It wasn’t a U but an F.U.! But I have little sympathy, most college grads have useless degrees and tons of debt. Big deal. I went to a community college, learned to program and got a good job. No debt.
I think the Universities are the villain. They fund useless research projects and crank out tons of useless papers, have large non-educational staffs, focus on everything but providing a good, cost effective education that will qualify people for a real job. I don’t completely agree with Bernie on making it totally free but we need a well educated population if America is to regain the high ground. Football and high end dining facilities should not be the major focus of higher education.
But there’s also a larger issue. For some people, life is all about making money. Well, I don’t criticize that, if that’s what makes them happy, who am I to judge? And certainly I’m happy that I make enough (with a degree in Latin Literature) to live in reasonable comfort. But in addition to the material side of life, which I do not scorn, there’s also the wisdom and beauty created over the years and handed down from generation to generation.Most people have some sense of beauty. For example, a lot of people really enjoy The Lord of the Rings. I’m among them. Well, Tolkien was a philologist by profession, that means he studied old languages and literature. He worked on Middle English and Old English, and he published an edition of a Middle English poem titled “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. His friend C. S. Lewis worked on Renaissance literature, and he wrote one of the best books on literary semantics “Studies in Words”, as well as the Narnia stories. J. K. Rowling was a classics student, and it sure shows in her books. Would we want a world without these stories? Did anyone see the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? That’s closely based on the Odyssey.I tend to start with literature, because that’s what I love the most, but there are lots of other important areas of thought. Political and social thought, that’s pretty obvious. And history. I just reread Doris Goodwin’s wonderful book about Lincoln, “Team of Rivals”. Now that’s a book worth reading. Now I’m reading “The Shadow of the Winter Palace”, which is about Russia in the nineteenth century, and it explains a lot of the background to the Russian Revolution. And so on and so on. If we are going to try to understand our world in any serious way we probably should have some idea of how we got here.
To republicans, it’s all about money. If you don’t have a lot, you’re a “loser”. So they pretend to have it if they don’t, and despise those they use for votes with social issues.
John LockeBoth my degrees are in “interdisciplinary studies” (before the Reich wing dragged “liberal” through their mud, it was called “liberal arts”). I learned how to learn – do research, base conclusions on a variety of sources, write a readable sentence. There was no specific job at the end. Yet, during the blacklists (plural) days, it kept us fed, sheltered, and out of debt. I retained my freedom when wage slaves all about me were surrendering theirs. I have never been rich, but I have wealth in the things that count. Not too bad for 83 years and counting.
And all this after Congress’s laser like focus on jobs. Production has gone up, while jobs have not. Getting a college degree used to mean something before we decided to ditch the American worker and go for the cheapest labor we could find.Then in classic conservative style, turn around and blame the graduate, for “useless” degrees and pull up your bootstraps, I didn’t “force” you to go to college. No wonder America is no longer number one in science, technology, engineering and math. These disciplines have become as bad of a word as “liberal”
Don’t let statistics fool you into believing that any degree is worth more than you paid for it. The reality is that the streets are littered with people who owe $100,000 and even more in student debt and have no possibility of getting a job in anything even remotely related to their major. A lot of people are going to die still owing money for useless degrees they got at named universities.
I see Georgetown, NYU and Duke. I’m thinking the unemployment rate among those grads is less than 3%. But no, it’s the guy who payed two thousand for a Trump seminar, he’s the winner?
John LockeI know people like you describe (my father in law was one), but most would have made even greater contributions to society had they a better formal education. The outdoors bit particularly spoke to me as I initially planned to go into ecological research, back when I had to define ecology. I wish I had done a better job because most misuse the term – everything is connected to everything else, ecology (from the Greek for the entire household) studies how.
OmqR-IV.0 almost 8 years ago
Trump U wasn’t a uni. Those guys may be in an unemployment line but are far likelier to get a job than someone who was duped by a scam.
Mr Lester, standing up to the experts, are we?
BE THIS GUY almost 8 years ago
Did anyone actually graduate from Trump U?By the way Lester, 2016 is expected to be the best year for recent college grads in 8 years.
cocavan11 almost 8 years ago
Did Lester buy an MA or a BA from Trump U.?
NeedaChuckle Premium Member almost 8 years ago
It wasn’t a U but an F.U.! But I have little sympathy, most college grads have useless degrees and tons of debt. Big deal. I went to a community college, learned to program and got a good job. No debt.
lonecat almost 8 years ago
The stats are pretty clear: the more education you have, the better off you will be in the long run.
Theodore E. Lind Premium Member almost 8 years ago
I think the Universities are the villain. They fund useless research projects and crank out tons of useless papers, have large non-educational staffs, focus on everything but providing a good, cost effective education that will qualify people for a real job. I don’t completely agree with Bernie on making it totally free but we need a well educated population if America is to regain the high ground. Football and high end dining facilities should not be the major focus of higher education.
twclix almost 8 years ago
Uh huh. The Princeton and Duke grads are in the same category as the Trump “University” attendees. Such delusions. Amazingly clueless.
lonecat almost 8 years ago
But there’s also a larger issue. For some people, life is all about making money. Well, I don’t criticize that, if that’s what makes them happy, who am I to judge? And certainly I’m happy that I make enough (with a degree in Latin Literature) to live in reasonable comfort. But in addition to the material side of life, which I do not scorn, there’s also the wisdom and beauty created over the years and handed down from generation to generation.Most people have some sense of beauty. For example, a lot of people really enjoy The Lord of the Rings. I’m among them. Well, Tolkien was a philologist by profession, that means he studied old languages and literature. He worked on Middle English and Old English, and he published an edition of a Middle English poem titled “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. His friend C. S. Lewis worked on Renaissance literature, and he wrote one of the best books on literary semantics “Studies in Words”, as well as the Narnia stories. J. K. Rowling was a classics student, and it sure shows in her books. Would we want a world without these stories? Did anyone see the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? That’s closely based on the Odyssey.I tend to start with literature, because that’s what I love the most, but there are lots of other important areas of thought. Political and social thought, that’s pretty obvious. And history. I just reread Doris Goodwin’s wonderful book about Lincoln, “Team of Rivals”. Now that’s a book worth reading. Now I’m reading “The Shadow of the Winter Palace”, which is about Russia in the nineteenth century, and it explains a lot of the background to the Russian Revolution. And so on and so on. If we are going to try to understand our world in any serious way we probably should have some idea of how we got here.
kaffekup almost 8 years ago
To republicans, it’s all about money. If you don’t have a lot, you’re a “loser”. So they pretend to have it if they don’t, and despise those they use for votes with social issues.
hippogriff almost 8 years ago
John LockeBoth my degrees are in “interdisciplinary studies” (before the Reich wing dragged “liberal” through their mud, it was called “liberal arts”). I learned how to learn – do research, base conclusions on a variety of sources, write a readable sentence. There was no specific job at the end. Yet, during the blacklists (plural) days, it kept us fed, sheltered, and out of debt. I retained my freedom when wage slaves all about me were surrendering theirs. I have never been rich, but I have wealth in the things that count. Not too bad for 83 years and counting.
Mr. Blawt almost 8 years ago
And all this after Congress’s laser like focus on jobs. Production has gone up, while jobs have not. Getting a college degree used to mean something before we decided to ditch the American worker and go for the cheapest labor we could find.Then in classic conservative style, turn around and blame the graduate, for “useless” degrees and pull up your bootstraps, I didn’t “force” you to go to college. No wonder America is no longer number one in science, technology, engineering and math. These disciplines have become as bad of a word as “liberal”
mlester101 creator almost 8 years ago
OUCH!http://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2016/06/03/jobs-report-u-s-adds-just-38000-jobs-in-may-unemployment-rate-down-to-4-7/?linkId=25154112#343cdd0e16da
louieglutz almost 8 years ago
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/03/480591685/mixed-employment-news-job-growth-slowed-in-may-joblessness-dropped?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news
I Quit almost 8 years ago
Don’t let statistics fool you into believing that any degree is worth more than you paid for it. The reality is that the streets are littered with people who owe $100,000 and even more in student debt and have no possibility of getting a job in anything even remotely related to their major. A lot of people are going to die still owing money for useless degrees they got at named universities.
louieglutz almost 8 years ago
and:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
bridgecross almost 8 years ago
I see Georgetown, NYU and Duke. I’m thinking the unemployment rate among those grads is less than 3%. But no, it’s the guy who payed two thousand for a Trump seminar, he’s the winner?
lonecat almost 8 years ago
My degrees are in ancient Greek and Latin literature. Are those useless? Not to me.
hippogriff almost 8 years ago
John LockeI know people like you describe (my father in law was one), but most would have made even greater contributions to society had they a better formal education. The outdoors bit particularly spoke to me as I initially planned to go into ecological research, back when I had to define ecology. I wish I had done a better job because most misuse the term – everything is connected to everything else, ecology (from the Greek for the entire household) studies how.