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The Education Scam 3

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drago762

Programmer
Dec 16, 2004
20
US
Interesting article...

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hauns.com/~DCQu4E5g/I1.htm

The Education Scam

We have blindly believed several lies told to us by our colleges and universities which are about to hit our economy very hard. The first of these lies is the simple minded concept that, if everyone got a college degree, there wouldn't be any poverty because everyone would have a good paying job. The second lie is that you cannot make a good living unless you get a college education.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in education. I have two college degrees and the second one has made it very difficult for me to get work. I will explain this more later.

Why Would Our Colleges Lie To Us?

The reason our colleges and universities have lied to us is to make everyone want to go to college. It sounds great but I will explain the negative side of everyone going to college later. The main thing here is that they have lied to us for decades in order to increase the demand for a college education. If the demand for a college education is high enough, then they can increase tuitions which will generate additional revenues for colleges. Increased demand for a college education also meant an increased demand for college professors and administrative staff which drove up salaries for college professors and administrative staff. Basically, they lied to increase their income. It has worked because tuitions and salaries have increased over the last 30 or more years by hundreds of percentiles.

Will College Educations Eliminate Poverty?

The lie that everyone getting a college education will eliminate poverty is just too simple minded and out of touch with reality. From World War II until as far as we can reasonably forecast into the future, 2030, the percentage of jobs requiring a college education has not and will not change. It has and will remain that only 20% of the jobs on the market will require a college education. That means that 80% of the jobs don't require a college education. There are and will only be so many jobs for people with a college degree regardless of how many people get a college degree.

Common sense should tell you that, if 21% of the workers get a college education, 1% of the work force will be unable to get a job requiring a college education and will be over qualified for lower level jobs. They will not have a skill or trade and will be forced to take jobs in unskilled labor with hopes that they will some day be able to get a job with their college degree. Unfortunately, if they are out of their industry too long, their degree becomes "aged" and becomes useless. These people can find themselves stuck in unskilled labor and poverty.

This has already occurred. I began hearing about this in the early 1990's and have sense personally experienced it myself. After I got my Master of Business Administration in 1996, I have not been able to get a job with it. It seems that with my personal experience, I should be paid in the range of at least $40,000 to over $65,000 for general management. There are so many MBA graduates with no experience who can be hired for less that no one wants me.

In the interim, I obtained a job working for America Online as a phone technician making $7 per hour. I was amazed that over half of the employees working there had one or more college degrees and were only making $7 per hour. As I talked to them, I found that they were all having the same problem. I met one person who had two PhD's and was only making $7 per hour and was glad to have it. Remember that this was at the time that businesses were claiming it was so hard to find college graduates to hire so they could import cheap labor from other countries.

Even during the present "booming" economy where unemployment has "plunged" a "whopping" two tenths of one percent in one year, the problem persists. Are we being lied to by our government and media or what?

What this over education of our society is doing, is that businesses now have the luxury of not hiring more experienced and more expensive labor and hiring less experienced and cheaper labor. This means that older people are increasingly finding it tougher to get jobs. These "older" people are getting younger. It started out being people in their 40's and 50's and is now happening to people in their 30's. Soon, it will get tougher on people of all ages.

I also heard that this has reached a point to where businesses are now even willing to risk law suits by firing more experienced employees to hire less experienced and cheaper labor. The courts are permitting the businesses to get away with this because they are claiming that the people are not being fired because of their age but because they are more expensive to employ. Therefore, goes their logic, it is because of cost and not age. Yeah, right!

This problem has reached a point to where, in California alone, there are over 1,500 complaints being filed with the government of California per year. How many more are not even bothering to file a complaint? And this is at a time when the economy is booming and they can't find qualified labor? Yeah, right. You better sell me another bridge because I am not buying that one.

More and more of these college educated people are being forced to accept jobs in unskilled labor making less than $10 per hour. This problem is approaching epidemic proportions and it is getting much worse.


The Coming Epidemic

In the summer of 1999, I heard a statistic which made me shudder but the simple minded media think it is great. It seems that more than 65% of our high school graduates are enrolled in college. That means that anywhere from 35% to over 50% of our work force will have a college degree within the next five to six years. Ouch! That means that anywhere from at least 15% to over 35% of our work force will be unemployable and forced to accept unskilled labor jobs. Poverty will not disappear, it will become very well educated. This could crash our economy in the next five to ten years.

The colleges and universities better think about this. When college graduates are a dime a dozen, who will want a college education? The demand will reverse and colleges, professors, and administrative staff will go broke and get to join the rest of us in our unskilled labor jobs making less than $10 per hour.


The Big Scare

The second lie was a big scare designed to make people fearful of not having their children go to college. They did "studies" showing that there was an increasing economic gap between those who go to college and those who don't. These are rigged studies. What they did was put skilled labor with unskilled labor so that we could not see that skilled labor makes pretty good money. As a matter of fact, many people in skilled labor are making as much or more money than many people who have college degrees. They didn't want you to know that so you would think that the only way your children could have a chance was to get a college education. You were scammed!

The truth is that you can make very good money as skilled labor and many of our self made millionaires come from skilled labor. Have they ever told you this? Of course not, they want you to be afraid of not sending your children to college. We gotta keep those college salaries high.


So What Is Going To Happen?

First, it should be common sense that the salaries for college jobs will at least freeze for a long time and probably begin to decrease. Think about it, if you have more people qualified for a job than there are jobs, people will be willing to work for less just to have a job. The businesses know this and will let us bid the salaries down to get the job.

But another problem is developing. Where are we getting all of these college students from? They are people who would have gone into skilled labor. We are going to develop a shortage on skilled labor. That means, in order to get the job done, businesses are going to have to bid for the remaining skilled labor. This will increase salaries for skilled labor. Where are these businesses going to get the extra money for the skilled labor they need to produce their product? You know they wont take it from their profits. The only place they can take it from will be the salaries they would have paid to college graduates. The businesses must bid down the college graduates' salaries to increase the salaries for the skilled labor.

If I had children in high school today, I would encourage them to go to a trade school, learn a trade, get very good at that trade, start their own business hiring others to do that trade, and make millions.

 
==> It doesn't help that the USA has the worst public schools in the world.
The USA does not have the worst public shools in the world, but by no means are they the best either. At present, on the worldwide scale, based on standardized testing, the USA is rather average, but has been consistently slipping over the last several years.

Good Luck
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Plumbing, for example, is one job that doesn't require college. It also can't be shipped off to India or China."

Yep, that's usually my advice.

And really it's been pointed out in a few articles too. Of course it's not anything that gets put out there because it goes against the "conventional logic" that you gotta have a embossed piece of paper to be a success.

Anyone that leaves out of high school and goes into a skilled trade actually has the potential to make more money overall than someone who's gone to college. Tuition adds up and with the salaries being comparable or in excess of those of college graduates, it's an easy answer. In fact, to speak of things in person, I have a cousin that makes $60K/yr hauling around concrete and asphalt to construction sites. No degree. And he tells me that's about average for all the guys that work around him. Not uncommon either for other skilled trades like carpentry, plumbing (my parents paid $60 to have a plumber come out and spend 10 minutes snaking a drain), and electrical work.

That's really the question the original post is bringing out. A college degree gives you no guarantee of success. In fact, I find it can work against you in many arenas with that "overqualified" label.
 

If I had children in high school today, I would encourage them to go to a trade school, learn a trade, get very good at that trade, start their own business hiring others to do that trade, and make millions.
...
A college degree gives you no guarantee of success.

Who said it does?
And how do you define success?
Neither a degree nor its absence guarantee you success, be it in career or in business, or higher income, or anything at all. Again, whatever you encourage your children to do with their lives - did you ask what they want and did you take into account their talents and abilities, and not just your wishes for them and your ideas about what is better in general?

Let's say, no amount of money would lure me to haul around concrete and asphalt to construction sites, or to snake drains; and I, personally, wouldn't want to be a successful and popular hairdresser - but that's me. It's just not my cup of tea. And even though I always knew I would go to college, I am grateful to my parents for setting me straight and helping me out when, in a time of hardships, I considered dropping off.

What I do agree with, it's that people that do want to go into trades or do not have the ability to get a quality higher education, shouldn't get stirred too hard toward it. Much less the standards should be lowered to accommodate everyone. Just show young people their true prospects and possibilities in both cases - and let them chose then. And why what colleges say should affect their decision that much? You are the parents, after all.




 
Anyone that leaves out of high school and goes into a skilled trade actually has the potential to make more money overall than someone who's gone to college.
What planet are you from? That is the most insane statement I have read in the forums in quite a while.
 
Yes it is KHZ. Do you see skilled tradesmen living in upscale neighborhoods? I spent 10 years as a carpenter and topped out for what a carpenter can make. I went to school for an associates degree which bumped me up a couple of dollars more an hour and now I am going for the bachelors in IT. The only tradesmen with high earning potential are the ones who become contractors\buisnessmen and develop a company with staff. And I bet with an education in business they could even go further.

How come everytime I meet a tradesman that boast he makes $60 an hour for his service lives in a mobile home and drives a 20yr old truck. 60k a year to drive a truck, I challange that, maybe for an owner\operator and that is gross before gas,insurance, and maintenance. Maybe he lives in one of those high cost of living areas were McDonalds employess make 12 dollars an hour.

I said it once before and I will say it again, Educations pays and it always will. How could anyone particiapte in a forum for professional development and argue otherwise.


Bo

Kentucky phone support-
"Mash the Kentrol key and hit scape."
 
Eek!!! The article contains the kind of sweeping "doom is on its way" that is common to the disenfranchised. There are numerous problems with both the math and the premise.

First, I've never heard a college or instructor indicate that getting a degree will help end poverty. They simply indicate that people with degrees earn more on average. By the way, they earn more in jobs where degrees are not required as well. Why? Well, many people who pursue higher education have professional advancement as an underlying goal.

If you are inclined to want to advance professionally, you are more apt to go after such opportunities. Not because of your degrees but more due to your inclination to advancement.

Is this always true? No, of course not. We are simply talking the law of averages.

The other challenge is that it completely ignores the entrepreneur and small-business mindset that many graduates and non-graduates have. I know a guy who has a business degree but works as a window washer and has a Window Washing business. He clears a nice 6 figures. His job does not require a degree. He went to school as a matter of course. He is one of those who is not working using his degree - per se.

I, on the other hand, do not have my 4 year degree. I continue to do online courseware and CD based learning on topics I enjoy - why, because I'm a geek. However, I have authored numerous articles, a book (with another coming), consult for numerous executives, and earn a decent 6 figure income. I've held positions where, in theory a degree is required. However, degrees are really only required in things like law and medicine. Elsewhere, they are highly recommended but proof of result trumps the degree in most cases.

I will admit that there are many who wrongly believe their degree is the equivalent of job security and that it entitles them to a salaried position. The fact is, if you graduate with a degree in business (for instance), you are not ready to manage anyone or any business just yet. Certainly not on the merits of the degree you just attained.

You are ready for an entry-level clerical role. Hopefully, with your applied knowledge, great attitude and work ethic, and the value you bring your employer you can advance more rapidly and into key positions because you have your degree. But that is not a given. Ultimately, production and value is the degree that gets you ahead.

I once had an MBA grad (who had worked as a waiter in school- nothing wrong with that, just a point of reference/experience) approach me on a consulting project. He was very excited that he had his MBA and wanted to know if I could come on board with my company as a consultant. He wanted $80k/year with profit sharing. It was humorous because none of his book knowledge was remotely meaningful. I would have needed him to intern for 6 months before I might have him ready for any engagement. And at that point as a junior consultant/tech.

In any case, the writer uses anecdotes of his inability to secure work as an indication of a trend. But based on discussions with many, many degreed executives who started in places like the mail room or some other clerical/administrative assistant role, I think things are as they should be. It is only the unrealistic expectations and the cult of entitlement that breeds discontent.

Hurrumph!! The Grouchy Old Man Sits Back Down! Okay, I'm turning 40 this year. I don't feel old but my kids assure me that I am.

Matthew Moran
Read my career blog at: Career Blog: Todo esta bien.. Todo esta divertido (it's all good, it's all fun)
 
>> The only tradesmen with high earning potential are the ones who become contractors\buisnessmen and develop a company with staff. <<

Same applies in the software world.

Don't get me wrong - you can still make very good money in software if you're smart and work hard. But to make the really big bucks you need to be the owner of the company.

>> How come everytime I meet a tradesman that boast he makes $60 an hour for his service lives in a mobile home and drives a 20yr old truck. <<

Maybe he hasn't had time to read *all* of "The Millionaire Next Door" yet. :)

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first
 
Hello all,

I couldn't help myself. I had to blog the topic. I even went to the trouble to get a picture together of pastoral board of The Cult of the Disenfranchised - which I wrongly referred to as The Cult of Entitlement in my above post.

Enjoy.


Matthew Moran
Read my career blog at: Career Blog: Todo esta bien.. Todo esta divertido (it's all good, it's all fun)
 
At this point I'm not sure if I should don a heavy tool belt to drag down the seat of my pants, crack open a beer and thank the heavens that I bypassed college for experience, or if I should go to my second week of classes with the guilt that I'm dragging down America with every semester hour I get closer to that degree I want so desperately.

Decisions, decisions....

/please note that the above post is sarcastic and should be taken with at least one grain of salt and two grains humor.
 
Matthew -
Very nice!

It's important for people not to wait for someone else to "give" them something. If they do this, they'll be waiting a very long time.

I agree with you regarding the WW-II generation. Mom grew up in England during the war, and she got one egg a month (because she was a child -- the adults didn't get any). To heat their house, she picked up coal that had fallen off the trains. People who grew up in modern times don't realize how tough life used to be.

Chip H.
PS: You misspelled "predictable"


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first
 
Hey, don't pick on the spelling! I am in the mist (yes, I know it is midst but a fog is accurate too) of writing a new book, building a SQL DB with web/desktop/and web services access, creating product for our LaughterandTears.com website, raising 4 kids - homeschooling two of them - and occassionally spending some time with that lady I occassionally see running around the house.

Sheesh! It was predictable I would get something wrong...

Actually, I appreciate the correction. My spelling and usage is normally not caught until my wife reads it a few days later. She is a special education professional and tutor and literally gasps in horror at my frequent gaffs - particularly because I am the author and communicator of the house.

I claim poetic/linguistic/artistic license. It is my mask for sloppiness.

Matthew Moran
Read my career blog at: Career Blog: Todo esta bien.. Todo esta divertido (it's all good, it's all fun)
 
>> How come everytime I meet a tradesman that boast he makes $60 an hour for his service lives in a mobile home and drives a 20yr old truck. <<

Maybe he hasn't had time to read *all* of "The Millionaire Next Door" yet. "

Or perhaps has. The car one drives or the neighborhood one lives in is not a reflection of wealth. That's only a reflection that the person has a great ability to spend wealth. You might see an upper class lifestyle, but the question always is who is financing that? The person or the bank? Usually the answer is the bank. And coincidentally, this is usually the state I read (& see) that most degreed individuals are in.

The $60 an hour tradesman perhaps has more appreciation for the money he has, so he's not going to blow it on expensive things. Even towards his death, Sam Walton (founder, ex-CEO of Walmart) was known to wear downscale clothes and drive an old beat-up truck. Of course, no one is going to suspect that he might be sitting on a huge amount of wealth.

THINGS ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF WAGES AND EARNING POWER. THINGS, HOWEVER, ARE A REFLECTION OF THE ABILITY ONE HAS TO SPEND WEALTH.

(Having said the major theme of the before mentioned book, back to your regularly scheduled program)
 
==> THINGS ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF WAGES AND EARNING POWER. THINGS, HOWEVER, ARE A REFLECTION OF THE ABILITY ONE HAS TO SPEND WEALTH.

There is no need to shout. There are lot a head headed people in here (self included), but not hard of hearing.

Excluing the Sam Waltons of the world -- since such exceptions are extremely rare, and despite the all too often attempt to use such people as examples of the real world in which the rest of mere mortals live -- big ticket items, such as houses and cars, are not based on one's ability to spend wealth. Big ticket items are based on one's ability to obtain financing. Current wages, job stability, and future earning potentional are key factors used by finance organizations. They want to ensure that you have sufficient income both now (wages) and for the term of loan (earning potential) to make next month's payment and next year's payment.

Good Luck
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To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
The car one drives or the neighborhood one lives in is not a reflection of wealth.
The car, agreed. There's an attorney in the building I work at that has an Aston Martin. Absolutely stunning car. But I like my paid-for Honda better.

However the original post said the tradesman was living in a trailer. A trailer is not an investment, it's an expense. There is zero chance of it going up in value (I live in North Carolina, so I know these things. :) )

If they had read the book all the way through, they would have known to buy a house, for the mortgage deduction if nothing else.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first
 
Big ticket items are based on one's ability to obtain financing."

No, big ticket items are based on the willingness and ability of the person to spend. Much of the expense is based on "how much is the bank willing to give me?". With most people, if the bank will extend a higher credit line, most people will use it. It would be rare to find a person that will refuse the higher credit line for that reason. Most people are natural big spenders and will spend way beyond their means or need. Usually out of a sense of perceived necessity (i.e. a "need" that in truth is a want) To wit:

"However the original post said the tradesman was living in a trailer. A trailer is not an investment, it's an expense. There is zero chance of it going up in value (I live in North Carolina, so I know these things. )"

But it's a dwelling and it works. If he has it paid off, he has no worries other than paying his utility bills and possible maintenance. And how much is a trailer compared to a house? The man in the trailer is going to break his shackles from the bank long before the man who owns the house.

"If they had read the book all the way through, they would have known to buy a house, for the mortgage deduction if nothing else."

A house is not an investment, either, unless you buy it and then rent it out at a net profit. Anything that is a net cost is a poor investment. And often, a "mortgage deduction" is a very poor excuse to buy a house, especially considering the additional municipal tax burdens (in case you didn't realize you pay personal property taxes on a house same as a car), insurance (which is a necessity with most banks if you mortgage a house - and very high too) and maintenance expenses, which would far outweigh any net savings one might encounter in federal income taxes. Do the math and you might be surprised how much money the "investment" of a house loses.

Another good rule that would be worth caps too: People often do not think out the total financial picture, but wilil focus on "candy" that they think benefits them. They will focus on any perceived savings they get doing things (yes in owning a house, taking the mortgage deduction is better than nothing), and any increase in wages you get. The only number that matters on the balance sheet is the "net worth" line, and the only line that matters on any investment is the "net return" line.

You'd probably be surprised the number of people with lower wages in this country that have higher net worths.
 
So....Moving along, Is the education system a Scam? Or is this article one of those circular arguments that will always take you back to point A.

That article would make for a lot of fun in a philosophy class, or a critical thinking class, or even an economics class.

Bo

Kentucky phone support-
"Mash the Kentrol key and hit scape."
 
I hardly see this as an "article", but more as the rantings of someone who feels that he's not getting his deserved rewards.

Statements like "It seems that with my personal experience, I should be paid in the range of at least $40,000 to over $65,000 ..." and other statistics provided without backup severely undermine his attempt to appear unbiased.

First, there is a difference between education and training. The pursuit of one to the exclusion of the other will leave a person at the lower end of the career food chain. Degree programs, with few exceptions, provide both.

Second, he almost states that the only alternative for a college grad who can't get a job "requiring" (whatever exactly that means) a degree is limited to unskilled labor. Not so; it truly depends on the individual. My last position did not requre a degree. My current one, virtually identical in scope, does.

Finally, he complains about "rigged studies" which show an "increasing economic gap" between college- and highschool-educated people. I performed my own study a couple of years ago (yes, for college) using U.S. Census data and found that this is exactly what is observed. The author doesn't offer his own facts, of course, just personal observations and opinions.

Very short on facts, very long on rhetoric.
 
lgarner,

I Agree. That is why I addressed my blog and response to the conceptual underpinnings that prompts such a rant/article/musing.

It was/is and interesting discussion, however.

Matthew Moran
Read my career blog at: Career Blog: Todo esta bien.. Todo esta divertido (it's all good, it's all fun)
 
As a side note:

"The Education Scam" article originally posted is dated March 2000, and is listed on the main page of the site as a "prediction". It is also "Part I" of five parts.

I'd really like to encourage anyone interested in the topic to read the other 4 parts.

My favorite quote: "The media is telling you it is because so many people are retiring but people have been retiring for decades without this problem, therefore, they can't possibly be right."

If you're uncomfortable moving forward, then moving backwards is always a better idea, right?
 
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