Tonight on Stossel: The College Scam

[heavenlyboy34]

College is NOT a scam, but you need to use your head before you go.

If you go to college just for the sake of education, then it's not a scam. However, most people go in order to get into a field of some sort. For these people, it is a scam. The money for the latter group is better spent on vocational training, apprentice work, etc.

 

[therepublic]

I went to college, and much of what I was taught was inaccurate, and I had to unlearn in the real world.

However my current job dose require two years of college. So, at least in my case, heavenlyboy34, it was just the opposite.

 

[Son of Detroit]

The money for the latter group is better spent on vocational training, apprentice work, etc.

That's only for a small amount of jobs though. Nowadays, the majority of fields require some sort of college degree.

 

[FlatIron]

half of what the video is saying is true. You can easily learn the stuff you learn from college by just buying the textbooks and studying all of the pages, or at least most of it.

 

[FlatIron]

Let's see. A successful news commentator who graduated from Princeton is telling people not to go to college? Did any of his children not go? Will his grandkids not go? I don't go along with every thing every commentator who has embraced the liberty movement says. And Stossel has said some incredibly stupid things in his career. (Non-organic fruits and veggies don't have pesticide residue. Soft drinks are as healthy as fruit juice. etc)

Go to the classifieds for any major city and go through the help wanted ads. Look at how many ads require at least a BS in a certain field. Now granted some degrees are "BS" to start with. People don't need to go to college with the illusion that their degree in "urban studies" will do anything for them except qualify them for graduate school.

Does that mean that college is the only way to get ahead? Of course not. You can learn an in demand trade like plumbing. (The building boom is down, but people still have clogged toilets). But on the job training is getting harder to come by and people are spending college like tuition to go to trade school.

Let me Remind you that it was cheaper back then to go into college, but because of higher demand and current laws it is more expensive to enter a college.

 

[MoneyInTheBank]

If we could get rid of regulations involving employment, we might at least encourage high school students to seek an apprenticeship with a company in a field they are interested in.

Think about it. Instead of wasting tens of thousands on a college education which provides no real employment experience, kids can pay a company 5K to work alongside people that they aspire to be. Sure, they would probably do a lot of bitch-work, but just seeing what goes on first hand and understanding the REAL skills necessary to be a successful employee is much more helpful than going to 50min lectures given by a professor that only knows what goes on in the academic world.

Oh, and professors give themselves way too much credit.

 

[SimpleName]

On the job training is the victim in this mess...and also part of the cause. Companies don't want to spend resources on their own training, so they delegate power to schools. Unfortunately, schools SUCK! Instead of becoming the master of your selected focus as on the job training would allow, you are bombarded with useless junk classes. But you simply have to play the game to have a chance at winning. It doesn't matter what success stories you point to, the reality is those are 1 in a million. Disgusted with the whole damn thing.

 

[nicoleeann]

If we could get rid of regulations involving employment, we might at least encourage high school students to seek an apprenticeship with a company in a field they are interested in.

Think about it. Instead of wasting tens of thousands on a college education which provides no real employment experience, kids can pay a company 5K to work alongside people that they aspire to be. Sure, they would probably do a lot of bitch-work, but just seeing what goes on first hand and understanding the REAL skills necessary to be a successful employee is much more helpful than going to 50min lectures given by a professor that only knows what goes on in the academic world.

Oh, and professors give themselves way too much credit.

I went to an inexpensive trade school for culinary arts. the program was basically like an apprenticeship. we did a small amount of lecture and then spend the rest of the day cooking and preparing the food for paying customers under the instructors watch. hard work and a lot of stress. I now am the most valued employee in the kitchen where i work. i am valued more than older poeple and men for my skills and speed. and i've gotten 3 promotions in a year. it only took me 1.5 years in culinary school.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

That's only for a small amount of jobs though. Nowadays, the majority of fields require some sort of college degree.

True. I should amend my comment. To meet job requirements, college is worth it. Stossel's show on this made a good point about the jobs that can be had without a degree, though.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

I went to an inexpensive trade school for culinary arts. the program was basically like an apprenticeship. we did a small amount of lecture and then spend the rest of the day cooking and preparing the food for paying customers under the instructors watch. hard work and a lot of stress. I now am the most valued employee in the kitchen where i work. i am valued more than older poeple and men for my skills and speed. and i've gotten 3 promotions in a year. it only took me 1.5 years in culinary school.

Impressive. Good work!

 

[heavenlyboy34]

On the job training is the victim in this mess...and also part of the cause. Companies don't want to spend resources on their own training, so they delegate power to schools. Unfortunately, schools SUCK! Instead of becoming the master of your selected focus as on the job training would allow, you are bombarded with useless junk classes. But you simply have to play the game to have a chance at winning. It doesn't matter what success stories you point to, the reality is those are 1 in a million. Disgusted with the whole damn thing.

Yep. And then employers expect experience when applying. WTF! If they had just let me work as an unpaid apprentice, it would have saved loads of time and effort and achieved better results.

 

[nicoleeann]

Thanks heavenlyboy. What I've learned is that the best and the quickest way to learn your trade is to get right in and get to work. My instructor treated us like we were in the work force. He would yell at us when we did something wrong and did not baby us at all. The first 3 months were extremely difficult for me. It was so much stress, like getting thrown in with wolves. But by the time i reached just 9 months there i could have made it in the real world already. I believe that for most proffessions apprenticeship with a small amount of study and lecture (10-20%) is the best way to go. Current college wastes too much time on unneeded information and book learning and: teachers lectures which can be learned faster by just reading a book at home.