“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think.” - Adolph Hitler, Socialist and Mass Murderer (but then I repeat myself)
I linked this article in my most recent post. The Class of 2008 and 2009 are still scrambling to find jobs... and here comes the class of 2010. Are Oil imports into the U.S. down because of the economy, or is the economy partly down due to the decrease in imports? Without doubt the debt situation is worse than Oil at this moment but that does not mean that constricted Oil and high energy costs are not doing their work as well... and perhaps its more than that...
Over the last five months, only one job materialized. After several interviews, the Hanover Insurance Group in nearby Worcester offered to hire him as an associate claims adjuster, at $40,000 a year. But even before the formal offer, Mr. Nicholson had decided not to take the job.Rather than waste early years in dead-end work, he reasoned, he would hold out for a corporate position that would draw on his college training and put him, as he sees it, on the bottom rungs of a career ladder.
Hmmm... Fair enough. Ok, exactly what was his training in?
“I worked hard through high school to get myself into the college I did,” Scott said, “and then I worked hard through college to graduate with the grades and degree that I did to position myself for a solid job.” (He majored in political science and minored in history.)
The sad fact is that this young man has no training. He has an education. An education in Political Science is not being trained... Training, as in surgical/engineering/mechanics/plumbing/welding/shoe repair means you can actually DO SOMETHING useful at the end of your training.
Read this self-serving BULL SH*T from Rutgers University when asked "what can I do with a Poli Sci Degree?" The response? In a word - NOTHING. They claim they teach you how to think... and that is really all you need (and I agree with that part)... problem is, they (these private universities) charge $200,000 to give you a certificate that says you probably know how to think but that you really don't know how to do anything. That's great. Thinking is abstract and conveniently for the Universities it cannot be measured.
Let me ask you something... do you really think 4 years of part time class work and full time partying gives one better thinking capabilities than going to work, opening a business, saving money, buying a home, selling to gain customers/clients, servicing them, and reading humanities type material for 15 hours per week? Really?? No you don't. The problem is you don't get a certificate, a "union card" if you will, in the form of the sheepskin that SAYS somebody affirms you.
Look at this from OTHER side of the trade. IF, (IF!), any of the above claim from Rutgers was true, then Lifelong earnings should increase for each hour of course credit earned - a student who dropped out with only 3 hours left should earn 98% of the increased lifetime value of what a grad earns, a second year drop out should earn 50% of the of the difference between a high school grad and a college grad (I know, I know... the metric is not perfect... are they ever?)... but according to payscale.com's director of quant analysis, Al Lee:
“Essentially, if you don’t graduate, you’ve not only lost money to tuition, you’ve also lost wages that you would have earned by working instead of going to school. A non-graduate’s time in school creates, more or less, a net zero in their lifetime earnings,” says Lee.
I'd like to repeat that last line - "A non-graduate’s time in school creates, more or less, a net zero in their lifetime earnings". It then follows that it is not the increased ability to think, but an institutional affirmation (a degree) in ANY subject that creates opportunity for those fortunate enough to have the resources and support system to navigate the college educational system (otherwise each and every college experience would lead to increased "thinking" ability and the enhanced economic benefits that comes from such "think" training... I am desperately trying to suppress a laugh... tee hee!!) to its conclusion.
Life is not fair. Smarter people earn more money, and they congregate in "better" schools with Alumni connections and placement offices... One look at the U.S. Supreme Court should give you a hint. Over the years Justices hailed from all manner of Law Schools. Today? 5 schools DOMINATE the Court. Are there really no smart people graduating from the University of Texas, or U. of Colorado, or Auburn? Really??!!
If you can get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stamford, or Columbia (or the other 10 TOP, TOP schools)... by all means, don't pass that up. They are worth the price of admission. Paying $200k for an also ran private school? You gotta have rocks in your head. Paying anything for a Poly Sci degree? In this economy? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHALOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHAWHAWHAWHAW
Sorry, that got away from me.
These "also rans" are in the business of false promises and exaggerated claims. Don't let them bag you. Peak Oil has hit the U.S. The full repercussions of this are unfathomable, but it doesn't take too much thought to see clearly that wasting 4 to 8 years studying something that cannot earn you a living is probably not a great idea.
In the end, people that successfully interpret their environment prosper.