<p>I find myself becoming more and more nihilistic as the days pass. What's the point of education anymore if there are simply increasingly dimmer job prospects for my generation? We're bleeding R and D and manufacturing jobs overseas like a stuck pig. Go to grad school and try to find a job in academia? Forget it, there's a huge surplus of PhDs in every single field that are squirming like insects moving from low paying post-doc to low paying-post doc or associate faculty position for years, if not a decade or more, and end up no where in the end, with no tenured position. </p>
<p>We're officially the first generation of Americans that are going to worse off than the generation before it. I really don't see the point of trying in school anymore. There's no jobs, job stability, and huge amounts of debt. The American "dream" is dead. Wait, I stand corrected, there's a dream alright--but it is nothing more than a nightmare. What's the point of school if it does nothing more than get you in huge amounts of debt for terrible job prospects? I'm pretty much on path to be nothing more than an overeducated indebted wannabe jeopardy contestant. The only thing college is good for these days in my opinion is boosting my win % rate in trivial pursuit. Things WON'T rebound in the future. Not only does technology keep taking more and more jobs as things become more automated, information these days is freely accessible and easily available all over the world. Countries like China, India, and Brazil are NOT fads. They're here to stay and have taken tons of our jobs that are NEVER coming back ever again.</p>
<p>The Baby Boomer generation (of which I am a part of) allays had an an attitude of “I got mine and the HELL with you!”</p>
<p>Some of us now realize, and many more will later, that this attitude also applies negatively to our very own sons and daughters. My generation is sublimely whistling past the graveyard of our children’s future. Many of my contemporaries will delude themselves otherwise force-thinking that “they” are the exception. </p>
<p>Their delusional moneyed status mind-set thinking will at the end offer little relief. </p>
<p>If you take the attitude that college will do you no good, then you are probably right FOR YOURSELF. You won’t do well in college with that attitude and it will be a big waste of your time and money. </p>
<p>However, you do shut yourself out of any kind of high tech job. For example, somebody has to design those robots that automate those jobs that you talk about that are being taken away. </p>
<p>If you didn’t go to college, what are you going to do? “Do you want fries with that?” gets old real fast and the pay isn’t stellar.</p>
<p>IMHO, college is worth it, if you are learning a true skill; such as engineering, medicine, etc. Maybe not worth it for history majors. Only need so many new history teachers to teach the new history majors.</p>
<p>I am a strong advocate for college educations for those who can benefit from them (and you can benefit from a college education in many ways, not just economically). But HPuck overstates the case. Many people do quite well without degrees. A young couple in my town, for example. He is a union butcher, she owns her own very successful beauty shop. They own their home, free and clear. They are 26 years old. Neither is from an especially well-off family, either.</p>
<p>Who says you have to end up with huge amounts of debt to go to college? I really think we need to get away from this notion of entitlement and that every kid deserves to attend the college of their choice regardless of cost. It is no different than buying a car, you buy what you can afford. I also think there has to be more thought into what kinds of jobs will be available if one majors in “X” before spending 4 +years of ones life and big amounts of money.</p>
<p>Look on the bright side-- things probably can’t get much worse :)</p>
<p>Seriously, as mamom said, you don’t have to leave college with a lot of debt. Choose college wisely. And many fields, especially the sciences, want employees with advanced degrees. Not all are pursuing academia.</p>
<p>The unemployment rate for college grads is in the 4% range, for high school diploma only grads in the 15% range and if you take current age into account high school diploma and less than 21 only soars even higher (40%? I think I’ve heard). So college degree should really help you but agree you should take on as little debt as possible. And how well you do in college does matter so honestly you should be really motivated to work hard and get a degree with the best grades you can attain. AS to grad school, very much depends on the area of concentration whether it is worth it in economic terms.</p>
<p>Totally agree. The notion that you have to take on a lot of debt to get a college degree is nonsense. A little debt, maybe but in any state, indeed, in most medium size cities, there are lots of ways to earn a college degree from starting at a community or technical college to going part-time while working full-time. Hundred of thousands of people do this very year and quite successfully.</p>
<p>And while I do agree that one of the major goals of college is to develop the skills necessary for a job, it’s not the only reason. Some people simply wanted a more advanced education than what is available in high school in this country. And people with college degrees do better in nearly all aspects of life…they tend to be healthier, live longer, divorce less, are more financially secure. It’s not just about a job at the end of 4 years.</p>
<p>Second, third, fourth it. You don’t need big debt to go to college. If you spend too much time on cc, where the names of the same 50 schools with 50k price tags are bandied about, you might get the idea that there’s no choice but to drop a quarter mil on an education. But, if you don’t pooh-pooh the “lesser no-name” LAC in your town that you can commute to, seriously consider the state college (as opposed to state uni), and look into what you can pick up at the local community college, post secondary education can be very affordable.</p>
<p>^^^i think a lot also depends where you live^^^^ my guess is it is easier to get a job without a college degree in a rural setting then an urban area…Areas where the majority of the population have college degrees make it more difficult to get a job without one</p>
<p>I dunno. The unemployment rate in our county, the last time I checked, was over 16%.</p>
<p>Many of our recent HS grads are unemployed, but many have jobs - most low-level, but a some not. Generally, those who lay back hoping a job will come to them are unemployed, those who go out and aggressively look find something. Son of a friend who graduated in May has not one, but two jobs - one as an apprentice plumber, the other working nights stocking shelves for a retailer.</p>
<p>There’s a major national retailer in the next county over - a county that’s part suburban, part rural - who has been advertising for warehouse help for the last 3 or 4 weeks, and I’m guessing that they’re not looking for degreed people.</p>
<p>For some, maybe the idea is to look for the great job first, then decide about education. Just live frugally until you’re financially secure enough to buy the car, home, have kids and take expensive vacations. The potential to be underemployed isn’t exclusive to college grads. Nor is debt.</p>
<p>And, IMO, “worse off” can be a matter of how narrowly you look at things.</p>
<p>OP- are you really a new poster? Just curious. Most come here to look for college advice, not to muse about the “point of education”. That comes later :)</p>
<p>We live in CA and my D, who recently summer interned for a Big 4 accounting firm, said our local and affordable state colleges were well-represented among the hundred or so interns. She said most, if not all, were offered jobs upon graduation. If you like accounting and you do well in school, there are job opportunities…</p>
<p>If you really want a job when you graduate there are thousands out there waiting for competent qualified candidates. My husband would pay a small fortune (actually he does pay a small fortune) to a computer engineer or programmer (real programmer, not someone who plays on a PC) who speaks English well. There are many jobs out there like that.</p>
<p>It’s not so much that there are no jobs out there, it’s more that there are no people with the skills needed for the jobs.</p>
<p>Oh, and this idea that this is the first generation of kids having a lower standard of living than their parents is nonsense! Remember when women HAD to go back to work to make ends meet? That was a clear lowering of standards from our parents day.</p>
<p>OP, you are totally entitled to “your opinion” but rare is it that everyone will agree with one person’s generalizations. My best advice is to make your own decisions as not everyone will take the same path through life. If college doesn’t make sense for you right now and you think it’s a waste of time and money, don’t go. You may have a totally different outlook in a few years and want to attend which will be a more valuable experience than going now with a negative attitude.</p>