4 ms·

The first half of that sentence is the problem, in my opinion. We treat all college degrees as having equal value and offer loans for massive sums of money, wit

The first half of that sentence is the problem, in my opinion. We treat all college degrees as having equal value and offer loans for massive sums of money, with no regard to their likely ability to pay it back. $150k to get a law degree? Ok, that's likely to work out. $150k to get a degree in Russian Literature? Or theatre? That's not a good investment. Of course there are people who have degrees like that and they end up in high paying jobs (often not in the field they studied), but they're the exception to the rule. We seem to have stopped explaining how supply and demand works. Companies have a demand for employees with certain skills. If you can supply those skills, they will pay you. The higher the demand for those skills, the more they pay (IT, medical, many trades). If you have a skill that nobody has a demand for (say, theatre, or russian literature), you're in trouble. Of course if you have a degree that isn't in demand, there's a way out. Find a way to take the skills you have and turn them into someone that companies want to pay money for. Turn your english degree into a career in copywriting, or your degree in theatre into a career in... something.

anigbrowl 7y ago
But why should everything be subject to laws of supply and demand? That's just slavery with extra steps. Alice is rich and got to follow her passion (even though it maybe took a long time), Bob was born poor and so any passion on his part must be subordinated to his ability to be employed by Carol regardless of opportunity cost. Is this somehow Bob's fault for being born into the wrong circumstances? Obviously not. But if the aspirational messages that we provide to all people in society are only true for a privileged few, then the communication of same to a larger mass of people for whom it is not is a form of fraud perpetuated on those least able to detect it.
- TallGuyShort 7y ago
  If anything, the fact that tuition rates have skyrocketed, and people continue to pay any price using loans they later struggle to pay back, is a textbook example of how separating what people have to pay from what something actually costs is a terrible idea.
- larrywright 7y ago
  Why shouldn’t it be subject to the laws of supply and demand? If my passion is Russian Literature, you’re saying that someone (who?) must create a demand for that so that I can make a living pursing my passion?
  - TallGuyShort 7y ago
    I literally know a person with a Russian Literature degree who thinks that. That's exactly what some people say.
    - larrywright 7y ago
      I know. The story I referenced about Humans of New York was exactly that: “I have a degree in theatre and I can’t make above minimum wage. That’s unfair, theatre is important and I should be able to make a living doing that.” I know people personally who are like this, and when you engage with them and say “Have you thought about getting a job doing X at company Y” or “There’s a huge demand for nurses, have you thought about getting a nursing degree”, the response is something like “I don’t want to do that, I wouldn’t enjoy it.” There’s some sort of fundamental disconnect here between how they think the world works and how it actually does. At the end of the day, free college is not going to solve the problem, and I firmly believe it would make matters worse. With no skin in the game, people will get all manner of ridiculous degrees, and the universities will be more than happy to give them to them.

anigbrowl 7y ago

But why should everything be subject to laws of supply and demand? That's just slavery with extra steps. Alice is rich and got to follow her passion (even though it maybe took a long time), Bob was born poor and so any passion on his part must be subordinated to his ability to be employed by Carol regardless of opportunity cost. Is this somehow Bob's fault for being born into the wrong circumstances? Obviously not. But if the aspirational messages that we provide to all people in society are only true for a privileged few, then the communication of same to a larger mass of people for whom it is not is a form of fraud perpetuated on those least able to detect it.

TallGuyShort 7y ago
If anything, the fact that tuition rates have skyrocketed, and people continue to pay any price using loans they later struggle to pay back, is a textbook example of how separating what people have to pay from what something actually costs is a terrible idea.
larrywright 7y ago
Why shouldn’t it be subject to the laws of supply and demand? If my passion is Russian Literature, you’re saying that someone (who?) must create a demand for that so that I can make a living pursing my passion?
- TallGuyShort 7y ago
  I literally know a person with a Russian Literature degree who thinks that. That's exactly what some people say.
  - larrywright 7y ago
    I know. The story I referenced about Humans of New York was exactly that: “I have a degree in theatre and I can’t make above minimum wage. That’s unfair, theatre is important and I should be able to make a living doing that.” I know people personally who are like this, and when you engage with them and say “Have you thought about getting a job doing X at company Y” or “There’s a huge demand for nurses, have you thought about getting a nursing degree”, the response is something like “I don’t want to do that, I wouldn’t enjoy it.” There’s some sort of fundamental disconnect here between how they think the world works and how it actually does. At the end of the day, free college is not going to solve the problem, and I firmly believe it would make matters worse. With no skin in the game, people will get all manner of ridiculous degrees, and the universities will be more than happy to give them to them.