Article: The Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class

[Hammer12b]

The Biden administration is canceling the student loans of 28,000 student borrowers who attended a chain of cosmetology schools that no longer exists. Any student who borrowed money to attend the Marinello Schools of Beauty between 2009 and 2016 is eligible for the relief, which totals $238 million. It's the latest move by the Biden administration "to address the politically charged issue of student-debt forgiveness," says The Wall Street Journal. Around 40 million people in the U.S. have student loan debt.

And debt forgiveness just adds to the ongoing problem of inflation by spending money they don’t have!

 

[Hammer12b]

Scariest part is the politics part as even the article admitted, AOC is one of these millennials who failed to do anything with their degree so jumped into politics. Now she is the face of the liberal progressive left. That's all we need a bunch of Masters of Opera in the DC Swamp!!!

Look up some of our politicians backgrounds and see what kind of degrees they have. Most of them couldn’t run a hot dog stand next to a pot shop! But here they are running our country and doing a crappy job of of it !

 

[wvsig]

Stating that college degrees are forms of brainwashing and a useless waste of money is the same as saying all guns are dangerous and kill people. All poodles are dogs not all dogs are poodles.

I have dual major bachelors degree in Philosophy and Religion. I had to double major so I was marketable after college. I needed both so I was qualified to both wash and dry the dishes. The original intention of the degree was to go to law school but the more I looked at the law profession the less I wanted to do it but I finished my degree anyway. I knew that my degree was not going to directly translate to a job but I was ok with that and I knew I had other skills that would get me a Job. I got my first job at 14.5 and was gainful employed until I retired. My degree did not directly get me any of my jobs but I do believe they helped me be good at the jobs I got. They taught me critical thinking and how to explain and idea and convince someone of something. It also taught me what moves, inspires and motivates people. I sold a lot of stuff as a result in my lifetime and made a fair amount of money doing it. Could I have done it without the degree? Sure but I believe I was better at it as a result of my education.

I think people look at education the wrong way. There are different reasons to pursue higher education. One is for monetary gain the other is for personal fulfillment and learning. What too many people do not understand is that what is personally fulfilling for them to learn and pursue does not come with a marketable skill. For many people today the focus might be too narrow or there are too many people in the pool and only the top make money. For people like me if I did not go to law school there was not "market" for my degree. I enjoyed learning for learnings sake. I did not expect my degree to make me money if that makes sense. Other degrees lead directly to jobs. Everyone makes choices and sometimes we make the right one and sometimes we make the wrong one. The problem I see is that "kids" and their parents are leveraging their futures on this choice. No one is telling the opera singer that there is are only 50 opera houses in the country and there are thousands of people who want to be in those performances. It is no different from sports like the NFL. Everyone wants to be drafted this weekend most who played college football won't be. Owing $100,00+ to be an Opera singer is a bad financial choice on the other hand it might be the most personally fulfilling thing that women has ever done or will do it just does not have marketable monetary gain. She needs to understand and accept that.

Another factor people do not consider when going to college is that some professions are also historically underpaid. Educators are one of those professions. Look into the starting salaries for public school teachers in NC. It is about $35K with a bachelor and 45k with a masters. The reality is you can make more money working at Starbucks. My mother was a teacher for 40+ years. She made a good living but was not rich by any means and when you took into account where she taught she as underpaid vs the median income of the area. Still we had a very comfortable life. She has no regrets.

Now there are professions where higher education is essential. Drs, engineers, physicist etc... Some of those make money others don't. Again the necessity of higher education does not necessarily translate to higher earnings. There are others degrees where is it efficient if your goal is to make money. I am biased in that my quality of life was built on higher education. I helped put my wife through undergrad and a masters degree. That has netted us a comfortable lifestyle and I basically retired at 41. We had to move 4 times in 14 years and we took a big step sideways if not backwards for a while but it has paid off for us. Without her Masters she would not be doing what she is today and she has not yet reached her earning potential. Her degree was not about learning for learning sake it was about adding a skill set that is specialized and in demand. The pool of qualified people is small and the demand for them is growing. Her degree along with her work history guarantees high level high paying employment that is recession proof. She will be employed for as long as she wants a job. The degree was paid for with scholarships, self funding and student loans. The loans were paid back in full within 5 years and I am not talking about a small amount but the return on the investment is incredible. Again without the degree she would not have made it to the level she is in here career.

For everyone one of these people in the article there is someone like my wife. You cannot make blanket statements that education is worthless and is a scam. It is not perfect. It is not for everyone but the idea that it serves no purpose is absurd. The idea that people do not use education to better themselves is a fallacy. Look at the impact of the GI bill after WWII. It helped education an entire generation. I think we have move too far in the direction that everyone needs higher education. Many people are sold the false narrative that you need one to succeed and they leverage their future as a result. They make poor decisions on how to pay for it but people like my wife, education took her from a poor dirt farm in southside VA to where she is now.

 

[BlackGun]

Four year college degrees should only take 2.5 years. The BS stuff you have to take to graduate should be eliminated. A US degree centers around kingdom creation in education. A student should go almost immediately into his degree subjects. If the student is not ready for that then they should enter another career path until they are ready.

I have a 4 year degree in business administration. I do not remember 98% of what was taught nor used any of it. Specialized degrees are necessary but even those are filled with garbage classes. A whole new system needs to be addressed.

Last week a customer was reluctant to tell me how much he made working on diesel trucks, now specializing in electrical and electronics on big trucks. He makes over $125k annually with only a high school degree but taking job sponsored classes. These jobs are in high demand. Some of the wealthiest people I know are farmers or mechanics.

 

[P01135809]

My daughter likes to think that she’s the “smartest “ person in the room because she is graduating from UNC Chapel Hill with a PhD. She’s one that you can’t have a conversation with because she knows things. You also can’t explain the merits of your argument because she knows she’s right. Her school told her she’s right. I’m stupid because I didn’t finish college. It doesn’t matter that I have more college credits than she does, and most are in subjects that I could use, I’m stupid. It doesn’t matter that I did 30 years in a job that I truly loved and excelled ( and made decent money) at. It doesn’t matter that I retired at 53 with enough money that I paid almost entirely for most of her schools, yes schools, with an s on the end. She’s 29 years old and has never had a real paying job, never been out of school, and never had real responsibility. She’s picked a career that I don’t know if she’ll ever make back the money that I’ve spent on her schools in her career, but I’m stupid. In the end, shes working with mentally handicapped kids, and I commend her for that, but it takes a fortune to train for a fairly low paying job, and in the end, she either trapped at undesirable places that have that job, or teaching it at a university. Who’s the stupid one now?

Sounds like she’s smarter than you since she’s not paying for stuff! 😂

She’s a professional student and you are her employer 😂

I keed

 

[Chuckman]

I get it, believe me. I footed my daughter’s bills for the last 11 years of Higher learning. But I do care what they study, they do 5-10 years getting worthless degrees and they can’t pay for them. They default on the loans and WE, as in taxpayers are the bank. Its a grand scheme and don’t think the politicians aren’t in it neck deep with kickbacks and cushy board member jobs after retirement. Anything they give up to universities came from us, the taxpayer.

Not everyone has loans, and not everyone is choosing to default. As we've been discussing people get useless degrees but find gainful employment outside that field of study. I don't care what people study. Nuclear physics? Fine. Gender studies? Don't care.

My issue isn't what people study, but a) how they pay for it, and b) if they choose to be a productive member of society after.

I agree about the educational-industrial complex. It's just as insidious as the military-industrial complex with al the same government nepotism, cronyism, and despotism.

 

[GeorgeBush]

God, it's another one of those threads; I just can't type enough.

 

[wvsig]

Four year college degrees should only take 2.5 years. The BS stuff you have to take to graduate should be eliminated. A US degree centers around kingdom creation in education. A student should go almost immediately into his degree subjects. If the student is not ready for that then they should enter another career path until they are ready.

I have a 4 year degree in business administration. I do not remember 98% of what was taught nor used any of it. Specialized degrees are necessary but even those are filled with garbage classes. A whole new system needs to be addressed.

Last week a customer was reluctant to tell me how much he made working on diesel trucks, now specializing in electrical and electronics on big trucks. He makes over $125k annually with only a high school degree but taking job sponsored classes. These jobs are in high demand. Some of the wealthiest people I know are farmers or mechanics.

The richest people I know don't work at all. Like this fabulous lady who used to live in Fredericksburg, VA before she passed. Her younger brother is pretty good with money. They are institutional investors and they earn all of their money in the form of capital gains in the market. This country actually penalizes work with the tax code and rewards institutional investors at the workers expense. The lowest members of the top 5% get hit the hardest because they are earning most of their income on W2s or pass through corporations. They are paying at the highest tax bracket vs paying long term capital gains.

 

[Ferrisfan]

I think that the government should look at the way bankruptcy laws are written around discharging student loan debt. That would be a better avenue than debt forgiveness because it would lead to loan providers evaluating the ability of the person to pay back a loan based on the job availability in that field. Cutting off “automatic” loans would then drive costs down as schools realize how much money their students will qualify for.

 

[P01135809]

The richest people I know don't work at all. Like this fabulous lady who used to live in Fredericksburg, VA before she passed. Her younger brother is pretty good with money. They are institutional investors and they earn all of their money in the form of capital gains in the market. This country actually penalizes work with the tax code and rewards institutional investors at the workers expense. The lowest members of the top 5% get hit the hardest because they are earning most of their income on W2s or pass through corporations. They are paying at the highest tax bracket vs paying long term capital gains.

Is she single and ok with polygamy

Or looking to adopt me?

Or both?

 

[noway2]

Is she single and ok with polygamy

Or looking to adopt me?

Or both?

It would have to be more like necrophilia because she's dead, "who used to live in Fredericksburg, VA before she passed."

Four year college degrees should only take 2.5 years. The BS stuff you have to take to graduate should be eliminated. A US degree centers around kingdom creation in education. A student should go almost immediately into his degree subjects. If the student is not ready for that then they should enter another career path until they are ready.

I have a 4 year degree in business administration. I do not remember 98% of what was taught nor used any of it. Specialized degrees are necessary but even those are filled with garbage classes. A whole new system needs to be addressed.

Agreed. I think 2/3 of what I had to take was not related to my degree (engineering). I would have been much better served taking more engineering classes and fewer on things like literature, history, cinema, etc. The fact is that those types of classes don't result in paying jobs, at least usually, so the schools have to create artificial demand for them. If the cost of a class were based upon it's market value, a lot of these BS classes would go away simply due to zero funding.

 

[gc70]

My issue isn't what people study, but a) how they pay for it, and b) if they choose to be a productive member of society after.

^^^ This; it's not what people study, but what they do in life.

Two examples of people I know personally:
- woman with a Master's degree in Interpretive Dance; sells shoes in a retail shoe store.
- man with a Master's degree in Music; retired Chief Investment Officer for a trillion-dollar bank.

 

[P01135809]

It would have to be more like necrophilia because she's dead, "who used to live in Fredericksburg, VA before she passed."

So you’re saying there’s a chance… 🤮

 

[BigWaylon]

I'm not sure what they expected me to say, but the gist of my presentation was "don't seek your passion, seek what you hate the least that pays the most". The feeling of hatred I received from their chaperones and teachers was palpable. I would even venture to say that finding a job that is your passion will likely make you hate your passion. I do know that working in the lab was not what I hated the least, apparently.

Not the exact same title…but at least it starts similar. I try to share this every year about this time as kids are wrapping up the school year. It’s worth the 5 minutes for everybody to listen to, and share with those in your life that need to hear it.