I like this. Provides a counterbalance to the "loans for everybody!!" post by Reich the other day.

I also like the last sentence. Here's an alternate: "... how to create an economy where you don't have to go to graduate school to afford your undergraduate college loans."

I absolutely agree. I'm a "hands on" person who much prefers getting into the meat of something. Mostly electronics and to some extent computers (my current occupation). But in order to afford an apartment and newer vehicle (when necessary), I am forced to work in a cubicle doing computer administration. Not really my cup of tea for certain.

Here is a good article on the Overselling of higher education.

The message that kids receive, often starting
as early as grade school, is that going to
college is imperative to success and
happiness. In their book Other Ways to Win,
Penn State professors Kenneth Gray and Edwin
Herr call this the "one way to win"
mentality. They write that great numbers of
academically average (or worse) students
"head off to a 4- or 2-year transfer
college despite being academically and/or
emotionally ill prepared for the experience.
The tragedy is that many are not successful
and as a result drop out. Even among those who
graduate, as many as one half may never find
college level work." Teachers and
counselors sell students on college with the
idea that if they don't get a degree,
they will have to settle for a life of
drudgery in low-paying employment. Gray and
Herr report that even among high school
students in the lowest quarter, 57% said that
they had been told that they ought to enroll
in college.

But from the time you enter school you are told over and over again Get the paper to get the money. When that may not be where your talent lies.

C

I have a lot of thoughts about this post, but not long to post them. Allow me to run through a few of them quickly:

First, the post is more than accurate especially as it pertains to the Reich article. Reich, for the most part, is talking about displaced factory workers.

I was a displaced factory worker. I went to college and succeeded. But from what I saw the average rate of success at the two-year or technical school level was well under 50% (including those who never even made an attempt and just found another job). I've only heard of one other person besides myself in my "layoff pool" of over 1,000 workers who went to the four-year level (you lose many retraining benefits after the first two years is one reason why).

And it's not that these people were dumb. Many had high school diplomas and were very bright. Some without high school diplomas were even brighter. But these folks hadn't picked up a book in 10, 20, or somethimes 40 years..because they were too busy working 50 hours a week. It was rare to find a person in ten with more than basic PC literacy.

Even if you throw these folks into the college system, there are two other setbacks:

First, teachers become overwhelmed with larger class sizes that include several students in need of special attention.

Second, in smaller factory towns, it floods the job market with degrees that sometimes have no applicable value in that area. This leaves non-degreed skilled applicants going up against less-skilled applicants with a college degree, particularly those just coming out of high school.

So who moves for opportunity? The displaced worker with a degree, a house, a mortgage, and kids, or the young people straight out of school. Then when the market runs out of displaced degreed workers, there is no vibrant youth pool because they have went elsewhere.

Finally, we need to go back to the beginning. Rather than focus heavily on secondary education, we can reform our elementary and high schools. Not to mention pre-k and head start programs, which are currently being cut at a rapid clip.

Sorry if all of my thuoghts weren't as cogent as I would have liked, but I am posting on the fly. Great post and I hope it is widely read and discussed.