Number of adults in US with college degrees hits new national record - Polidicks

So does all the posts I'm looking at here point to, "College or not, Im screwed"? [editline]26th February 2012[/editline] Please tell me I'm wrong :c

Most people in this thread are applying present solutions to future problems. It really hurts. I don't feel like typing up a long response as I'm already procrastinating from applications due tomorrow :suicide: But really people, things have always improved and even though we've been in a recession, if you look at any graph you will see that on average, quality of life and wages have improved in any case. Have faith in the future and shy away those pessimistic primal instincts (it's true, brain is hardwired to take in pessimistic information and hold onto it more than optimistic information). [editline]27th February 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;34889683]So does all the posts I'm looking at here point to, "College or not, Im screwed"? [editline]26th February 2012[/editline] Please tell me I'm wrong :c[/QUOTE] You are wrong in my absolute and honest opinion. Just remember, we haven't always been in this recession, and we are going to get out of it.

[QUOTE=TehDoctorz;34889866]Most people in this thread are applying present solutions to future problems. It really hurts. I don't feel like typing up a long response as I'm already procrastinating from applications due tomorrow :suicide: But really people, things have always improved and even though we've been in a recession, if you look at any graph you will see that on average, quality of life and wages have improved in any case. Have faith in the future and shy away those pessimistic primal instincts (it's true, brain is hardwired to take in pessimistic information and hold onto it more than optimistic information). [editline]27th February 2012[/editline] You are wrong in my absolute and honest opinion. Just remember, we haven't always been in this recession, and we are going to get out of it.[/QUOTE] I actually used the optimistic rating for what it's supposed to mean.

[QUOTE=Tigster;34888290]Santorum must be terrified. [editline]26th February 2012[/editline] I also didn't really think it'd only be 30%. While it may be a record high, it still seems really low.[/QUOTE] The global high is Canada, with 50%.

[QUOTE=The Jackal;34889114]I hate how you have to go through college in order to get a well paying job in America. 4 years for a degree you read out of a book...[/QUOTE] This really isn't all that true for a lot of fields. Sure your average well known fields probably require a degree to make more than $40k a year, but there's a ton of stuff out there where you can get a well paying job through just doing actual job experience (which is more valuble than a degree to 90% of employers), certification, etc. Employers like college because it shows you can complete long term goals, and you have a certificate that proves you are a well-rounded "educated" individual. My dad took classes in CISCO networking, and has no college degree. He worked as a government contractor for years, and now works at the local university programming "data cubes" to virtualize data and makes ~$70k a year. With all the benefits that you get from working at a school too (very lax sick days and vacation days, almost every government holiday on earth off, etc).

If the human population is increasing every year, shouldn't there be a rise in these sort of things anyways?

[QUOTE=PhetusPhantom;34892139]If the human population is increasing every year, shouldn't there be a rise in these sort of things anyways?[/QUOTE] No, by that logic it should decrease percentage wise.

Too bad 70% are arts degrees.

[QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;34889311]How many of those are psyc?[/QUOTE] What about minority womens studies!

I'm too poor and dumb to go to college. On the upside, I finally got a job, at least.

[QUOTE=DarkSpider;34892740]Too bad 70% are arts degrees.[/QUOTE] What does everyone have against art degrees? There is nothing wrong with them. I'd rather see people getting degrees in subjects they enjoy rather than forcing everyone to be the same corporate drone just because people think that's how you get a job.

[QUOTE=DarkSpider;34892740]Too bad 70% are arts degrees.[/QUOTE] Why would that be? Not true in the least bit. Especially since to actually get an art degree it's a shit tonne of work considering all your classes for art majors are twice as long as standard classes for the same number of credit hours, and you'll be doing 7-10 hours of homework every week PER class. Everybody also seems to think art degrees are super easy too, when in reality you need to be a really dedicated artist to make it through and not fail. You're average 4 credit hour science class in a quarter system is 3 hours of lecture a week and and two hours or so of lab on a different dates/times, which literally involves just following instructions. Zero homework other than studying for tests, or papers if it happens to be a writing intensive credited class as well, or finishing up labs. This gets slightly more intense the higher level you go, to where degree-specific science classes in the upper level will often have you conduct your own tests/research at home. This gets even easier if you're degree doesn't really have too many classes with lab times like an english degree - then you are literally meeting for about 3-4 hours a week, and doing maybe 3-4 hours of homework/study/etc at the most, with again - the exception being upper level junior-senior year stuff where you're assignments are more personalized and complex. Meanwhile your BEGINNING art classes are also 4 credit hours, but you are garunteed in there for 7 hours of class per week (3.5 hour studio timeblocks where you are constantly and intensely working), and will always have about 7-10 hours worth of homework to do as well, where you are expected to do well in both technical and artistic skill.

Only 30%?

Shame a college degree alone is almost useless now since you need x years of experience. Shame they don't exchange money for experience in colleges.

[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;34894248]Shame a college degree alone is almost useless now since you need x years of experience. Shame they don't exchange money for experience in colleges.[/QUOTE] Internships. How many times do I have to say it? I see fliers EVERYWHERE at my university begging people to sign up for them for every field we have a degree in

sure this is great from a humanitarian point of view but this is terrible from an economic stance. the most obvious problem is that nobody is going to hire the 70% without a degree for anything better than McDonalds. Since the number is steadily increasing, this will become a bigger and bigger problem for the people without a college degree. Next problem is student loans: at least half of these students will be paying back student loans for the next 40 years and really won't have much money to put into the economy themselves Last would be the rising cost of everything. college graduates cost more to hire, which eventually trickles down into the cost of goods and services. Of course at 30% none of this is really an issue. Around 60% is where we should start being worried.

Soon: College degree required to work at mcd

[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;34894689]Soon: College degree required to work at mcd[/QUOTE] At first you needed a high school diploma to do that. But now that high schools don't teach you about useful things in life, only "WE NEED TO PREPARE YOU FOR COLLEGE EVEN THOUGH 90% OF YOU WON'T BE" I will not find it surprising that even an AA (Lowest US degree) will be needed for such menial jobs.

Education system is broken as fuck. You spend 12 years of your life in school and that is not enough for anything more than mcdonalds. Makes no sense really.

[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;34894834]Education system is broken as fuck. You spend 12 years of your life in school and that is not enough for anything more than mcdonalds. Makes no sense really.[/QUOTE] It's because of what I posted just before you. High schools no longer teach any real life necessities. They only focus on "WE NEED TO PREPARE YOU FOR COLLEGE" and nothing more. Hell, in my high school, the class personal finances (teaches you about banking and managing your own money) was a strictly optional class that, when I took it, there were only 10 other students in there with me.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;34894871]It's because of what I posted just before you. High schools no longer teach any real life necessities. They only focus on "WE NEED TO PREPARE YOU FOR COLLEGE" and nothing more. Hell, in my high school, the class personal finances (teaches you about banking and managing your own money) was a strictly optional class that, when I took it, there were only 10 other students in there with me.[/QUOTE]Everything I learned in school was no help to me in university. I've either forgotten or was never taught what mattered. At the same time I was not prepared for real life. So pretty much 12 years wasted just to get a piece of paper so I can possibly improve what's left of my life.

[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;34889683]So does all the posts I'm looking at here point to, "College or not, Im screwed"? [editline]26th February 2012[/editline] Please tell me I'm wrong :c[/QUOTE] Depends what you want to major in, are you planning on majoring in a dead end major like the arts, philosophy, history (unless you wanna teach the rest of your life), etc. I'm in college for information systems tech, and i love it and college is the best decision i ever made.

[QUOTE=brianosaur;34895389]Depends what you want to major in, are you planning on majoring in a dead end major like the arts, philosophy, [B]history[/B] (unless you wanna teach the rest of your life), etc. I'm in college for information systems tech, and i love it and college is the best decision i ever made.[/QUOTE] I'm a history major :(

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;34895483]I'm a history major :([/QUOTE] Atleast you're not studying about thinking (philosophy)

[QUOTE=brianosaur;34895658]Atleast you're not studying about thinking (philosophy)[/QUOTE] I take philosophy classes on occasion, I find them fascinating :v:

[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;34889360]The standards a college has determines it's reputation among employers. For some jobs like computer programming they only really care that you have a degree, not where it's from. If you're trying to be a lawyer, some colleges have a better reputation for weeding out the bad students and others give you a degree as long as you pay them. A law firm is more likely to hire someone from a school like Harvard because of that.[/QUOTE] Actually, Harvard (and other Ivy Leagues) is notorious for grade inflation, and also participate in giving degrees to those willing to pay. The only difficult part of Harvard is getting in. And even that's easy if you have a lot of money or parents who went there. "Issues of standards in American education have been longstanding. However, rising grades did not become a major issue in American education until the 1960s. For example, in 1890 Harvard's average GPA was 2.27. In 1950, its average GPA was 2.55. By 2004, its GPA, as a result of dramatic rises in the 1960s and gradual rises since, had risen to 3.48." In fact, on average, private universities artificially inflate their students' grades much more frequently than public universities. [quote]For many people, education is a sure path to a prosperous life[/quote] hahaha, people still believe that? More like, "for many people, education is a sure path to a lifetime of debt."

Damn where's that video that explained american colleges and debt associated with it.

[QUOTE=Arachnidus;34888375]30% is still pretty low, but it's nice to see an increase. Everybody I know (well, almost) around my age is planning on going to college, can't say how many will carry through to get a degree. I, myself, have considered saying fuck it and just going for a military career. But I can definitely see how the numbers are rising, considering a college degree tends to be one of the few things that comes close to giving job security.[/QUOTE] This is a bad thing. We have basically locked ourselves into an education arms race. The result is that jobs that have no business requiring college degrees will demand them and jobs that don't need higher degrees will start requiring them. This doesn't help anyone. It only hurts society and causes a significant portion of our young workforce to enter the market in debt.

[QUOTE=brianosaur;34895658]Atleast you're not studying about thinking (philosophy)[/QUOTE] You could get hired as a lecturer or writer, or author your own books. I'm not a philosophy major but I still find the subject interesting.

[QUOTE=brianosaur;34895389]Depends what you want to major in, are you planning on majoring in a dead end major like the arts, philosophy, history (unless you wanna teach the rest of your life), etc. I'm in college for information systems tech, and i love it and college is the best decision i ever made.[/QUOTE] I'd rather be a philosophy major than information systems. Philosophy would at least be interesting, and I wouldn't be stuck at a help desk for the rest of my life. And this is coming from a Computer Science major.