So Rob Portman voted to confirm Betsy DeVos

[*Nately120*]

(02-09-2017, 09:18 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I think this is a pretty big problem. Teachers have spent decades telling kids that they need to go to college or else they won't succeed at life. So now it's pretty much just a matter of course. So everyone now goes to college even if it means some random major that they'll never have a job related to, while taking a huge amount of debt on. They then end up working at Starbucks with a degree and $20k in debt.

Meanwhile we're going to run out of Electricians/Plumbers/Carpenters/etc in awhile when the current workforce retires and there's not nearly enough people to replace them because all the people who would have previously went to trade schools instead went to college and got degrees in Underwater Basket Weaving, or Psychology.

I would think there is a cycle to it.  The high paying jobs once required college degrees and people saw getting that as a means to movin' on up.  Now the market is flooded with BAs and people who know trades are the smart ones because they are getting higher-paying jobs because everyone with an IQ over 30 become "college material" which leaves less supply and more demand for tradesmen.

Once people start thinking it's insane to spend 4 years and $100k to get a lower-paying job there will be a glut of trade school grads and the wages will drop.  Our culture seems to be moving towards the notion that higher education is a big waste of time and/or makes you into a giant wimp ala Leapin' Lanny Poffo, so I'm sure we will be up to our armpits in welders wondering why they all can't make 6-figures.

Hell, when I was in college I was told by many people that I was a total idiot to get an education when selling bad mortgages was the instant ticket to living in a golden mansion.