Comments on: Is the B.A. Just B.S?

By: Floyd

Floyd — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:00:01 +0000

""That many people who now go to college would be far, far better off going instead to trade school or otherwise just getting jobs. If you’re not academically talented and/or motivated to learn, you’re wasting your time in college"" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Counterpoint... If you have no talent that can be developed into a useful skill then you would be far,far better off pursuing a "BA".[maybe someone will take pity on you and offer you a cubicle and a pencil to push] If you are not technically talented and/or able to concentrate, then you would be wasting your time trying to learn a skill, and might just as well spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of your life, buying mediocrity. Of course there can hardly be an alternative to pursuing a "BA" if you can't be taught to read and write in only 13 years.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:23:38 +0000

And, geez, medical school and PhDs require a hell of a lot more than four years of course work!

I don't know what schools you're talking about, but at Harvard we only had 2 years of course work in the PhD poli. sci. program/.

I know that it was only 2 years over at the Med school, as well.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:44:51 +0000

The main problem I see is that a High School education doesn't provide nearly enough these days. High School graduates are by and large completely unprepared for handling the real world on their own. If we want to do away with seemingly mandatory College, we need to provide a little more in High School.

I actually think most students who are uninterested in college or more interested in a technical degree or program should start taking classes for that degree while in high school.

A lot of kids don't even know that's an option. I took college courses during my junior and senior year of high school, I was one of like 4 students from my school that did so, and we were an above-average school.

I've predicted an Education bubble, just like the housing bubble.

You and everyone else who ever took a moment to think about the state of things, so don't pat yourself on the back too hard.

collage degrees are signaling mechanisms for HR departments deluges with applications from too many people competing for too few jobs ...

All too true, but it's a self-sustaining problem: the more students that have 4 year degrees, the pickier the employers can be, the more a 4 year degree is needed to compete. The question is how to break the cycle, and where to break the cycle.

this discussion should then be for individuals to decide for themselves. After all, no one has a gun to their heads do they?

Effectively, yes. They're told that without a 4 year degree they won't make a decent salary, and for the most part that's true. So while it's not a literal gun to their heads, it's the threat of eternal poverty, which is probably worse.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:27:29 +0000

If you want to go to college, go. If you don't, don't. You take your chances either way. but no one should keep you from doing whichever you want because they have determined it would bea waste of time for you in pacticular.

By: FireWolf

FireWolf — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:20:18 +0000

Gee guys, why don't we just institute Russia or China's policy on career development? We simply look for those children who have natural talent and ability, and send everyone else out to the sweatshops for work?

Seriously, I'll admit that colleges and universities shouldn't be people farms and that not everyone is suited for an academic degree, but this discussion should then be for individuals to decide for themselves. After all, no one has a gun to their heads do they?

By: Rick DeMent

Rick DeMent — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:28:21 +0000

collage degrees are signaling mechanisms for HR departments deluges with applications from too many people competing for too few jobs ...

Our economy has been very bad at produced good paying middle class jobs for the last 30 years. We are in decline due to an over reliance on finance and inability to create policies that produce sustainable jobs. Companies are killing the golden goose by their inability to do anything other then follow the buffalo heard of cheap labor around the world.

By: rodney dill

rodney dill — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:35:56 +0000

I've predicted an Education bubble, just like the housing bubble. I've got to daughters still in college and one through, so I understand some of the pain involved. With the ever increasing cost for an education (probably closer to 5 years now), some jobs that graduates can get won't justify the amount that has to be spent up front. The high schools and colleges just keep repeating the same montra's (they need the education to compete and its worth it), but at some point in won't be worth it and the jobs available won't justify the cost spent. Still better off than not doing anything after high school, but trade schools or other options seem valid. Mostly the increasing costs in education compared to the rest of reality doesn't seem justified.

By: just me

just me — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:31:35 +0000

I absolutely think the idea that everyone should get a 4 year degree is ludicrous. I think doing away with the old tracking system where students were placed in vocational classes or college track without consideration to their desires was wrong, but we threw the baby out with the bath water.

I really don't see any need for every high school student to take courses that put them on a college track. I actually think most students who are uninterested in college or more interested in a technical degree or program should start taking classes for that degree while in high school. I think this would probably keep a lot of kids in school who would otherwise quit or give up.