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newsflash : University is not job training (except for professional programs like engineering, physical therapy, etc) ... University is _education_ I think wha
by plg 13y ago
newsflash : University is not job training (except for professional programs like engineering, physical therapy, etc) ... University is _education_
I think what we are (re)discovering is that _education_ is a luxury, for the wealthy class. What the bottom 90% of the country needs is job training, not education. Or at least job training _first_ ... and education as a hobby.
Germany is getting it right: http://goo.gl/aRhvk http://goo.gl/aRhvk (recent article from The Economist). They have a society where what we refer to pejoratively as "vocational training" is a valued segment of society, and many kids coming out of school gladly and enthusiastically choose that path instead of the academic track.
Somehow in north america we have adopted a culture where going and getting an honours degree in English Lit from Yale at $240,000 USD (4 x $60,000/yr) is valued more than going to college and becoming a licensed electrician or plumber, for example.
Like I said... education is for the (already) wealthy, privileged class. It's time that the middle class stop pretending otherwise. All we are doing is getting ourselves into debt. Instead we should train for jobs. Get educated in your spare time. University is not job training.
- rollo_tommasi 13y agoI think you're broadly right but your specific example is a bit off. An unexceptional English lit major at Yale will walk into any number of prestigious and potentially lucrative jobs in publishing, finance, consulting, nonprofit work, politics, etc, whereas an unexceptional English lit major - or even a business major - from Expensive Second-Tier Private U will have all those doors slammed in her face. It's the latter group whose expectations need adjusting.
- plg 13y agoYeah my example is off because anyone who goes to Yale is already wealthy in the first place. On a related rant ... obviously there is no real difference between a Yale education and a state school education ... academically speaking. What you get at Yale is the social network and the "badge" ... so (as you say) you can walk into any job on Wall St., Publishing, Consulting, etc, and have an immediate "in"... just because of the badge and the social connections. The idea that there us upward mobility in today's society is a farce.