Jeff Stahler for May 08, 2015

Son, you will still be way better off than the dropouts.Just look at Baltimore or mostly any other Democrat controlled big city.

Only a decade?

I am amazed at how some people have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.

Community college will get you the first couple of years of credit towards a degree. In-state tuition to a state school isn’t cheap, but it’s a far better alternative to a brand-name school.

A degree is a degree, period. At least for most jobs. Sure it helps if you have a big name school to put on your resume, but it isn’t necessary. For jobs that I’ve hired for, a degree is a substitute for experience (I’ll take experience any day).

I am not saying that it is easy, nor am I saying that you’ll escape debt-free, nor am I saying that it is even fair (having a rich daddy and mommy does make life easier),but you shouldn’t wind up with 10 years worth of debt.

I taught the final class of the term today, a fourth year seminar in classical literature (Greek and Latin). Since it was the last class I was being a little relaxed. Most of the students are graduating this year, so I was interested to know how they felt about their university education. They all (but one) said that they really enjoyed it. They said that they learned how to think and read, and they also got a wider perspective on the world. I asked how they felt about majoring in something completely useless, and they said that they had considered, and some of them had tried, more “applied” programs, but they just didn’t like them. Most of the students were classical studies majors, but one student is a minor in classical studies and a major in atmospheric science — she wants to be a meteorologist. She said that she has enjoyed all of her classical studies courses, but most of her science courses she has found very boring, and the teaching quite bad, even though she finds the topic itself very interesting. I then asked what they are intending to do next. (In fact, I had talked with most of them individually about their plans, but we had never talked about it as a class.) Several are going to go to teacher’s college, one is going to law school, and two or three are going to graduate school, in English, museum studies, and such. I also asked what could have been better, and several of them said “More grammar instruction.” That was a shock.

“Did you incur your debt willingly or did someone hold a gun to your head. Did you pick a major that would ensure you had a job opportunity or did you major in film? Did you intern anywhere? Did you save your money or go on spring break? Did you get a part-time job to help pay for school? No? Then enjoy your indentured servitude.”Times change:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/18/college-tuition-unaffordable-growth-median-income_n_5505653.html

Thanks for mentioning the Fareed Zakaria. He can be pretty interesting. I will check that out.

OOOOH, that’s cute.