Sunday, April 30, 2017

who needs a college degree?

When you consider the stupidity level of friends and acquaintances who have a college degree, how useful is that college degree the well-heeled and well-housed can trot out over the port? The parallel question, of course, is how stupid are those without college degrees who never drank port in the first place. The answer is that they can be pretty damned dumb.
With college costs rising steadily and with more courses available online for free, some observers are beginning to question the need for a traditional college education that may include lectures on Greek philosophy but burden students with massive debt.
There's probably no cookie-cutter answer for this. George Bush went to Yale (wasn't it?) and Donald Trump (academically blase at Fordham and Wharton) is president.

3 comments:

  1. I imagine a college degree tells a potential employer that the holder of the degree will roll over for authority, a proven drone.

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  2. I think one might need to clarify what one hopes to get out of college, and of that what is realistic.

    If it's career ambitions, the bachelor's degree is simply one requirement for a masters and a doctorate. A batchelor's degree no longer guarantees an entry level job in any field. At best it might provide one a low paying or non-paying internship.

    There are some exceptions like nursing or engineering but more and more even professions as those need a minimum of a master's degree.

    As for the acquisition of knowledge, critical thinking skills, and expression, there are very few people who will be able to get very far without the training available in colleges and universities.

    As far as your assertion about the stupidity level of those already possessing a college degree, you might want to reconsider. Assessing intelligence is no simple matter. For example a person's knowledge of current events may be dismal but that person might possess excellent technical skills.





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  3. It is amusing that Genkaku seems to think that college is suppose to guarantee smarts and olcharlie seems to think college should guarantee independence and integrity. Mark seems to be headed towards a balanced view but is hardly comprehensive.

    All three remind me of self help books. From what I remember Ben Franklin wrote the first American Self Help Book and he taught there are 13 Factors of Success / Self Improvement. Education is but one factor.

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