Are universities destroying the economy?

Um.. Where to start…

I agreed with you until about halfway through but:

1. People go to University so that they do not end up manufacturing for $10/hour. I agree they could probably do most jobs without the University, or with a lot less, but the people who were looking for $10/hour manufacturing jobs are the ones with no college to begin with.

2. I disagree that the ‘The socialist idea that everybody should get an education is destroying this country’. You must draw a line somewhere. Should people be taught to read? At some point socialism and education helps the economy, and at some point perhaps it can be too much.

However, I don’t think the problem is that.

I would say, it isn’t that we have gone too far with education, it’s that the whole system is stupid.

Instead of having kids forced to take subjects they don’t care about, memorize what a professor talks about for hours and do a test, they should be able to choose what they are INTERESTED in and given the facilities (internet, etc.) to learn about that. This is akin to I believe the Waldorf concept of education.

Instead of forcing the same bland old-fashioned curriculum on everyone, give them a chance to choose things, have fun with it, and be interested, and learn their own way/pace, before you make them hate learning from an early age.

I certainly do not agree that the economy would be improved by forcing everyone into low-level manufacturing jobs at an early age. That is the 18th Century. If America wants to succeed and move forward in the 21st Century we need to give our kids time to experiment and explore and become the leaders of the new economy.

To get any sort of reasonable job with a physics degree you already have to have either a PHD or a bachelors with 5 years experience in whatever you are applying to do. It is insane. I saw a lot of people in the humanities that did not need a degree to go where they are going, but in the hard core sciences that kind of education really does matter I think. Unfortunately a degree in a technical field is useless after 5-7 years. My BS degree is worthless except as a key to a masters program.

The following is from my own blog, and I thought it had relevance here.

So, how would you feel if you went to school for 17 years and weren’t prepared for a career?

That question alone should let you know where I’m headed with this. I’m talking about our system compared to Europe’s and also will discuss why efficient and effective education will be a huge factor if we are to battle the weak dollar and actually start producing more than we’re consuming. Hopefully, we won’t take 15 years to get our stuff together because we might be copletely bought out by then. Heck, a bunch of Belgians and Brazilians just bought St. Louis, Missouri(BUD) and nobody cares. Okay, so they don’t own the whole town, but they pretty much run it now. Its an overstatment, but you get my point.

First of all, we should be prepared for a career around the age of 19, in my opinion, and in some situations already have experience with internships, apprenticeships, etc. If students don’t choose the path of focusing on a specific career that early, at least the time they spend in school should be impactful, efficient, and effective.

Here are the problems we have with our American system:

Curriculum is too broad for too long
School year should be year round, especially with internet and technology available now
Students should have more curriculum options and it should be with career focus
Students should be able to develop at their own pace
In general, American jr high and high schools don’t even have focused curriculums. You’re just in a grade. There is no focus. Next thing you know, you’re 18 thinking about what you want to do with your life, and your European equivalent is already working in his field of endeavor and honing his skills at “University” with a curriculum that his company possibly helps him select to be synergistic with their needs. Obviously, that is in the student’s best interest as well. This would be similar to a company here sending one of the brightest young talents to an MBA program while they’re still working at thier company. The differences would be the MBA being possibly more broad and comprehensive (i.e. you don’t need all the classes, and you will do wasteful work just to get the MBA designation) and the age difference of the student-worker(probably 5 years).

That was just one illustration. Obviously there are many different comparisons you can make, but you see what I’m talking about. I think that people are going to school in this country just to finish school. It should be about what you want to learn because of what you want to do. Obvioiusly there are many students here who are very focused fairly early on becoming a doctor or engineer, etc that do focus on that once they’re in college, but many people in this country just get a bachelors really for no reason whatsoever, except for the fact that many companies hire with a Bachelor’s degree requirement also for no reason whatsoever. When I say “no reason whatsoever,” I mean the reason isn’t good enough.

Even the focused engineering, etc students here could easilly finish 2 or 3 years before they currently are in this country. Why do we have long summer breaks? Just so the schools don’t have to run the a/c all summer? Hopefully, internet courses will become more prominent, so students can accelerate their education during the breaks, and why can’t these classes meet once or twice a week? Why are so many core classes in college just repeats of high school? Why would I take Algebra in high school and in college? Come to think of it, why would I take it all? Okay, so maybe I should take Algebra but Algebra II?- come one! I did enjoy Geometry though.

Here’s the deal… These aren’t just ideas. I believe this type of focused education is necessary for the survival of our future economy. The rising cost of education can but cut if the curriculums are individually focused, and how amazing would it be if that education actually generated some production because it was focused into a career? WOW! Maybe our country’s exports would increase! WOW! Maybe the value of our currency would rise because we don’t have to import everything! Wow- maybe the American institution of Anheiser Busch wouldn’t have had to be sold to a Belgian company run by Brazilian nationals because the dollar is so cheap because we’ve been leveraging ourselves over the last twenty years because we’re the fattest, happiest, least efficient major country in the World! The fact that Anheiser Busch had to be sold even though it was in no financial peril simply because the dollar is so cheap is a true sign that we need to get on the ball. Pretty soon I’ll write my review of the book “The Dollar Crisis” if you want to know a bit more on this subject. The bottom line is we’re consuming much more than we’re producing. Thats why I say “fat and happy.”

The development of our human capital will be our thing in the coming years if we are to survive. Our intellectual property is what we will be exporting if we are to compete.

pattyblogblog

I am a college senior currently and I believe that the last three years have been a waste of money. I say that because I have gotten little useful knowledge from my professors. I am graduating to be a teacher, so obviously I believe that a baseline education is not only necessary, but fundamental to the success of any community. There are many things that need to be changed within the system, but everyone should finish highschool.

You are correct in saying a lot of money is wasted at these institutions. I have learned more reading books and researching things online over the last year than I have in a classroom my entire life. All the information I learned was free. People who seek knowledge find it, no matter if they are formally taught.

There are many jobs in which degrees are necessary (hence the reason most people go to college). I agree that in many fields a person would be better qualified by doing on the job training, including my profession. I’m not sure if it just my school or not, but it seems like classes fail to teach problem solving, critical thinking, and philosophical ideas that shaped our current beliefs during the Enlightenment.

You have a valid point here, but I would rather have schools try to educate people than to have them float through life feeding off the welfare system. Public education needs no be changed, but not put on the bottom list for funding. It is proven that people with lower educations have a much greater chance to commit crime, traffic drugs, and contribute to the debt in society.

Wow. Ben Franklin would be shocked and amazed that readily available education is a socialist idea.

No worries. For those that want to know, information is freely available. A number of interesting folks, from surprisingly different perspectives, believe Universities stopped being relevant nearly a decade ago.

Either way, it’s poor value for the money. But that says as much about money as it does education.

I’ve worked with plenty of people who acheived the status of “degreed professional”, who stopped learning, and even critical thinking, once they got the paper. If you’re experience has been anything like mine, the most interesting people I’ve met have been self taught.

[...] It’s compelling and resonates with many of my personal experiences, for example read Are Universities Destroying the Economy. Even if you disagree with the conspiracy element of his hypothesis (public schools were not [...]