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<p>Assuming, of course, that your kids understand the reasons for the frugality to begin with. And agree with them (or can tolerate them). And live in an area where frugality is more or less ‘normal’. And have the right kinds of peers.</p>
<p>So far, it appears our kids are quite content living below their income/means, as we have always done. We hope it will stay that way. There are always temptations but being content living co& frugally comfortably below one’s means is a good example. Sometimes when folks are extreme, it may cause their progeny to go off in the opposite direction.</p>
<p>If you think college is ‘oversold’ try applying for a job in a technical field with only a h.s. diploma. Your resume probably won’t get passed the first screening.</p>
<p>What about as a trained auto mechanic, welder, HVAC person, plumber, electrician, hair stylist, etc etc?</p>
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<p>barrons!!! I totally agree with you. College has been oversold just on the basic assumption that as a society, we believe that everyone should be attending college. The reality is that there are many students who graduate from high school who lack the basic reading and writing skills to be successful in college in addition to those that may not be ready (socially, emotionally) to attend college immediately after high school.</p>
<p>In the NYC public school system, I think the worse thing that happened is that they got rid of the majority of the vocational education schools (along with the co-op programs where students gained work experience). Vocational high school was the place where students went to school and got cosmetology licenses, LPN licenses,learned typing, stenography and keyboarding, learned auto mechanics, basic carpentry, electrical and plumbing with the goal of being able to get work after graduation.</p>
<p>A student does not even have to have a 65 average at graduation (I have seen many students graduate with GPAs in the 50’s after constantly failing courses early in high school, then pulled enough 65’s to graduate), but is guaranteed a seat at the CUNY community college in the borough that they live in as long as they have a completed application in to the CUNY processing center by February 1. </p>
<p>There was a time, when students graduated from high school, their parents purchased a copy of the Chief, the student took the civil service exam and got a job working for the city. However, in NYC, you can no longer get a job working for the NYC Dept of Sanitation or any other city agency unless you have 60 college credits.</p>
<p>^^^so college now vets the minimum level of academic proficiency that used to be done by high school, and presumably postgraduate degrees represent a level of achievement that 4 years of college use to. So how did this happen and how to correct it? One could point fingers locally to blame matters on certain contributing factors which may be politically loaded, but this seems to be the trend across a broad geographic spectrum. So what happened to public education in the last 20-30 years? Eliminating competitive spirit between students? Teaching to to maximize scores on standardized tests? Grade inflation? Less emphasis on homework and more on “self esteem” and extra-curriculars? What has changed?</p>
<p>A lot has changed. I do not think students were ‘competitive’ back then. I think they’re more competitive now because the stakes are higher.</p>
<p>Grade inflation? maybe. But students are also smarter, and there are resources (good luck with Google or Sparknotes in '85, all we had was the infamous Malaysian Student Association Comp Sci assignment tapes or the Tau Kappa Something frat house test library) (Malaysians by a mile, btw. The things you learn dating a Malaysian girl :-))</p>
<p>Maybe students study more now because the tuition is more expensive. Back at Cajun State OOS tuition was a laughable $1200/year, all-you-can-eat. We’d register for 21 credits each semester and otherwise game the add/drop system… Now we have rankmyprofessor.com and the like.</p>
<p>All kinds of things.</p>
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<p>Resources, yes. Smarter? </p>
<p>Not so sure about that. From what I’ve heard from Prof/TA friends/acquaintances…especially oldschool Profs teaching for 2-4 decades, more recent students may have better high school academic records/scores on paper, but they’re less prepared for college-level work than previous generations. They also feel that grade inflation in high schools has gone way too far.</p>
<p>The truth is, there are just too many people and not enough jobs.</p>
<p>The PBS News Hour did a story about unemployed/underemployed college grads a year or two ago. And ALL the people they interviewed were liberal arts (philosophy, lit and the like). True, job prospects are crap for most science majors, but they know that signing up for it. You do it for the learning, not the money. Which leads me to say that doctors and lawyers make way too much in this country. But that’s irrelevant.</p>
<p>My parents (both physics PhD’s) immigrated to the US to work in US labs. If you look at the National Institutes of Health (federal science labs, basically) employees come from all over the world, and american born US citizens are definately in the minority. </p>
<p>All this goes back to the fact that STEM in US public schools is crap. But I digress.</p>
<p>This is a cool article for further reading [With</a> workplace training, Japan’s Kosen colleges bridge ‘skills gap’ - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/with-workplace-training-japans-kosen-colleges-bridge-skills-gap/2011/10/03/gIQAF0gmjL_story.html?hpid=z5]With”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/with-workplace-training-japans-kosen-colleges-bridge-skills-gap/2011/10/03/gIQAF0gmjL_story.html?hpid=z5)
Bring back the vocational schools!</p>
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<p>Those professions do require post-secondary education, though not a bachelor’s degree.</p>
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<p>Seems like it is common for people to assume that “STEM majors have better job and career prospects than H/SS majors”, even though that is not true for biology majors (biology is probably the most popular STEM major). So it seems that there is more potential for a letdown at graduation when biology majors find poor job and career prospects, compared to H/SS majors who are more likely to know going in that their majors’ job and careers prospects are not great.</p>
<p>Not in my HS system. They offer a pretty comprehensive vocational studies program within the HS system. Some areas might require additonal training or becoming an apprentice but they get you in the door.</p>
<p>[Hunterdon</a> County Polytech Career Academy - HCPOLYTECH](<a href=“http://www.hcpolytech.org/hcpoly/Programs%20of%20Study/]Hunterdon”>http://www.hcpolytech.org/hcpoly/Programs%20of%20Study/)</p>