[Puffer Fish]

Here's a little statistic that may be surprising to some of you.

Slightly less than 37% of those between the ages of 25-30 have a 4-year college degree.

Slightly less than 30% of those 55 and older have a 4-year college degree.

sources here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education ... ted_States
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... ver-before


So the issue is, do we have a plan for all those people who didn't go to college, or is the plan to try to push them all through college, and basically abandon hope for those who don't make it?


To further clarify, the point I am trying to make is there are a lot of people here who say the solution to our economic problems is to divert a lot more public tax funds into providing free college education.

I was just pointing out that that notion is unrealistic, if we are talking about helping the majority of the people that have been left behind and need help.

[Drlee]

There are several reasons for people to go to college. First and foremost is to prepare to make money. People with college degrees tend to make more money. But. We have had what I call 'credential creep". Many businesses are asking for preparation for jobs that do not actually make for a better employee.

For example. The other day I saw a job posting for a tire salesman and the "preferred qualifications" included a baccalaureate degree. (Paid $14.50 an hour just to go further into the lunacy.) I am sure that their justification would be that the employee might be better prepared for eventual management opportunities.

That said.

If we were to get the federal government out of the educational loan guarantee business we would see more reasonable use of our colleges and universities. We don't need more college graduates, we need more of some and fewer of others.

[Politics_Observer]

@Puffer Fish

Part of the problem is that we don't have unions anymore in this country (or we do but they aren't around as much as they used to be nor do they have the power they used to have). In addition to unions, we need federal laws that require every state to abide by that protects people who want to organize a union and gives union workers the right to strike without the company being able to lawfully replace them. Not everybody goes to college but that doesn't mean they should be doomed to wage slavery, sweat shop conditions and unsafe work conditions. Nobody deserves that just because they didn't go to college or they flunked out of college. Our economy shouldn't be a Game of Thrones kind of deal where you either win or die.

Not everybody can go to college and we need to respect and appreciate the hard work of the working class. Without them, we don't have an economy. Today, this country worships the wealth and status of the upper crust and you know there is good people who are in the upper crust. Not everybody in the upper crust is bad and the source of all of our problems do not all come from the upper crust of society.

However, it's high time that this country start paying the working class more, respecting the working class more because they are essential workers to this economy and wihout them, we don't have an economy. Without farmers we can't have doctors and lawyers or engineers or computer programmers. Without factory workers we can't have the iPhones or Android phones because the factories can't produce he sim cards and microprocessor chips those smart phones need.

It's un-realistic that everybody should go to college just as it's unrealistic and just darn right cruel to doom people to wage slavery, sweat shop conditions on factory floors and unsafe working conditions simply because they couldn't or chose not to attend college. That's not right and that's a wrong that needs to be righted. The union and federal law that apply to ALL states protecting the right of workers to organize and to strike without fear of replacement is what is needed for today's working class. That and ensuring social security and medicare stays solvent.

International trade deals that ensure the right of workers of all countries party to the international trade deal to share in prosperity of these trade deals with working people and not just the rich that take all the prosperity. This means workers in the countries that are party to international trade deals have a right to organize and be protected by law to organize as well as being protected by law to strike as part of a union without fear of replacement. In the past, trade deals made the wealthy in the countries party to the trade deals more wealthier while leaving the working classes behind and not even taking them into account as part of the international trade deals.

Today, here in the US and much of the world, there is a lack of respect for the work of the working class.

[Puffer Fish]

There are several reasons for people to go to college. First and foremost is to prepare to make money. People with college degrees tend to make more money.

That is surely true on an individual level. But, have you heard of something called The Fallacy of Composition? It's a logical fallacy that says what is true for the individual does not necessarily hold true for the collective group as a whole.
Basically yes, a college degree helps an individual get a job. But if that person is only getting a job because the employer prefers to give them the job rather than someone else without that degree, then it does not really provide any net benefit to the group.

But. We have had what I call 'credential creep". Many businesses are asking for preparation for jobs that do not actually make for a better employee.

Thank you for acknowledging this.
Credentialism is surely part of the equation too.