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Four years of being in the working world would have put them in the same standing, plus they'd have valuable experience to propel them into better jobs. Four y

Four years of being in the working world would have put them in the same standing, plus they'd have valuable experience to propel them into better jobs. Four years of being in the working world would have had them working in the kind of job one could get with a high school education and no experience. I see a lot of people say they'd rather hire employees with four years of experience than hire straight out of college, but I don't see many who are hiring high school graduates for those first four years.

randomdata 14y ago
> Four years of being in the working world would have had them working in the kind of job one could get with a high school education and no experience. Which is the exact same situation a college graduate who put nothing into their education will be in, just several years later. You can leverage your time in a post-secondary school to move immediately into a better job in the future, but it is not the default. In the meantime, the high school graduate has taken an entry level job and applied their own educational pursuits to move up the ladder at work and after four years is taking on the same kinds of jobs that someone who worked hard in college is. The moral is that learning takes time and effort. There are no shortcuts, but there is no clearly defined path either. I find it a little disturbing that this article thinks these people should be overnight successes after just one year. Let's revisit them in ten and see where they stand. I expect they will be doing just fine.
- argv_empty 14y ago
  In the meantime, the high school graduate has taken an entry level job and applied their own educational pursuits to move up the ladder at work and after four years is taking on the same kinds of jobs that someone who worked hard in college is. You conveniently forget what kind of employer is actually likely to hire people who just finished high school.
  - randomdata 14y ago
    I am not sure how the exact job is relevant, really. Every job has problems that can be solved in new and creative ways and that's where you start to make your mark. To appeal to the local crowd: If you end up as a barista and, unsatisfied with your efficiencies, you go home and write a program that solves the optimum way to prepare the different kinds of coffee you now: a) Are a more productive and therefore more valuable employee b) Have a product that could be worth quite a bit to your employer, and perhaps the competition too c) Have professional experience writing software using algorithms that the average professional programmer cannot even utilize The catch is that you have to actually do it. Your typical high school graduate who does not go onto college generally did not go onto college because they do not have the drive to go over and above like that. That skews the statistics in such a way that it makes it look like having a degree matters.

randomdata 14y ago

> Four years of being in the working world would have had them working in the kind of job one could get with a high school education and no experience. Which is the exact same situation a college graduate who put nothing into their education will be in, just several years later. You can leverage your time in a post-secondary school to move immediately into a better job in the future, but it is not the default. In the meantime, the high school graduate has taken an entry level job and applied their own educational pursuits to move up the ladder at work and after four years is taking on the same kinds of jobs that someone who worked hard in college is. The moral is that learning takes time and effort. There are no shortcuts, but there is no clearly defined path either. I find it a little disturbing that this article thinks these people should be overnight successes after just one year. Let's revisit them in ten and see where they stand. I expect they will be doing just fine.

argv_empty 14y ago
In the meantime, the high school graduate has taken an entry level job and applied their own educational pursuits to move up the ladder at work and after four years is taking on the same kinds of jobs that someone who worked hard in college is. You conveniently forget what kind of employer is actually likely to hire people who just finished high school.
- randomdata 14y ago
  I am not sure how the exact job is relevant, really. Every job has problems that can be solved in new and creative ways and that's where you start to make your mark. To appeal to the local crowd: If you end up as a barista and, unsatisfied with your efficiencies, you go home and write a program that solves the optimum way to prepare the different kinds of coffee you now: a) Are a more productive and therefore more valuable employee b) Have a product that could be worth quite a bit to your employer, and perhaps the competition too c) Have professional experience writing software using algorithms that the average professional programmer cannot even utilize The catch is that you have to actually do it. Your typical high school graduate who does not go onto college generally did not go onto college because they do not have the drive to go over and above like that. That skews the statistics in such a way that it makes it look like having a degree matters.