I have always been a fan of Mike Rowe since his days on Dirty Jobs, but the more I learn about him, the more I really respect his way of thinking. This is a pretty long sit down interview with him, but I think it's worth the watch. I think he is spot on.
Lots of good info there and an interesting perspective. I have two kids in college right now and yes it is expensive. There are ways to manage the costs to make it more affordable. There are also kids who max out their loans and do not manage the expense. It is also important to pick a major that is in demand, it is ok to have dreams as long as they are realistic. I keep in touch with 5-10 friends from college out of that group 1 of them actually have a job working in the specific field they received their degree in. I would not say a college degree is a bad investment, then again my daughter accepted a job offer in her field half way thru her first semester of her senior year of school.
I didn't watch the video, yet. I graduated college 3 years ago, and I to have very few friends that are doing what they went to school for. Getting a degree in anything is really all you need these days to do a lot of the jobs out there. Obviously besides medical field and so on. They don't care what you learned at school because they will teach you "their way" of doing it anyways. A degree is basically just implying you took the time and made the effort. I worked where I am currently employed for 3 years as a student before they created a position for me. I couldn't be more blessed with the opportunity I was given and I really don't think my degree had anything to do with it. Hard work and a strong work ethic go further than college degree in my opinion. Then again I'm in the AG field so it's probably different than most. My mom never went to college and is a president and CFO of a bank. Lady that used to be the director where I work made 6 figures with an interior design degree. The job was about the complete opposite of interior design as you could possibly get. It's all about who you know in most cases too. Like I said, I could be on a completely different tangent because I haven't actually watched the video yet but that's my perspective.
I have a job in the field that I went to school for but have not used any of what I learned while in college. I know most of my friends had to settle for jobs not in their field and are making a lot less than they should being a college grad. I too am making less than I should be but I know I have the potential to earn more by staying here. I think college should be no more than 2 years and those 2 years should be filled with the field you are interested in. I didn't need to take anthropology to understand marketing and yet I had to take it along with a bunch of other bs classes that did nothing for me (except keep me out of the woods too often).
I spent 20 years in the military (Navy) then moved on to a new career of System Safety Engineering which drew heavily on my experiences in the Navy. I also worked my butt off at night to get a bachelors degree...not because it would help me do my job, but because that's what the contracts I was working on were demanding it so to ensure that I stayed employed, I spent 3 years of losing a lot of sleep to get a piece of paper that really has no bearing on what I do anyway. Mike Rowe is a favorite of mine, I like everything about the guy. I look at all of the clowns in office or running for office and have to wonder where are the folks like him? Why can't he or folks like him run...the I realize that those folks are too smart to wade in the cesspool of American politics.
I'm thankful I don't have student debt, but many aren't so lucky. I learned more about teaching in my last semester of school (actual student teaching) than I did during all other semesters combined. The college degree for many is not the problem, it's the extra fat that needs trimmed off program requirements. It's assine to think I had 60+ general education credits as part of my program of study. I was taking courses like "Greek Mythology," "American Indian History," and even "Art History" for a technology education degree. I could have been out in half the time, with half the costs if many of the "fluff" courses were eliminated. If schools worried less about locking students down for 4+ years and more on quality, we would all be better off imho.
Thank goodness my college forced me to sit through 4 damn semesters of a foreign language...for what??? I found out I am horrible at learning foreign languages and it almost cost me my college degree. Seriously, a French foreign language class almost cost me my degree because I cannot hear that crap and integrate it for whatever reason. But back to the story at hand. Lol. MANY college classes could and should be trimmed. It is a money racket of the highest degree and it is disgusting. Money makes the world go round and colleges have figured it out....the losers are the hard working parents and students.
On a side note (to sort of illustrate the absurdness that is higher education), I missed out on graduating Summa *** Laude because of a freshman "Wellness" course taught by an overweight man that consisted of walking for class, and then, out of nowhere, a 100 question True/False final exam. Most of my friends failed...I managed a B. It was enough to keep me from graduating in the top 15 students at my university. Still irks me :D
Much of what I learned in College, I don't remember today. Since I don't use my specific degree every day, I have just totally lost all that knowledge that I had gained. I also agree with it all being a money racket. Like Mike said, the cost of higher education has increased at 500X the rate of inflation. If you didn't have to waste your time on electives that have nothing to do with your degree it would be much better. That's where technical training beats college hands down.
I have a job related to my field of study so I guess college worked out ok for me. I did take out some student loan debt but nothing that wasn't manageable.
My field you can't work in without the degree. Period. Pay up front in loans and time and the investment pays off down the road. Just have to be intelligent about where you go to school and for what degree.
Right, but there are so many people getting liberal arts or whatever type degrees that don't specifically qualify them for any in demand job. Those same people could be getting trained in skilled trade work and be making a comfortable living wage instead of moving back home with mom and dad because they can't find that job that was "promised" to them with a four year degree. Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk
No disagreements here. I'm a huge proponent of trade schools. That is where my last sentence comes in to play. Have to be intelligent about two things 1) What you go to school for obviously and 2) Where you go to get that degree (i.e. $$$). Teaching/Nursing/______ is a great career. Not the best choice for those going to the same private school I got my Pharmacy degree at paying the same tuition I did. I can barely afford the repayments with my salary, I can't imagine if my income was cut in half and I still owed the same amount.
One of the biggest rip offs is the freshman year living in the dorms and being on the food plan. Much more manageable to pay rent and groceries.
Luckily for me, my college didn't have that rule at the time. They do now though. I still lived at home for my freshman year. I only lived about 15 miles from campus so it was a pretty sweet deal for me. After my freshman year, we got an apartment in town. Both my wife(girlfriend at the time) worked two jobs each and carried a full class load.
I had a blast living in dorms my freshman year of college. It's a good way to meet a lot people. I rented houses with friends after that year.
