into practical fields. You see so many Asian kids practice music instruments very hard everyday(almost every Asian kid I know), but you do not see many of them become musicians as adults for that reason, not that many opportunities in that field when compared to fields like medicine, engineering, computer science, accounting, etc.
It is not as easy as you think it is, most high school graduates do not have the ability to learn the skills/knowledge taught in colleges by studying books on their own.
And that's because being an entertainer should be something that's a hobby and even there's a high amount of ambition, it shouldn't be the primary goal. Only a few ten thousand people out of hundreds of millions/billions will ever be entertainers at a visible enough level to make any money or have any notoriety. And as we've seen, it's not all it's cracked up to be since 78% of all NFL players and 60% of all NBA players are broke within five years of retirement, let alone entertainers like MC Hammer. Imagine if the majority of them (and the ones who tried but didn't make it) had some sort of backup plan: their fall wouldn't have been as hard. While you can't really blame the media, they sensationalize being famous and being an entertainer so much without making it obvious how rare it is and because kids are so impressionable, they spend their lives trying to one-up people and show how important they are, even if they never get to a high level.
Depends on the school, I know I felt like I was in high school while in college, granted my school wasn't great and my major was easy (which says nothing of the first couple years of core classes).
All I have to say is look to my post on the first page children. Becoming rich is easy and does not require you to be very smart. Study hard in high school or community college and get accepted into a top tier 1 university. From there, study hard and achieve at least a 3.5 gpa. Pick a useful major that you seem you would mildly enjoy or at least be good at. Apply to jobs and you should be fine as long as you are not a complete dweeb. And bam as soon as you know it you are making a six figure salary. College is worth it no matter what if you plan to put the work into it. End of discussion.
I disagree and besides if people did that in any numbers, there would be less jobs to go around. Like I said, not everyone can work a glamorous office job or be an entertainer. Some will just have to put in hard work at a low level and hopefully enjoy it. We need retail store personnel, teachers, mechanics, pest control, etc... but everyone wants to be a big shot, which is why everyone has so much debt, either because they took out huge loans for school or used credit cards when times were good and accrued a lot of debt because times got tighter (if not both reasons for debt). While you certainly strive to be the most you can be, beyond a certain point money shouldn't be everything anyways.
And if you're not book-smart, chances are you won't make great grades, especially in a legit college major/concentration.
College is a waste if you don't pick up any marketable skills. Someone referenced Excel earlier for instance. Lot of fields out there offer lucrative entry level positions at $50k+ such as IT, finance, accounting, engineering, software, etc. There is a such a shortage of engineering talent in the U.S., we have to import from India, China, Bangladesh, Russia, etc. There are jobs here for the taking - problem is convincing college kids to study technical fields rather than doing some cupcake liberal arts major or kinesiology, etc. If you're pursuing the latter, you will have wasted thousands of dollars on college, and will not be adequately prepared to join the workforce unless you augmented the coursework with some hard stuff like accounting, IT, finance, programming, etc.
Unless you're willing to do internships right out of school: making contacts and learning on-the-job skills in small or competitive fields, while exerting whatever creative, communications or presentation skills you developed in school. And can we stop the simplistic dichotomy of technical and arts majors, please?
Paractically speaking, college education is a form of credit. If it's that easy to get into Harvard, it wouldn't be Harvard. It still requires hard work to get in a college, get in a good college, and get good grades from a good college. But, that's not it. Since when college education should be looked at so practically? College is a place to grow, to get experience, and most importantly, to get some fun before you get tied down in your life. Those things cannot be valued. Experiencing diversity and interesting people in the college is an invaluable life experience. It will teach you how to think, how to lead ... Anyways, IMHO, college education should not be looked at too practically strictly in terms of investment and return. I can understand that line of thinking, especially under this economy, but it is too near-sighted for me.
Man, I don't know. Let the kids figure out on their own. While I was at UCLA, I met a world famous neuro scientist there. He told us that he was a boxer until he was 26 and one day on his own figured out he had to study. With the diciplines he had developed as a boxer, his academic career took off like crazy, self motivated. I wouldn't want my kid to be a prisoner of what I wanted to him to do. I will guide him, but he will decide what he wants to do ultimately. That's life. So be it.
