Well, here's something pretty cool.
Mike Rowe, the blue-collar advocate from the television shows "Dirty Jobs" and "Somebody's Gotta Do It" just posted his version of a commencement speech ... for trade school graduates.
He opens with the stellar words "Thanks for resisting the temptation to borrow vast sums of money" -- and it just gets better.
Well worth watching.
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Friday, January 23, 2015
Are Millennials in trouble?
I caught a Yahoo article this week entitled Baby limbo: Millennials struggle to find the right time for parenthood. As I will mention in my upcoming WND column for this weekend, the article detailed how many young couples find themselves so saddled in student loan (and other) debt that it literally paralyzes their financial position for decades to come –- including during that critical window in life when they would otherwise be buying homes and starting families.
The article highlights some high school sweethearts named Mandy and Nathan. "By the time they graduated college in 2009, both with degrees in English, they were already married. They had talked about having children for years, but with graduation came an unwelcome reality check: a combined $60,000 worth of student loan debt."
After giving the statistics on how Millennials are putting off traditional adult benchmarks such as buying homes and having babies (due to a combination of debt and a poor economy), the article gave some advice for young couples wanting to untangle their financial knots and plan for a future family:
1. Practice living off of one salary for at least a year.
2. Make lifestyle adjustments now, not later.
3. Review your health insurance policies.
4. Balance your savings needs with your children’s savings needs.
5. Plan your transition away from and back to work carefully.
While I don't necessarily disagree with these bullet points, I have a feeling the problems with the Millennials goes deeper.
It saddens me to see so many young people starting out their adult lives as slaves... because make no mistake, debt on the order of $60,000 (or more) is little more than a slave collar around their necks. It makes me want to shake them (or their parents) for encouraging or accruing that kind of debt to begin with, particular in a fragile and shaky economy.
As carefully as this article suggests planning out one's future, it never touches on what got this couple in trouble in the first place: poor planning for their future. Mandy and Nathan accrued $60,000 studying a subject (English) for which there is no appreciable demand.
It's not that I object to studying English -- far from it, I take great delight in writing and literature -- but Mandy and Nathan should have been advised to match supply and demand before spending that kind of money (see this blog post for a better explanation). There are far more English majors (supply) than there are jobs to support them (demand). And while they are actively working to build their careers (kudos), student loan repayments wait for no man. And now this young couple's future is trashed because of it.
If I could make some possibly unfair assumptions about Millennials, one of the problems is they've never been told "no." They've never been told it may not be a good idea to major in English or Psychology when there are no English or Psychology jobs available. They've never been told NOT to "follow their heart" when it comes to studying useless subjects in college and then wonder why they emerge with $60,000 in student loan debt that haunts them for years to come.
If you're at the juncture of your lives where your future may literally hang in the balance -- namely, graduating from high school and contemplating entering college -- think very very carefully about the path before you.
You don't want to end up like Mandy and Nathan.
The article highlights some high school sweethearts named Mandy and Nathan. "By the time they graduated college in 2009, both with degrees in English, they were already married. They had talked about having children for years, but with graduation came an unwelcome reality check: a combined $60,000 worth of student loan debt."
After giving the statistics on how Millennials are putting off traditional adult benchmarks such as buying homes and having babies (due to a combination of debt and a poor economy), the article gave some advice for young couples wanting to untangle their financial knots and plan for a future family:
1. Practice living off of one salary for at least a year.
2. Make lifestyle adjustments now, not later.
3. Review your health insurance policies.
4. Balance your savings needs with your children’s savings needs.
5. Plan your transition away from and back to work carefully.
While I don't necessarily disagree with these bullet points, I have a feeling the problems with the Millennials goes deeper.
It saddens me to see so many young people starting out their adult lives as slaves... because make no mistake, debt on the order of $60,000 (or more) is little more than a slave collar around their necks. It makes me want to shake them (or their parents) for encouraging or accruing that kind of debt to begin with, particular in a fragile and shaky economy.
As carefully as this article suggests planning out one's future, it never touches on what got this couple in trouble in the first place: poor planning for their future. Mandy and Nathan accrued $60,000 studying a subject (English) for which there is no appreciable demand.
It's not that I object to studying English -- far from it, I take great delight in writing and literature -- but Mandy and Nathan should have been advised to match supply and demand before spending that kind of money (see this blog post for a better explanation). There are far more English majors (supply) than there are jobs to support them (demand). And while they are actively working to build their careers (kudos), student loan repayments wait for no man. And now this young couple's future is trashed because of it.
If I could make some possibly unfair assumptions about Millennials, one of the problems is they've never been told "no." They've never been told it may not be a good idea to major in English or Psychology when there are no English or Psychology jobs available. They've never been told NOT to "follow their heart" when it comes to studying useless subjects in college and then wonder why they emerge with $60,000 in student loan debt that haunts them for years to come.
If you're at the juncture of your lives where your future may literally hang in the balance -- namely, graduating from high school and contemplating entering college -- think very very carefully about the path before you.
You don't want to end up like Mandy and Nathan.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Book review: Worthless
Recently I purchased a book entitled Worthless: The Young Person's Indispensable Guide to Choosing the Right Major by Aaron Clarey.
The blurb on Amazon.com sums it up as follows: "'Worthless' is the single most important book young men and women can read before they attend college. While teachers, guidance counselors and even parents are afraid to tell you the truth in an effort to spare your feelings, 'Worthless' delivers a blunt and real-world assessment about the economic realities and consequences of choosing various degrees with a necessary and tough fatherly love. Don’t lie to yourself. And certainly don’t waste four years of your youth and thousands of dollars in tuition on a worthless degree. Buy this book and understand why it is important you choose the right major. The book itself could be the wisest investment you ever make."
Since our girls are 16 and 18 and strongly planning for their future, I thought this book would give some ammunition against those who feel we should blindly send them to college regardless of their interests. After all, a college degree is necessary in today's competitive marketplace... isn't it?
Well I couldn't put the book down. Because here's the thing: THE GUY THINKS JUST LIKE WE DO.
The Big Concept this author attempts to convey is to match SUPPLY with DEMAND. Don't waste time and money getting useless degrees for which there is no demand. There are far more degreed individuals than there are well-paying jobs to employ them, which is why so many college graduates can't find jobs commensurate with their education.
The author additionally warns young people that it isn't just the UNemployment rate they should be worried about; it's the UNDERemployment rate. Y'know, the barista working at Starbucks with a Master's Degree in Gender Studies who has $90,000 in student loans weighing her down.
In a nutshell, the author suggests that unless you plan to study a STEM subject (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine) -- and even then, there are subcategories of these subjects that are worthless -- then young people are better off going to a trade school or creating their own skills set and/or employment opportunities.
The author points out that there are endless counselors, teachers, and other related folks who will happily guide young people (especially those without any burning STEM-career ambitions) toward the plethora of useless degrees that universities grant. After all, these young people are the fodder for the massive "college-industrial complex" I discuss here.
As an exercise for college kids, the author had some students list the top five things they wanted to buy or planned to buy in the near future. Examples included: gasoline, video games, clothes, sports car, motorcycle, smart phone, alcohol, food, jewelry, computer, movies (DVDs), etc.
Then he had the students list their majors. Examples included: sociology, women's studies, accounting, journalism, engineering, psychology, pre-law, communications, music/arts, African-American studies, history, education, etc.
These areas of study sound impressive until you compare the two lists side by side. Very few of the major areas of study will actually lead to producing anything the students wanted to buy, such as vehicles, clothes, jewelry, electronics, gasoline, food, etc.
Not one person listed "a lecture on women's studies" or "a visit from a social worker" on the list of things they wanted. And while such occupations as historian and psychologist have their place, there are far more people vying for these positions than there are decent-paying positions available. And some things, such as art and music, are often best learned through non-academic channels by talented and passionate people rather than achieving degrees in these areas.
To further illustrate his point, the author uses a "village" example. Imagine a small, self-contained village (as Medieval villages used to be). The village has everything its people need: farmers, butchers, knights (protectors), metalsmiths, weavers and clothiers, tanners, blacksmiths, etc. "Everybody had a job or a task that carried their weight in the village," the author writes. "What you did NOT have was the professional activist, the social worker, the starving artist, the trophy wife, the socialite or the village welfare bum. Everybody had a job and everybody's job provided vital and required services and products to the village."
Now blow the village up in scale to embrace the entire nation and see how the pursuit of useless majors fits into this model. The author illustrates this point by highlighting a news article about a young man who returned to graduate school and spent three years and $35,000 to get his Master's degree in -- are you ready for this? -- puppetry.
Now clearly the Medieval village analogy is not as black-and-white as the author paints, but he makes superb points... the biggest of which is: before you spend many years and thousands of dollars obtaining a degree, make sure there is a suitable market for that degree in the first place. Will your degree provide something vital to the free market, or will you only be employable in a government make-work job or in a position not commensurate with your education?
Back in 1980 when I went to college (and when a higher education was one-third the price, accounting for inflation, that it is now), my dad had much the same idea. "Major in whatever you want," he told me; "but always make sure you have a skill you can fall back on." I majored in zoology, and since there were long stretches of time between getting well-paying jobs, I fell back on my skill of typing, and whatever associated skills went with it (secretarial, administrative, desktop publishing, etc).
(I didn't need to go to college to learn to type. Just sayin'.)
People have their whole lives ahead of them to study the subjects they find fascinating. Older Daughter, for example, is interested in Celtic mythology and folklore (fairies, elves, etc.) and has many books on the subject. She's quite an expert in Celtic literature. But what if we were to encourage her to "follow her dream" and get a Master's Degree in Celtic Literature, accrue $80,000 in debt, and face serious underemployment after graduation because no one is hiring Celtic Literature experts? What kind of parents would we be to encourage that?
The idea is that if you have a burning passion – say, literature or women’s rights or the environment – then learn about and become active in those areas in your spare time. Don’t waste four or more years of your life and go into tens of thousands of dollars in debt achieving a degree in your passion without first confirming whether or not there are even jobs in that field. Young people should be acquiring whatever skills will make them marketable, as determined by real-life markets (not smooth-sounding fantastical claims by educators with a product to sell).
Ever blunt, Mr. Clarey writes: "Declaring a worthless major is simply shouting out to the world, 'I’m a parasite and have no intentions of working for a living. I want to do what I want to do and I want the rest of you to pay for it. I ultimately want to produce nothing society wants, but in return I demand other people slave away to make me MP3 players, computers, video games, as well as engineer hybrid cars and whatever else I want. I also want society to create some make-work job for me so my ego isn’t bruised and I can make-believe I’m a real-world-live adult too. And if you dare point out what I’m doing in the real world is nothing more than parasiting off of others, I’ll cowardly hide myself behind some altruistic crusade and accuse you of being a racist, a misogynist, or a hater of children.'"
As I wrote in a WND column, "I believe everyone should partake of higher education to qualify them for a productive adulthood in which they can make a living and support a family. But 'higher education' is not limited to college, especially for an academic degree in (let’s face it) an impractical field. Rather, higher education should include training, apprenticeships, trade school or the old-fashioned working your way up the ladder from humble beginnings. Too many people graduate with elegant degrees but they can’t plumb, wire, build, sew, cook or tinker their way out of a paper bag and must hire well-paid experts to do this for them.
"Additionally, young people ought to be cultivating the intangible but valuable skills all employers seek: a high work ethic, dedication, the ability to arrive on time, to perform a task without complaint and (after training) without supervision, the ability to write coherently instead of like a texting monkey, the ability to speak clearly without saying 'like' or an expletive every fourth word, and other indefinable skills that raise them head and shoulders above the crowd.
"The nice thing about college is it’s always there. Nothing says you must attend college at 18. You can attend anytime. That door never shuts.
"But a staggering debt at the tender age of 22 can shut doors – lots of them. Please, think over your future plans carefully before plunging yourself into the pit of debt."
(Our neighbor's 18- year old son is now apprenticing as a butcher. Wise choice.)
The book "Worthless" is short (171 pgs), easy to read, concentrated, and pulls no punches. As far as I'm concerned, it very much lives up to its subtitle of "A Young Person's Indispensable Guide to Choosing the Right Major."
If you have a son or daughter who is determined to attend college (or if you're determined that your son or daughter attend college) then this book is a MUST READ.
The blurb on Amazon.com sums it up as follows: "'Worthless' is the single most important book young men and women can read before they attend college. While teachers, guidance counselors and even parents are afraid to tell you the truth in an effort to spare your feelings, 'Worthless' delivers a blunt and real-world assessment about the economic realities and consequences of choosing various degrees with a necessary and tough fatherly love. Don’t lie to yourself. And certainly don’t waste four years of your youth and thousands of dollars in tuition on a worthless degree. Buy this book and understand why it is important you choose the right major. The book itself could be the wisest investment you ever make."
Since our girls are 16 and 18 and strongly planning for their future, I thought this book would give some ammunition against those who feel we should blindly send them to college regardless of their interests. After all, a college degree is necessary in today's competitive marketplace... isn't it?
Well I couldn't put the book down. Because here's the thing: THE GUY THINKS JUST LIKE WE DO.
The Big Concept this author attempts to convey is to match SUPPLY with DEMAND. Don't waste time and money getting useless degrees for which there is no demand. There are far more degreed individuals than there are well-paying jobs to employ them, which is why so many college graduates can't find jobs commensurate with their education.
The author additionally warns young people that it isn't just the UNemployment rate they should be worried about; it's the UNDERemployment rate. Y'know, the barista working at Starbucks with a Master's Degree in Gender Studies who has $90,000 in student loans weighing her down.
In a nutshell, the author suggests that unless you plan to study a STEM subject (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine) -- and even then, there are subcategories of these subjects that are worthless -- then young people are better off going to a trade school or creating their own skills set and/or employment opportunities.
The author points out that there are endless counselors, teachers, and other related folks who will happily guide young people (especially those without any burning STEM-career ambitions) toward the plethora of useless degrees that universities grant. After all, these young people are the fodder for the massive "college-industrial complex" I discuss here.
As an exercise for college kids, the author had some students list the top five things they wanted to buy or planned to buy in the near future. Examples included: gasoline, video games, clothes, sports car, motorcycle, smart phone, alcohol, food, jewelry, computer, movies (DVDs), etc.
Then he had the students list their majors. Examples included: sociology, women's studies, accounting, journalism, engineering, psychology, pre-law, communications, music/arts, African-American studies, history, education, etc.
These areas of study sound impressive until you compare the two lists side by side. Very few of the major areas of study will actually lead to producing anything the students wanted to buy, such as vehicles, clothes, jewelry, electronics, gasoline, food, etc.
Not one person listed "a lecture on women's studies" or "a visit from a social worker" on the list of things they wanted. And while such occupations as historian and psychologist have their place, there are far more people vying for these positions than there are decent-paying positions available. And some things, such as art and music, are often best learned through non-academic channels by talented and passionate people rather than achieving degrees in these areas.
To further illustrate his point, the author uses a "village" example. Imagine a small, self-contained village (as Medieval villages used to be). The village has everything its people need: farmers, butchers, knights (protectors), metalsmiths, weavers and clothiers, tanners, blacksmiths, etc. "Everybody had a job or a task that carried their weight in the village," the author writes. "What you did NOT have was the professional activist, the social worker, the starving artist, the trophy wife, the socialite or the village welfare bum. Everybody had a job and everybody's job provided vital and required services and products to the village."
Now blow the village up in scale to embrace the entire nation and see how the pursuit of useless majors fits into this model. The author illustrates this point by highlighting a news article about a young man who returned to graduate school and spent three years and $35,000 to get his Master's degree in -- are you ready for this? -- puppetry.
Now clearly the Medieval village analogy is not as black-and-white as the author paints, but he makes superb points... the biggest of which is: before you spend many years and thousands of dollars obtaining a degree, make sure there is a suitable market for that degree in the first place. Will your degree provide something vital to the free market, or will you only be employable in a government make-work job or in a position not commensurate with your education?
Back in 1980 when I went to college (and when a higher education was one-third the price, accounting for inflation, that it is now), my dad had much the same idea. "Major in whatever you want," he told me; "but always make sure you have a skill you can fall back on." I majored in zoology, and since there were long stretches of time between getting well-paying jobs, I fell back on my skill of typing, and whatever associated skills went with it (secretarial, administrative, desktop publishing, etc).
(I didn't need to go to college to learn to type. Just sayin'.)
People have their whole lives ahead of them to study the subjects they find fascinating. Older Daughter, for example, is interested in Celtic mythology and folklore (fairies, elves, etc.) and has many books on the subject. She's quite an expert in Celtic literature. But what if we were to encourage her to "follow her dream" and get a Master's Degree in Celtic Literature, accrue $80,000 in debt, and face serious underemployment after graduation because no one is hiring Celtic Literature experts? What kind of parents would we be to encourage that?
The idea is that if you have a burning passion – say, literature or women’s rights or the environment – then learn about and become active in those areas in your spare time. Don’t waste four or more years of your life and go into tens of thousands of dollars in debt achieving a degree in your passion without first confirming whether or not there are even jobs in that field. Young people should be acquiring whatever skills will make them marketable, as determined by real-life markets (not smooth-sounding fantastical claims by educators with a product to sell).
Ever blunt, Mr. Clarey writes: "Declaring a worthless major is simply shouting out to the world, 'I’m a parasite and have no intentions of working for a living. I want to do what I want to do and I want the rest of you to pay for it. I ultimately want to produce nothing society wants, but in return I demand other people slave away to make me MP3 players, computers, video games, as well as engineer hybrid cars and whatever else I want. I also want society to create some make-work job for me so my ego isn’t bruised and I can make-believe I’m a real-world-live adult too. And if you dare point out what I’m doing in the real world is nothing more than parasiting off of others, I’ll cowardly hide myself behind some altruistic crusade and accuse you of being a racist, a misogynist, or a hater of children.'"
As I wrote in a WND column, "I believe everyone should partake of higher education to qualify them for a productive adulthood in which they can make a living and support a family. But 'higher education' is not limited to college, especially for an academic degree in (let’s face it) an impractical field. Rather, higher education should include training, apprenticeships, trade school or the old-fashioned working your way up the ladder from humble beginnings. Too many people graduate with elegant degrees but they can’t plumb, wire, build, sew, cook or tinker their way out of a paper bag and must hire well-paid experts to do this for them.
"Additionally, young people ought to be cultivating the intangible but valuable skills all employers seek: a high work ethic, dedication, the ability to arrive on time, to perform a task without complaint and (after training) without supervision, the ability to write coherently instead of like a texting monkey, the ability to speak clearly without saying 'like' or an expletive every fourth word, and other indefinable skills that raise them head and shoulders above the crowd.
"The nice thing about college is it’s always there. Nothing says you must attend college at 18. You can attend anytime. That door never shuts.
"But a staggering debt at the tender age of 22 can shut doors – lots of them. Please, think over your future plans carefully before plunging yourself into the pit of debt."
(Our neighbor's 18- year old son is now apprenticing as a butcher. Wise choice.)
The book "Worthless" is short (171 pgs), easy to read, concentrated, and pulls no punches. As far as I'm concerned, it very much lives up to its subtitle of "A Young Person's Indispensable Guide to Choosing the Right Major."
If you have a son or daughter who is determined to attend college (or if you're determined that your son or daughter attend college) then this book is a MUST READ.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Don't forget your "menstrual activist gear"
A couple of days ago, I read with enormous amusement the following article: University offers female students extra credit for not shaving their armpits.
It seems students in Arizona State University's (cough) Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality Group can "receive extra credit for defying social norms and refusing to shave for 10 weeks during the semester." The students keep a journal. One young lady reported the experience to be "life changing." (I think this young lady needs a more exciting life.)
Being truly equal opportunity activists, male students can participate (by shaving "their bodies from the neck down") to become "activists" in the realm of body hair.
Just think -- parents are paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition for this stuff. (Or students are going into debt for the same amount for these kinds if enriching activities that anyone can do for free.) According to one student, "The experience helped me better understand how pervasive gendered socialization is in our culture. Furthermore, by doing this kind of activist project I was no longer an armchair activist theorizing in the classroom. So much is learned by actually taking part in the theory or idea we learn in the classroom, and we could benefit from this type of pedagogy being taken up by similar classes." (Is that armchair activist or arm hair activist...? Just asking.)
And after graduation, this will help her get a job HOW? "Look, I haven't shaved! I recognize how pervasive gendered socialization is in our culture! I'm no longer an armchair activist! Hire me!"
(By the way, the Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality also sells "awesome menstrual activist gear" just in case your wardrobe could use some sprucing up. I would have showed a picture of the T-shirt they sell, but it's so vulgar I didn't want it to soil my blog.)
Sigh. And to think our feminine girls will be missing out on these "life changing experiences" by NOT attending such places as Arizona State University. The poor deprived things.
Which begs the question -- where DO Gender Studies majors find jobs after they graduate? Besides university Women's Studies departments or Starbucks or "pity" jobs with the government, that is? I'm quite serious -- who hires them?
It seems students in Arizona State University's (cough) Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality Group can "receive extra credit for defying social norms and refusing to shave for 10 weeks during the semester." The students keep a journal. One young lady reported the experience to be "life changing." (I think this young lady needs a more exciting life.)
Being truly equal opportunity activists, male students can participate (by shaving "their bodies from the neck down") to become "activists" in the realm of body hair.
Just think -- parents are paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition for this stuff. (Or students are going into debt for the same amount for these kinds if enriching activities that anyone can do for free.) According to one student, "The experience helped me better understand how pervasive gendered socialization is in our culture. Furthermore, by doing this kind of activist project I was no longer an armchair activist theorizing in the classroom. So much is learned by actually taking part in the theory or idea we learn in the classroom, and we could benefit from this type of pedagogy being taken up by similar classes." (Is that armchair activist or arm hair activist...? Just asking.)
And after graduation, this will help her get a job HOW? "Look, I haven't shaved! I recognize how pervasive gendered socialization is in our culture! I'm no longer an armchair activist! Hire me!"
(By the way, the Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality also sells "awesome menstrual activist gear" just in case your wardrobe could use some sprucing up. I would have showed a picture of the T-shirt they sell, but it's so vulgar I didn't want it to soil my blog.)
Sigh. And to think our feminine girls will be missing out on these "life changing experiences" by NOT attending such places as Arizona State University. The poor deprived things.
Which begs the question -- where DO Gender Studies majors find jobs after they graduate? Besides university Women's Studies departments or Starbucks or "pity" jobs with the government, that is? I'm quite serious -- who hires them?
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Getting a REAL education
Recently my older brother and I have been exchanging emails on the cost and/or benefit of a college education. My brother has a bachelor's and a master's degree in engineering, and worked as an engineer for decades -- the "golden era" of engineering, he's now calling it.
"Worked" -- as in, past tense -- is the key word here. It seems older and more experienced engineers are no longer wanted in the marketplace. After dodging the layoffs for years, my brother finally got the pink slip about a year ago, along with nearly the entire rest of the senior engineering staff at his company. The trend in Silicon Valley, he reports, is to fire older staff and hire cheap imported engineers from other countries. Now he is forcibly retired. I say "forcibly" because he's spent the last 12 months interviewing for different jobs, and no one is biting despite his vast qualifications.
While my brother is somewhat bitter over this practice of laying off senior engineers, he has one extraordinary piece of good fortune in his favor: he saw the handwriting on the wall twenty years ago. He knew he could be laid off at any time. Therefore he spent his productive years purchasing properties, promptly paying off the mortgages, and staying out of every other kind of debt. Now he has income from renting out the three houses he purchased and paid off. This is his retirement strategy.
My brother is fortunate that he got his college degrees at a time when college was expensive, but not nearly as inflated as now. According to this article, the cost of higher education has surged more than five hundred percent since 1985. I'm beginning to think it's an enormous blessing-in-disguise that our girls have been priced out of the college market.
My brother just sent me a link to this article, which outlines how a student who majors in film could easily emerge with up to $182,000 in student loan debt. "This is too much borrowing!" chides the author. "You can’t repay that kind of debt on a film major’s starting salary, and you can’t get rid of student loans in bankruptcy."
All this is a lead-up to an outstanding article I recently read on SurvivalBlog entitled Getting A Real Education– Why Becoming Self-Sufficient Is Better Than Going To College. As far as I'm concerned, every word of this article is pure gold for young people just starting their adult life.
The premise of the article is that instead of spending four years of time and oodles of money acquiring a dubious college degree in a field that may not be hiring, young people should spend the next four years acquiring a work ethic and job skills, squirreling away money, and making intelligent long-term purchases.
Some quoted highlights:
[I]t is better to learn to become self-sufficient rather than spend your precious time and money going to college, at least for now. In fact, if you follow this alternate path of education, in order to be best prepared for the new reality, in four years time you will be well on the way to financial independence; you’ll also be healthier, have a nest-egg to invest, and have well-developed multiple skills. You will be at least a decade ahead of your high school pals who went directly to college.
Here’s what you should be doing during the next four years, to be better prepared to meet the emerging “New Realty”:
• Learn to find or create a job to earn money,
• Negotiate a place to live until you can move into your own home,
• Plan how to invest the money you are saving,
• Learn to grow food,
• Learn to buy real estate, and
• Develop multiple means of income. (I will explain this later on.)
The goal of accomplishing the list above is to:
• Work and save as much as you can,
• Find a property you can purchase with some of your savings to own it free and clear,
• Learn to garden or provide other legitimate means to drastically reduce your grocery costs,
• Develop your property to its highest and best purpose, which will enable you to be financially free,
Having accomplished all this, you will have learned multiple skills and the means to provide yourself and others with food and shelter. This will give you more choices, and allow you to become financially free, while you are still able to enjoy it.
The best way to accomplish all of this is to think of it as your “real education” and to commit to working your plan for four years as if you were attending college, only this is your practical education. Without a real commitment to accomplishing each step of the plan, you won’t reap the benefits it will deliver. So resolve right now to commit to the process.
At the end of your real education you will:
• Be living in a home that you own free and clear, eliminating major housing costs,
• Be able to save more money by growing your own food,
• Be healthier, because you’ve been eating healthier food instead of the GMO’d food sold in the grocery stores,
• Be able to have a nest-egg to invest,
• Be in a position to help others, financially and materially,
• Possess the real skills needed to successfully meet the challenges of an uncertain future, and
• Ultimately have more choices and greater control over your life!
This is definitely an article I'm printing out in its entirety in hopes our girls will take it to heart. In this day and age, it makes far more sense than studying something stooopid in college such as Gender Studies or Peace and Social Justice.
"Worked" -- as in, past tense -- is the key word here. It seems older and more experienced engineers are no longer wanted in the marketplace. After dodging the layoffs for years, my brother finally got the pink slip about a year ago, along with nearly the entire rest of the senior engineering staff at his company. The trend in Silicon Valley, he reports, is to fire older staff and hire cheap imported engineers from other countries. Now he is forcibly retired. I say "forcibly" because he's spent the last 12 months interviewing for different jobs, and no one is biting despite his vast qualifications.
While my brother is somewhat bitter over this practice of laying off senior engineers, he has one extraordinary piece of good fortune in his favor: he saw the handwriting on the wall twenty years ago. He knew he could be laid off at any time. Therefore he spent his productive years purchasing properties, promptly paying off the mortgages, and staying out of every other kind of debt. Now he has income from renting out the three houses he purchased and paid off. This is his retirement strategy.
My brother is fortunate that he got his college degrees at a time when college was expensive, but not nearly as inflated as now. According to this article, the cost of higher education has surged more than five hundred percent since 1985. I'm beginning to think it's an enormous blessing-in-disguise that our girls have been priced out of the college market.
My brother just sent me a link to this article, which outlines how a student who majors in film could easily emerge with up to $182,000 in student loan debt. "This is too much borrowing!" chides the author. "You can’t repay that kind of debt on a film major’s starting salary, and you can’t get rid of student loans in bankruptcy."
All this is a lead-up to an outstanding article I recently read on SurvivalBlog entitled Getting A Real Education– Why Becoming Self-Sufficient Is Better Than Going To College. As far as I'm concerned, every word of this article is pure gold for young people just starting their adult life.
The premise of the article is that instead of spending four years of time and oodles of money acquiring a dubious college degree in a field that may not be hiring, young people should spend the next four years acquiring a work ethic and job skills, squirreling away money, and making intelligent long-term purchases.
Some quoted highlights:
[I]t is better to learn to become self-sufficient rather than spend your precious time and money going to college, at least for now. In fact, if you follow this alternate path of education, in order to be best prepared for the new reality, in four years time you will be well on the way to financial independence; you’ll also be healthier, have a nest-egg to invest, and have well-developed multiple skills. You will be at least a decade ahead of your high school pals who went directly to college.
Here’s what you should be doing during the next four years, to be better prepared to meet the emerging “New Realty”:
• Learn to find or create a job to earn money,
• Negotiate a place to live until you can move into your own home,
• Plan how to invest the money you are saving,
• Learn to grow food,
• Learn to buy real estate, and
• Develop multiple means of income. (I will explain this later on.)
The goal of accomplishing the list above is to:
• Work and save as much as you can,
• Find a property you can purchase with some of your savings to own it free and clear,
• Learn to garden or provide other legitimate means to drastically reduce your grocery costs,
• Develop your property to its highest and best purpose, which will enable you to be financially free,
Having accomplished all this, you will have learned multiple skills and the means to provide yourself and others with food and shelter. This will give you more choices, and allow you to become financially free, while you are still able to enjoy it.
The best way to accomplish all of this is to think of it as your “real education” and to commit to working your plan for four years as if you were attending college, only this is your practical education. Without a real commitment to accomplishing each step of the plan, you won’t reap the benefits it will deliver. So resolve right now to commit to the process.
At the end of your real education you will:
• Be living in a home that you own free and clear, eliminating major housing costs,
• Be able to save more money by growing your own food,
• Be healthier, because you’ve been eating healthier food instead of the GMO’d food sold in the grocery stores,
• Be able to have a nest-egg to invest,
• Be in a position to help others, financially and materially,
• Possess the real skills needed to successfully meet the challenges of an uncertain future, and
• Ultimately have more choices and greater control over your life!
This is definitely an article I'm printing out in its entirety in hopes our girls will take it to heart. In this day and age, it makes far more sense than studying something stooopid in college such as Gender Studies or Peace and Social Justice.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
A rebuttal
With regards to the unpleasant snark our neighbor Enola Gay received about her son Master Hand Grenade's decision to become a butcher, my husband had a few additional choice words for the snarker. His commentary follows. (My dear husband doesn't like to mince words.)
With regard to the anonymous correspondent of Enola Gay’s son Master Hand Grenade and Hand Grenade’s decision to become a butcher:
Patrice, of course, wrote a careful, well-thought-out comparative piece completely in line with the loving and thoughtful bride that has blessed me by sharing her life.
Now it's my turn. And I'm not nearly that nice.
I've spent a lot of my life dealing with a whole host of folks from all walks of life and I'm pretty good at reading people. So I'm going to give Mr. Anonymous a reading.
Sir (I'm assuming male from the manner and cadence of his brief post):
They say that brevity is the soul of wit. In your case "they" are wrong. Or perhaps they are right, but the definition of "soul" or "wit" needs amplification.
You seem to have Sir Hand Grenade all figured out. You've commented on, or inferred, his level of intelligence, educational achievements, social status, mental stability, people skills, and future earnings potential… and you've done all of that without ever once having seen or talked to him.
Well this seems like a fun game. So let me take a shot at it with you.
You are crude. I don't come to that decision based solely on the quality of your writing or the content of your message, although either of these would suffice. But the use of personal invective, flung at someone you do not know and who has never done you harm, is definitive. From this I must assume that either your family shares this trait, or more hopefully, they are in despair of your possession of it. In either case, and since you can tell someone's character by the company they keep, we can certainly posit that your friends and close associates must be equally mean and uncouth (assuming, of course, that you possess either friends or associates).
You place a high value on a college education. In point of fact, given that it's the be-all and end-all of your comment, you appear to hold it in higher regard than other human accomplishments and regard those without a college degree as somehow inferior. From this fact, as well as your disdain for the working class and your dislike of firearms, we can safely infer that you are both an elitist and a liberal (but I repeat myself). Further, we can assume you are both a toady and a sycophant since you appear to consider monetary worth and tangible assets as the most important factor in a man's value. From that it seems a fairly safe bet that you are also an atheist.
Finally, combining the inferences above with the general tone of your missive, I must inevitably conclude that you are an unhappy, lonely, bitter, and miserable excuse for a man; a witless, crude and insulting, uncouth elitist liberal whose greatest pleasure in life is toadying to wealthy snobs (who probably despise you for your all-too apparent weaknesses).
How'd I do?
Fortunately for you (and probably everyone who knows you) there is a cure. Drop to your knees and apologize. Oh, not necessarily to Sir Hand Grenade. He's a fine young man whose real worth is well known in our neck of the woods. There's not much you can do that would hurt him. No, you might want to make your apologies to God.
And, like this fine young man’s mother, I'll pray for you too.
____________________________________
With regard to the anonymous correspondent of Enola Gay’s son Master Hand Grenade and Hand Grenade’s decision to become a butcher:
Patrice, of course, wrote a careful, well-thought-out comparative piece completely in line with the loving and thoughtful bride that has blessed me by sharing her life.
Now it's my turn. And I'm not nearly that nice.
I've spent a lot of my life dealing with a whole host of folks from all walks of life and I'm pretty good at reading people. So I'm going to give Mr. Anonymous a reading.
Sir (I'm assuming male from the manner and cadence of his brief post):
They say that brevity is the soul of wit. In your case "they" are wrong. Or perhaps they are right, but the definition of "soul" or "wit" needs amplification.
You seem to have Sir Hand Grenade all figured out. You've commented on, or inferred, his level of intelligence, educational achievements, social status, mental stability, people skills, and future earnings potential… and you've done all of that without ever once having seen or talked to him.
Well this seems like a fun game. So let me take a shot at it with you.
You are crude. I don't come to that decision based solely on the quality of your writing or the content of your message, although either of these would suffice. But the use of personal invective, flung at someone you do not know and who has never done you harm, is definitive. From this I must assume that either your family shares this trait, or more hopefully, they are in despair of your possession of it. In either case, and since you can tell someone's character by the company they keep, we can certainly posit that your friends and close associates must be equally mean and uncouth (assuming, of course, that you possess either friends or associates).
You place a high value on a college education. In point of fact, given that it's the be-all and end-all of your comment, you appear to hold it in higher regard than other human accomplishments and regard those without a college degree as somehow inferior. From this fact, as well as your disdain for the working class and your dislike of firearms, we can safely infer that you are both an elitist and a liberal (but I repeat myself). Further, we can assume you are both a toady and a sycophant since you appear to consider monetary worth and tangible assets as the most important factor in a man's value. From that it seems a fairly safe bet that you are also an atheist.
Finally, combining the inferences above with the general tone of your missive, I must inevitably conclude that you are an unhappy, lonely, bitter, and miserable excuse for a man; a witless, crude and insulting, uncouth elitist liberal whose greatest pleasure in life is toadying to wealthy snobs (who probably despise you for your all-too apparent weaknesses).
How'd I do?
Fortunately for you (and probably everyone who knows you) there is a cure. Drop to your knees and apologize. Oh, not necessarily to Sir Hand Grenade. He's a fine young man whose real worth is well known in our neck of the woods. There's not much you can do that would hurt him. No, you might want to make your apologies to God.
And, like this fine young man’s mother, I'll pray for you too.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Useless degrees vs. practical skills
A couple of days ago, our friend and neighbor Enola Gay put up a blog post about her 17 year old son's ambition to become a butcher. As homesteaders who frequently call upon the services of butchers, I can think of no finer and more useful profession. This young man has a solid career path open to him which virtually guarantees employment no matter how dire the economy.
But someone, it seems, took exception to his path in life and wrote a comment on her blog post, to wit:
Why don't you get Mr. Dumb Ass, er, I mean, Mr. Hand Grenade into a college so that Mr. H.G. won't be yet another loser walking around armed waiting to go postal when the world, which he is not prepared for, overwhelms him and he realizes that he is a working class cog and will never get ahead or have anything on a butchers wages.
(Master Hand Grenade is Enola's nom de plume for her oldest son.)
The words were vile, of course, but Enola handled the snarker with her usual class and grace.
Now hold these thoughts in mind for a few moments while we switch to another scenario.
My husband brought to my attention a blog which mentioned a recent college graduate named Andria who has an “Honors BA in Social Justice and Peace Studies” and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Gender Studies.
And how are these lofty degrees serving her? She writes: "I have a honors BA and I’m defending my MA thesis in two weeks. I am also apply for jobs and I can only find stuff in the service industry. I applied for a Hotel Front Desk Clerk job today. My degrees mean NOTHING. I am at the end of my rope."
Andria may sneer at the service industry, but it begs the question: Where does she want to work? Or perhaps more pointedly, where does she EXPECT to work? Who hires Gender Studies majors?
I don't mean to be snarky or to denigrate certain areas of study; I genuinely want to know. Who hires Gender Studies majors?
It makes me wonder what on earth Andria was thinking when she decided to devote five or six years of her life and possibly acquire a heavy student loan debt in order to obtain degrees which are hard to utilize in the best of times but essentially become useless in a bad economy. Did she think through her career path ahead of time? Did she look into the number of paying jobs available to Social Justice, Peace Studies, and Gender Studies experts?
As Vox Day so cuttingly put it, "And she just figured this out NOW? She has a degree in 'Social Justice and Peace Studies.' She will soon have a second degree in 'Gender Studies.' She's very lucky the service industry will consider hiring anyone with a pulse, because any employer looking at those degrees has to knows she is a walking, talking, sexual harassment and/or discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen. In fact, a Gender Studies degree actually has negative value, given that credentialed feminists are considerably more likely to cause disruption in the workplace. It's bad enough to acquire garbage degrees in economic boom times. It's even worse to do so in the middle of a five-year depression."
This is harsh, yes, but I see his point. I don't know if I'd be inclined to hire her either.
All this makes Master Hand Grenade's choice to become a butcher seem wise, forward-thinking, and intelligent. Not incidentally, since I'm well acquainted with this young man's character, I'd hire him in a heartbeat for ANY job, including hotel front desk clerk.
For those who think Gender Studies majors are somehow morally superior to "working class cogs" like butchers, please check back in ten years and let's compare Master Hand Grenade's and Andria's career paths.
Something to think about for young people thinking about their futures. Think practical, folks. Think practical.
But someone, it seems, took exception to his path in life and wrote a comment on her blog post, to wit:
Why don't you get Mr. Dumb Ass, er, I mean, Mr. Hand Grenade into a college so that Mr. H.G. won't be yet another loser walking around armed waiting to go postal when the world, which he is not prepared for, overwhelms him and he realizes that he is a working class cog and will never get ahead or have anything on a butchers wages.
(Master Hand Grenade is Enola's nom de plume for her oldest son.)
The words were vile, of course, but Enola handled the snarker with her usual class and grace.
Now hold these thoughts in mind for a few moments while we switch to another scenario.
My husband brought to my attention a blog which mentioned a recent college graduate named Andria who has an “Honors BA in Social Justice and Peace Studies” and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Gender Studies.
And how are these lofty degrees serving her? She writes: "I have a honors BA and I’m defending my MA thesis in two weeks. I am also apply for jobs and I can only find stuff in the service industry. I applied for a Hotel Front Desk Clerk job today. My degrees mean NOTHING. I am at the end of my rope."
Andria may sneer at the service industry, but it begs the question: Where does she want to work? Or perhaps more pointedly, where does she EXPECT to work? Who hires Gender Studies majors?
I don't mean to be snarky or to denigrate certain areas of study; I genuinely want to know. Who hires Gender Studies majors?
It makes me wonder what on earth Andria was thinking when she decided to devote five or six years of her life and possibly acquire a heavy student loan debt in order to obtain degrees which are hard to utilize in the best of times but essentially become useless in a bad economy. Did she think through her career path ahead of time? Did she look into the number of paying jobs available to Social Justice, Peace Studies, and Gender Studies experts?
As Vox Day so cuttingly put it, "And she just figured this out NOW? She has a degree in 'Social Justice and Peace Studies.' She will soon have a second degree in 'Gender Studies.' She's very lucky the service industry will consider hiring anyone with a pulse, because any employer looking at those degrees has to knows she is a walking, talking, sexual harassment and/or discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen. In fact, a Gender Studies degree actually has negative value, given that credentialed feminists are considerably more likely to cause disruption in the workplace. It's bad enough to acquire garbage degrees in economic boom times. It's even worse to do so in the middle of a five-year depression."
This is harsh, yes, but I see his point. I don't know if I'd be inclined to hire her either.
All this makes Master Hand Grenade's choice to become a butcher seem wise, forward-thinking, and intelligent. Not incidentally, since I'm well acquainted with this young man's character, I'd hire him in a heartbeat for ANY job, including hotel front desk clerk.
For those who think Gender Studies majors are somehow morally superior to "working class cogs" like butchers, please check back in ten years and let's compare Master Hand Grenade's and Andria's career paths.
Something to think about for young people thinking about their futures. Think practical, folks. Think practical.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
The college-industrial complex
Here's an interesting article off Yahoo entitled Dear Class of ‘13: You’ve Been Scammed.
According to this writer, college costs three times as much (adjusted for inflation) as it did 30 years ago. "Consider this: You have just paid about three times as much for your degree as did someone graduating 30 years ago," writes author Brett Arends. "That’s in constant dollars -- in other words, after accounting for inflation. There is no evidence that you have received a degree three times as good. Some would wonder if you have received a degree even one times as good."
And this doesn't count dorms, food, apartment costs, etc. This is just the cost of teaching. The writer calls this the "College-Industrial Complex."
Our girls have been priced out of the college market. If we can't afford $10,000 in health insurance costs, we sure as heck can't afford $40,000 a year for college costs. And what's the alternative? Saddle our girls with anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 in student loan debt? What an awful way to start their adult lives.
Older Daughter's choice to attend nanny school is, we feel, sensible and practical. The cost is moderate and her chances of employment are superb. Younger Daughter is still trying to figure out what she wants to do, so we haven't had to face the issue of higher education for her yet.
"Some members of the College-Industrial Complex are now talking about a new solution to bring down costs," notes Arends. "They want to reduce, or eliminate, the amount spent on the actual teaching. Instead, students will watch online videos."
I see. So material you could get for free on YouTube is worth nothing, but material you see at home on your computer through a college for a mere $40,000/year is critical to an adult's earning potential. Got it.
I'm fully aware that a wide variety of fields require extensive higher education. I don't want my doctor learning his skills through YouTube videos. But what about other fields? Can a businessman learn business skills by going into business or working for a business, rather than earning a business degree? I don't know, but it sure seems like a possibility.
So dear readers, what are your thoughts? Are you in college or facing college options for your children? What is your experience on this issue? Is college worth it?
According to this writer, college costs three times as much (adjusted for inflation) as it did 30 years ago. "Consider this: You have just paid about three times as much for your degree as did someone graduating 30 years ago," writes author Brett Arends. "That’s in constant dollars -- in other words, after accounting for inflation. There is no evidence that you have received a degree three times as good. Some would wonder if you have received a degree even one times as good."
And this doesn't count dorms, food, apartment costs, etc. This is just the cost of teaching. The writer calls this the "College-Industrial Complex."
Our girls have been priced out of the college market. If we can't afford $10,000 in health insurance costs, we sure as heck can't afford $40,000 a year for college costs. And what's the alternative? Saddle our girls with anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 in student loan debt? What an awful way to start their adult lives.
Older Daughter's choice to attend nanny school is, we feel, sensible and practical. The cost is moderate and her chances of employment are superb. Younger Daughter is still trying to figure out what she wants to do, so we haven't had to face the issue of higher education for her yet.
"Some members of the College-Industrial Complex are now talking about a new solution to bring down costs," notes Arends. "They want to reduce, or eliminate, the amount spent on the actual teaching. Instead, students will watch online videos."
I see. So material you could get for free on YouTube is worth nothing, but material you see at home on your computer through a college for a mere $40,000/year is critical to an adult's earning potential. Got it.
I'm fully aware that a wide variety of fields require extensive higher education. I don't want my doctor learning his skills through YouTube videos. But what about other fields? Can a businessman learn business skills by going into business or working for a business, rather than earning a business degree? I don't know, but it sure seems like a possibility.
So dear readers, what are your thoughts? Are you in college or facing college options for your children? What is your experience on this issue? Is college worth it?
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