Comments on: What to do about college students who aren’t prepared to do the work?

By: huxley

huxley — Sun, 06 Aug 2017 10:23:36 +0000

J.J.: I celebrate my bit of blue-collar heritage, but I was not good at it.

After a couple years, Jerry, the shop steward, took me aside and said, you’re a good worker and we like you, but you are really a white-collar guy.

Jerry was right. Eventually I segued into computer programming and became a white-collar guy in a cubicle getting paid good bucks plus stock options.

But I never forgot the guys back in the shop.

By: Henry

Henry — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 20:56:29 +0000

College is a BUSINESS, the easier to complete your degree, the more students will attend = MORE FUNDING

By: J.J.

J.J. — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 18:32:58 +0000

Back in the days of the draft (1942 – 1973,) many young men who couldn’t make it in college joined the military where they were given aptitude tests (especially in the Navy and Air Force). Then they were trained in the area of their aptitude. That training often became the basis for a civilian career. It was vocational training on a mass scale. Today’s volunteer military is not turning out the numbers they did during the draft days. Many young people have no idea what their aptitudes are and what jobs they might be well suited for. Most high schools are not providing them with much help in prepping them for a life of productive work.

During WWII my grandfather, an electrician, (the only electrician in our area) had so much work he
had to turn down jobs. He used me as his assistant during the summers. I learned to do electric wiring, but I also learned that I wasn’t especially skilled at it. My poor grandfather was dismayed that his grandson wasn’t a natural born craftsman. Fortunately, I learned at an early age that I didn’t have the aptitude for being an electrician or carpenter. One factor that directed me toward going to college – the first in my family to do so.

By: Matt_SE

Matt_SE — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 17:42:56 +0000

The long-term solution to this is to fix the source of all the mis-eduction: the K-12 system.
The good part is that we don’t have to confront the bureaucracy head-on to win. All we have to do is make alternatives available. Vouchers.

By: GRA

GRA — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 16:29:08 +0000

This stuff showed up in the public high school near me. I had one senior who was strong in math and science confess that in his AP and honors classes all he had to do was show up to receive full points. Of course not literally, but the impression was that from January till graduation, since college apps were done, no serious work and grind were needed – the students knew this and the teachers were okay with it. It was coastin’ time. This school was give a “silver medal” for academic excellence by USNews, granted they were ranked 70 out of hundreds in the state so they were average at best.

At my non-public high school, no more than a 20 minute drive away if traffic allowed, it was a marathon from the first day of freshman year to the very last day of your senior year. Even if you were guaranteed an A the mentality was sure, ease a bit, but you’ll be thrown a bucket of ice cold water during the last semester so be on your toes.

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 10:25:10 +0000

I left college for complicated reasons but among them, I didn’t see much future with an English degree. (I fancied myself a poet in those days.)

As somebody who actually got an English degree, I say well played. If I’d known then what I know now, I either would have gone into the trades or gone into STEM. Currently looking into the former.
It wasn’t until a couple years after I got out of school that I figured out sitting in front of a computer all day isn’t all that intellectually stimulating. Who knew working with your hands could be more mentally rewarding than manipulating symbols?

Well, Heidegger apparently. https://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcraft-Inquiry-Value/dp/0143117467

By: huxley

huxley — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 10:02:06 +0000

Which is to say there is nothing wrong with the trades and quite a lot right about them.

They are not going outsource work to plumbers in India.

From what I read you can still find good jobs and make good money if you pick your skill well and do the right training.

I left college for complicated reasons but among them, I didn’t see much future with an English degree. (I fancied myself a poet in those days.)

By: huxley

huxley — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 09:49:08 +0000

IMO there is a fourth solution; direct these students toward the trades.

T: Sounds good to me.

A few years ago I read an article on non-STEM grads who decided to become plumbers and electricians rather than try to find a white-collar job or double down and go to grad school or work as baristas.

I did a tour as a blue-collar electronics tech in the IBEW. It did me a world of good to learn I could support myself in the real world doing real work. It opened my eyes to that big slice of workaday Americans doing their jobs and raising families.

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 05:15:57 +0000

The companies pushing most for the H-1B (hi-tech) visas are currently forcing their American employees to train their foreign replacements as a condition of severance benefits, because the Americans are being fired.
When it reaches the point that none of the college graduates even in STEM fields actually learn anything, they will then cry, “See, we told you there were jobs Americans couldn’t do.”

Collusion with Russia over an election isn’t even in the running with this corruption.

By: J.J.

J.J. — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 02:38:13 +0000

Back in the day (1950s) our state university took all in state high school graduates with a C average. During freshman orientation week all were given an English and math test. Those who didn’t pass were assigned to “dumbbell” English/math or both. Those who couldn’t pass the test by the end of their freshman year were kicked out. Those who could not maintain an overall GPA of C for the freshman year were also sent packing. Grades and achievement meant something then. With the PC environment that will never happen. Just another reason America is becoming another banana republic. It takes educated, engaged citizens to maintain a nation that leads the world. All major civilizations have eventually fallen on hard times. That’s where the USA is headed.