The myth of the great value of a college degree is fading rapidly as the cost of school loans becomes more onerous, especially for degrees in philosophy, political science, and sociology.
Meanwhile jobs go begging across America for medical instrument sterilizers and aircraft repainters. Such jobs without a degree will pay $60,000 to $80,000. Sociology will start you at $45,000 if you can find a job.
A toy designer with a knack for tinkering might make $100,000 and bring joy to thousands of kids. A private chef can earn up to $140,000 without a degree if they can design appealing meals and satisfy the taste of a picky wealthy client.
For the younger person with a love of computers and endless patience and focus, an ethical hacker can make $200,000 a year by finding the weaknesses in cyber security systems. Not my cup of tea, but certainly in demand these days.
All kinds of mechanics are in huge demand. Elevator mechanics, electric generator installers and mechanics, dishwasher repair people, all do well and are hard to get.
Screw machine repair and set up people are always sought. The person who can make an Acme or a Davenport produce 50% more parts per week could make more than the owner of the shop who hires him or her.
The value of a degree in dollars or Euros is not the only reason to go to college if you or your family can afford it. Exchange of ideas can be immensely fulfilling and broadening. For the technically oriented, a degree can make you desirable in the workplace and help you get your first job more easily.
The “elite schools” can smooth the way to Wall Street or prestigious law firms if those are the kinds of exhausting but lucrative jobs you seek.
Harvard, Princeton, or Stanford are a shortcut for meeting people “like you,” if that’s your goal.
Fifty years ago, college was a wonderful opportunity to meet a future spouse. I met my wife when she was 17 and I was 24 during the peak of the Vietnam War. I had just spent 6 months at Fort Jackson, South Carolina after enlisting in the Illinois National Guard, attempting to avoid getting killed by the Viet Cong. I was ripe to fall in love at the University of Michigan because I no longer figured I would get shot in Vietnam.
My impression is that marriage is less of a reason to go to college today, but it still may be the best opportunity to meet that special person, as community and religion fade in importance out in the “real world.”
If you want to send your children to college, pay their tuition and room and board, or saddle them with $150 to $200,000 in debt, understand what you are buying.
Academia is filled with teachers who cherish their tenure and may inculcate your kids with the progressive trope of the day. Jobs will be hard to come by even with a four-year degree.
If they want to make money they should consider plumbing not philosophy. But if they are into ideas and want to avail themselves of a unique opportunity to expand their minds, there is no better place. If they know who they are and are hugely lucky, they may even find a mate.
And if a wonderful football weekend in October is worth 50 grand, there is no place like campus.
Question: If you could go back to college, would you? And if so, what would you study?
5 Comments
“My education was interrupted only by my schooling” -Winston Churchill
I resisted as much as possible…..I was born with a gift of mechanical ability.
My teachers looked down on me and said I ‘didn’t apply myself’, truth is, they
were just lazy and slow learning students interfered with their smoke breaks.
School was boring and meaningless, I had a world of mechanical marvels to
discover and be involved in. Building model airplanes at age 8, (as one example)
I learned much more on my own than in school.
1965 was a good year for a US male high school graduate to go on to college, even if they were not ready for the “learning” experience. After eventually flunking out in 1967, being drafted in 1968, returning from Vietnam in 1970, I returned to school for an AA degree in Automotive Technology. I had so much fun working on my own cars, I decided not to do it for a living. Kept going, (thank You GI Bill,) to four-year degree. And that led to working in various defense industry technical jobs as a career. It taught me many manufacturing and support skills, and enabled a life-long (so far) automotive hobby, allowing me to dabble in machining/welding design and fab. But, I suggest that most 17-year-olds need more “seasoning”, before making life-long decisions. Sometimes college is the best place for that, sometimes not!
Sometimes a summer job in high school or college can provide more life skills than college. But the value of meeting people “not like you” can be invaluable in school if you are open to it. Unlikely to find that in high school.
I studied business and got a job in an office and found out it wasn’t for me. Paid my way through engineering as a maintenance man and learned that company owners don’t believe in the value of great maintenance men. They pay more to a purchasing agents and accountants than the guys who hold the whole plant together. I started a shop building packaging machinery, which created a steady stream of down machines and opportunities to repair and build machinery, which is what I liked to do. After 35 years of it, I could write a book about the journey, which I might do if I make it to actual retirement.
I sold the business last year, and am now trying to wind down form 110 MPH to retirement. It’ll happen, but it takes a conscious effort to not keep picking up the phone and calling customers that you know need help and then getting right in the middle of it. That’s for someone else to agonize over now.
I would never trade the education I got, because without the engineering, I was more cobbling machines together and changing parts than actually designing them. Ability to analyze is real power, and only an engineering degree is going to teach you to actually do it. I wouldn’t trade the business degree either. Without that, I could have never grown to a 6 million a year business with 20 employees. You cant learn break even or overhead analysis on the street.
Go back? Probably not as a student. But, I was recently at 2 local colleges with very solid trade programs, and if I manage to get bored building cars and boats, I might see if they can use any of my skills getting the next generation to follow a similar path and create small businesses that help companies that still don’t see value in a solid maintenance program.
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