College Becoming Worthless is the Logical Outcome of "Free" College

in #education8 years ago

I read a column today by a highly educated Finnish person, who is frustrated over the fact that his or her (the column wasn't clear) university education doesn't seem to be able to ensure a job anymore. The business that the person worked for went under, and the person has not been able to get a job since. And the business went under years ago.

An interesting thing that was brought up was that, according to the writer, some employers even view a university education as a detriment.

This is something I've been saying for as long as I can remember.

In Finland, we have what a lot of countries dream about: a "free" education system. Of course it's not free, it's tax funded, but you get the picture.

The fact that the amount of highly educated people who are unemployed has been rising is, to me, the only logical outcome of the "free education":

Let's say people have paid for college before, and then it becomes free.

  • Everybody wants to go to college.
  • When everyone goes to college, college becomes worthless.

Another way of looking at it:

  • When you're the only engineer in town, you can ask for whatever you want.
  • As soon as a second engineer moves into town, he will compete with you for the jobs, and you likely have to lower your demands.
  • When there is an overabundance of engineers in town, a single engineer is simply not worth much because he's easily replaceable and far from unique, or even rare.

Supply and demand.

People have been taught this lie that as soon as you have an education, you're set. But it fails to take into account the fact that the value of a degree goes down the more people there are with degrees.

People are not taught how the market actually functions, and what is supply and demand. They're just told that a degree is some magical card that ensures a job, which is also magic. Not need to take market functions into account at all.

I even argue that the value of a degree can go down to the point of even having negative value. And it seems like some employers are already viewing it that way. Education has to be dumbed down to cater to everybody who wants to go, and the more it's dumbed down, the bigger a negative it is to have a degree.

Looking at what's going on in schools these days with safe spaces, trigger warnings and whateverthefuck, it really looks silly to an outsider like me.

A problem right now is that we're in a transitional phase. Meaning that whereas in the past having an education meant that you're likely smart, hard working, focused, capable of planning and foresight, et cetera, et cetera - and there are still plenty of employers, or at least people doing the recruiting, who think that an education is the only way for a person to be valuable - the dumbed down school in actuality can even push actually intelligent people away.

All schooling should be privatized with the people doing the teaching having a personal stake in the quality and outcome of their teaching, in the form of running a business.

I have written about what completely privatized education could look like here

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Unfortunately, you are very right. The problem is that most people don't realize that schools are not meant to secure a job. In an ideal world the school should teach you how to be able to survive, take care of yourself, be responsible, nice to others and, of course, equip you with the scientific base to further deepen your knowledge in certain fields by STUDYING them (if you choose to do so).

In many countries on this planet we seem to be very far away from this ideal. I'm a very huge promoter of education but only if it's pursued for the right reasons. As you write, education is NOT a magical key for getting rich or even getting a job.

Looking at what's going on in schools these days with safe spaces, trigger warnings and whateverthefuck, it really looks silly to an outsider like me.

A lot of what you're talking about is happening in America, where college is expensive as fuck. So no, I don't think the price is the issue here.

The reality is technology is "automating" away more and more jobs. You don't need as many engineers because they have software to make the math easier, you can prototype with a 3D printer, etc. So you can go to college, get a skill set that might still be marketable and wait for your job to get automated away... or you can avoid college, and watch any job you might get automated away even sooner.

Great article. I never went to college and am doing quite well. I can't stand the whole 'college degree' BS that has been prevalent for the past two decades or so. Love when someone writes against it all.

I was watching Dave Ramsey's Youtube channel the other day and this gem of a clip was put on. It has to be the dumbest lady I have heard in recent memory.

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