Here's something that really bugs me:I'm not just picking on Barack Obama, although he's the most recent high-profile person I've heard say everyone should get to go to college. If everyone goes to college, what degree would he suggest would prepare people for a life's work flipping burgers or mopping floors? Or working at the car wash? Or cleaning swimming pools?
I'm not knocking any of these professions. On the contrary, there is good money to be made in any service field where one is willing to work hard and put in the time. The truth is, though, that nothing I learned in college prepared me for the work I am doing today. Right after high school, I got a job with the postal service and in my 20s I was making at least $40,000/year with no college education.
Hey! I wonder if the post office would take me back?
Oh!
Never mind.
8 comments:
There is hope. One of my favorite professors was in the early MBA graduate program at Georgetown (After he had succeeded and reached the upper echelons of the business world. The organization payed his salary and tuition just so he had his "ticket punched") He asked the admissions interviewer "If you have such open enrollment, what weight will my MBA carry? The interviewer answered that "it is not who we admit that matters... It is who we graduate."
Not everyone is suited for college. If "everyone" is "entitled' to go to college, the overall standards will be dumbed down to accomodate those who really should not be there. As a result, those who do graduate will have a less compreshensive education. Bah.
You are so right! Some of the memos that are circulated at my work from the higher executives of the company are rife with grammatical errors. And these executives have at least a bachelors degree. I just don't get it.
If everyone goes to college, what degree would he suggest would prepare people for a life's work flipping burgers or mopping floors? Or working at the car wash? Or cleaning swimming pools?
Umm... isn't that what the illegals are for? ::sly grin::
Heh. Let's be realistic. A bachelor's degree does not carry the same weight it did 20 years ago. When I got out in 2005 I ended up working retail and living in my parents' basement. In fact despite my searching I have yet to find a job where I can use my degree. Bloody good thing I know how to make things or else there'd be nothing useful about me.
The appropriate Degree for a pool-boy is one in Philiosophy, or History of Consciousness (don't drop the roach in the water, bro!), and for a burger-flipper it's in Applied Theory of Agricultural Labor Practices. :-)
I couldn't stand college. I went for 3 years and disliked almost every minute of it.
I'm in graphic design school getting an associate's degree right now and I'm so much better suited to it.
My college was about 9 courses in electronic circit design at Emry-Riddle.
I didn't do the entire courseload to get a degree, just spending time after work in the Navy- (as you can see from my blog, I didn't do much in the composition thing).
But, having electrician skills and operators skills combined with a class "A" CDL makes me at least $4/hr more than most BA's(BS's-BM's,,,etc)I've seen advertised in the craigslist help wanted (and the Tx jobsearch website).
,,,Just throwing that out from the 'under-educated' class that the Dems want to either deride or embrace, depending on who they're trying to fool today.
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