General Discussion - Page 6489

On September 16 2014 06:20 LuckoftheIrish wrote:

If people knowingly make shitty decisions, they shouldn't be surprised when those decisions have consequences.

If you take out loans to pay for an expensive liberal arts college, and you get a degree that doesn't have career potential, it is no one's fault but your own that you're stuck in debt. It's no different to buying anything else you can't afford.

On September 16 2014 06:38 crms wrote:
You guys are both 'correct' and arguing from entirely different perspectives. Torte seems to be arguing for an ideal, and how it should work, and I would agree with him. Unfortunately, in the real world (USA specifically) for most people, majoring in something that doesn't yield gainful employment usually only earns you crippling debt or mediocre, unfulfilling work.

Anyway, this discussion is boring as aids because it's been discussed to death a thousand times before. Education (in the USA) needs tremendous reform and arguing about it in LD GD is about as pointless as you can get.

On September 16 2014 06:45 LuckoftheIrish wrote:
You've completely forgotten the big thing about higher education; specifically, there are lots of different options that serve different communities. When you choose a college or university, you're making a decision as a consumer. And you have to pick the option that is right for you. Syracuse University costs roughly $60,000 a year. If you can pay for it with scholarships and grants (or you have rich parents), then going to SU to study Latin is fine. If you're going to take out $50,000 of loans every year, then going to SU to study Latin is a huge gamble, and maybe you'd be better off at the University of Virginia, which costs a third as much for a comparable or superior education. This is why top students in North Carolina end up going to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill rather than Duke; the two schools are both excellent, but one costs $24,000 and the other $64,000.

There's nothing wrong with going to school to study liberal arts, social science, music; whatever you want. The problem is the mismatch of cost, debt and earning potential. There are a lot of reasons for this, ranging from popular culture to higher ed as a boutique industry to increased regulatory costs, and if you want to learn more there's a huge body of journalism on this topic as the American higher education bubble is in the process of collapsing.

Regardless, attending university is almost certainly the single biggest financial commitment a person will make in their life. Treating it as anything other than practical is a mistake.

On September 16 2014 06:54 LSB wrote:
LuckoftheIrish,

There are many different situations for many different people, overgeneralizing dilutes your point.

Your point about a lot of American students not being focused enough on their Career and regretting it is valid, and unfortunately it affects a good portion of students. However it is a smaller portion than you think, and it usually is the vocal minority problem. Especially since the ones doing the journalism probably fall into the camp, and unemployed people have more time to complain on the internet.

I highly doubt the American higher education bubble is going to collapse, especially considering the influx of Chinese nationals studying in the state.