I was watching MSDNC a week or so ago and they profiled this girl that had accrued $90,000 in college loan debt. She made the case that she finished 2nd in her class and still couldn't find a job. When asked what her major was she replied.......Geography...

Are you fning kidding me? $90,000 for a degree in Geography????

This is the type of irresponsible nonsense that goes on in this country..

Now she wants her loans forgiven because she can't find a good paying job showing people where fning Butte, Montana is..

I am not a fan of the Chinese Communists but I like the idea of OUTLAWING stupid a$$ degrees that won't pay..


China to Cancel College Majors That Don’t Pay

Much like the U.S., China is aiming to address a problematic demographic that has recently emerged: a generation of jobless graduates. China’s solution to that problem, however, has some in the country scratching their heads.

China’s Ministry of Education announced this week plans to phase out majors producing unemployable graduates, according to state-run media Xinhua. The government will soon start evaluating college majors by their employment rates, downsizing or cutting those studies in which the employment rate for graduates falls below 60% for two consecutive years.

The move is meant to solve a problem that has surfaced as the number of China’s university educated have jumped to 8,930 people per every 100,000 in the year 2010, up nearly 150% from 2000, according to China’s 2010 Census. The surge of collge grads, while an accomplishment for the country, has contributed to an overflow of workers whose skill-sets don’t match with the needs of the export-led, manufacturing-based economy.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/11/23/china-to-cancel-college-majors-that-dont-pay/

$90,000 for a Geography degree? lol

Geography?
Nice Country,been there!
If Society stopped supporting People with useless Degrees they'd soon stop getting them!
Too many people still think that a College Degree is supposed to automatically give them Wealth and Social Status!

See, that wouldn't have happened if they had schools like Bob Jones University or Liberty U.

-Kerry O.

I am willing to compromise..

If someone wants a geography degree then fine.

But..... they should have to pay for that degree out of pocket without financial aid or loans..

The money wasted on financing useless degrees could be better spent by helping students that want to study science, engineering or medicine.

How about if universities stop charging so god damn much per credit hour. The UofA charges $650 per credit.....$650 per credit and on top of that text books can cost as much as $300 for a single book. This is why student loans and financial are necessary.

THIS^

I don't care what people find interesting, but if its use is not productive we have no business funding it with tax dollars.

Personally I think professors should be able to freelance educate.

What I mean by that is once the professor has become certified to teach a particular course he can direct teach and certify the credit hours directly regardless of affiliation to a larger university.

The giant bloat of universities is what causes credit hours price to inflate, and the restrictions on accreditation are not rationally connected to the actual education that occurs, its a system that promotes waste and true competition cannot thrive in such a protectionist system.

STOP certifying institutions, start certifying individual educators.

I have an idea for a recruiting firm/educator to student company. We find educators that specialize in specific job related courses. You take someone from that field, you certify them to teach the field, they then can freelance offer pricing direct to students and the firm that puts the educator in contact with the student gets paid nothing until the student gets a job, the contract like all contracts takes a part off the top for a specified duration (3-6-9 months ect) like a normal contract.

This way the institutions goals are really to get the student a job, NOT pretend they are educating. The educator is able to offer competitive pricing driving down the cost of education. The institution then only makes money if students get paying jobs. WIN/WIN.

However, the good ole boy club that is institutionalized education is not interested in the free market, only in its own accreditation monopoly, it sells the image of the prestigious university, its this brand that sells not the actual end result of job applicable knowledge.

Public universities are run by the states.

The state legislature decides tuition rates and in most cases the bookstores are run by for profit companies like Barnes and Noble.

I left college when I realized that they were just interested in making money.

For a long time there was a bunch of propaganda everywhere that if you don't have a college education you just will not be able to get any kind of well paying job.

Try garbage collecting.

The cost of college is absurd.

some high school dropouts have become stock brokers.

while the other 99.999999999999999999996% struggle their a$$es off trying to survive..

College does not guarantee success. College does a great job of producing great cogs in the wheels of society.

(I worked side by side with people with law degrees and accounting degrees delivering pizza's. )

College does not guarantee that you will get a job or be a success.

College degrees look good on a resume, but when everyone has one, you are just another person looking for a job.

My X-Husband had two doctoral degrees, one in math and one in computer science, and he went bankrupt and could not get a job because he was "over qualified."

He delivered pizzas for a while and started a mail order and network marketing business and became a member of the Millionaires club. He's doing quite well working for himself and all of his college didn't contribute much to that.

That's the thing, though. Not everyone has a college degree. Some people do very well without one, but many hit a point where they are going to get passed over for those who do have degrees.

You say your ex could not get a job because he was over qualified. Do you think people should stop going to school for fear of being over qualified?

I told him that he did not need to tell everyone about all of his degrees, but he did not believe in not telling the truth.

There are many jobs that will not hire someone who is over qualified with too many degrees for fear that person is just looking for a temporary job while trying to nail a better one.

The pizza place didn't care. Drivers come and go all the time.

I think people should decide exactly what kind of work they want to do, then get the necessary training for that job.

Doctors should specialize, so should lawyers. You also should start casing the companies you want to work for and learn everything you can about them.

If those kinds of jobs don't appeal to you, then find something you like doing and learn how to do it.

Don't just go to school thinking that you will get hired right out of college because you have one or two degrees.

The most important thing to do first is to decide what you want your life to be like and what you want to do.

If you don't know what you want to do with your life, you will drift or be dead in the water.

Do you really think anything that is sold is sold with all available data?

NO, in fact quite the opposite. When you are buying something, all you really want to know is how it will achieve what ever you are buying it for . . .

ie you do not buy the pair of shoes that mention they are good for bug stomping if all you want is comfy shoes, and no one hires a data entry clerk who goes on about their anthropology degree.

You sell a product by promoting the aspects useful to your target demographic.

Its not being dishonest to do this, its called being smart and targeting what functions/properties are desirable of the thing being sold.

When we work we sell our expertise, and you do not sell ice to Eskimos, and you do not house slippers to someone looking for work boots.

Very True.

I believe he was secretly a little proud of being "over qualified." He had quite an ego.

And two college dropouts went on to become very famous billionaires.

I'd recommend Malcom Gladwell's book "Outliers" for the insight into how and why they were able to do so without the college degrees. It's not always all about hard work- sometimes, it's being in the right place in the right time that makes the hard work pay off. Having a passion for your work is another key ingredient, and the recipe one brews with it often sustains the 'cook' whether they become rich _monetarily_ at what they do or not.

On the other hand, some people will never have enough money, and it dooms them to never being happy, either.


-Kerry O.

Yep, it has to do with their state of mind.

College is increasingly obsolete. The cost/benefit ratio is dropping like a rock. I encourage anyone interested in a BA to get it online. There are accredited universities which allow one to do distance studying at a fraction of the cost of a university. It's just as valid to employers, and doesn't come with the insane price tag. Save the extra money for grad school if it's necessary.

That is excellent advice. I agree that the cost/benefit ratio is really out of sight.

I think in the future many many more schools, even high schools will be on line.

We have an online high school here in my own County. Vilas on line.


http://www.vilasonline.org/