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What really breaks this is that the current education bubble is essentially unpoppable. Until lenders start losing more by allowing people to default on student
by tghw 13y ago
What really breaks this is that the current education bubble is essentially unpoppable. Until lenders start losing more by allowing people to default on student loans, they have no incentive to turn down anyone. And with all of that money so readily available, colleges can keep increasing tuition, since the loans will always provide enough students to fill their classes.
The problem with fixing this, however, is that any measure that makes loans less available will be seen as a negative, since it will limit who can go to college. In a country where people have declared that everyone should be able to go to college, this will be a very unpopular position. We need social acceptance of some viable alternative, like vocational schools to fill our ever dwindling ranks of skilled workers.
* Note, this comment is focused on the US. I don't know enough about other country's systems to comment on them.
- TallGuyShort 13y agoI agree with this comment so much! The negative stigma of "only" doing high school is so harmful. Take welders for instance. It's an honest job, provides a useful and necessary service. If somebody finds welding interesting enough to occupy them and satisfy their career ambitions, it's a smart decision not to go to college. They will contribute to society just as well for their choice.
- RougeFemme 13y agoI recently attended a high school graduation - in America - where one of the top 5 students planned to become a certified underwater welder. Granted, this was not the most academically competitive high school in the area, but still a pretty decent one. You could hear the audience gasp. But then we all applauded. Afterward I told her I admired her guts, not only for her unusual vocational choice, but also for ultimately deciding in college. She applied to several, was accepted and received partial scholarships to all, but decided that she wasn't "crazy" for being #5 in her class and deciding to forego college.
- danielweber 13y agoEmployers are allowed to discriminate against people with "only" a high school education. This is not so bad in a society where 10% of the people have a college degree. Because there are still a lot of smart -- to say nothing of hard-working -- people who don't go to college. It is bad in a society with 70% of people have a college degree. What kind of idiot weirdo doesn't go to college?[1] [1] NB: I really don't subscribe to that view, but employers do, for rational reasons.