Politics Thread

[bjf123]

Interesting take by Bill Maher on “free college”.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_x5SeX...ature=youtu.be


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[GoMuskies]

Interesting take by Bill Maher on “free college”.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_x5SeX...ature=youtu.be

He's not wrong. College is a complete racket. I'm obviously a fan of Xavier, but there's a less than 0.0% chance I'd ever pay full freight to send one of my kids there. Maybe 25% of sticker. Maybe. For most private colleges it would be more like 10%.

Yeah, just looked it up. $56k/year. LOL, no.

[Xville]

He's pretty spot on. "higher" education is an industry begging to be disrupted, and whoever can do it correctly is going to insanely rich.

My kids are young, so this isn't something I necessarily have to worry about yet, but I can imagine there is going to be some real discussion when it comes time to decide if college is worth it for either of my kids. If nothing changes in 13 years, college will probably be in the neighborhood of 100k a year.

I do think living on your own, out of mom and dad's reach is important and probably the most valuable life lesson that college can give, thats not worth the price of admission.

Another rambling thought...you can make damn good money learning a trade, taking an apprenticeship right out of high school, and either working your way up in a speciality trade company, or going out on your own. Don't need college for that either, maybe just some classes here and there on how to run a business.

[boozehound]

He's not wrong. College is a complete racket. I'm obviously a fan of Xavier, but there's a less than 0.0% chance I'd ever pay full freight to send one of my kids there. Maybe 25% of sticker. Maybe. For most private colleges it would be more like 10%.

Yeah, just looked it up. $56k/year. LOL, no.

Yep. You still need the degree to get most good jobs though, so you are kind of screwed. It's the definition of a racket.

There are cost effective ways of doing it, but it requires some effort. I have a buddy who is now a Director at a big local company in his early 40's, so fairly successful. He want to community college for 2 years and then got in the door as a Coop. They then paid for his undergrad degree, and his MBA. He obviously worked very hard and had to go to school nights and weekends while working full time and starting a family, but now he has a great job and no student loan debt.

His story is very practical, and kind of the opposite of paying $50K per year to go to a Private School to pursue a degree in English Literature or Marketing or something.

[Xville]

Yep. You still need the degree to get most good jobs though, so you are kind of screwed. It's the definition of a racket.

There are cost effective ways of doing it, but it requires some effort. I have a buddy who is now a Director at a big local company in his early 40's, so fairly successful. He want to community college for 2 years and then got in the door as a Coop. They then paid for his undergrad degree, and his MBA. He obviously worked very hard and had to go to school nights and weekends while working full time and starting a family, but now he has a great job and no student loan debt.

His story is very practical, and kind of the opposite of paying $50K per year to go to a Private School to pursue a degree in English Literature or Marketing or something.

If you limit one's choices to just white collar jobs, then you are correct. However, what is sorely misunderstood is that there are millions upon millions of jobs available that don't require a degree and pay well. Specialty Trade etc I think are only going to become more and more important and higher paying jobs because quite frankly, a lot of people either don't know how to do things, or just simply don't have the time.

Hell, there is a handyman that me and my neighbors use quite frequently and it is simply because we don't have the time and in some cases the knowledge to do certain things, and the guy is booked up for two months currently.

If you have some common sense, take a few business courses and work hard, you don't need a degree to succeed....now of course if you want to do the desk job or doctor, lawyer or whatever white collar job, yeah you're screwed.

[Smails]

If you have some common sense, take a few business courses and work hard, you don't need a degree to succeed....now of course if you want to do the desk job or doctor, lawyer or whatever white collar job, yeah you're screwed.

This. One of my best friends is a cabinet maker/finish carpenter. He started framing houses out of high school and then became a carpenter. He works from 7:00AM-2:30PM 5 days a week and has cleared 130+ for the last 5 years and he's on track to make much more than that this year. He's booked out through January of 22'.

There has never been a better time for parents to take a good hard look at whether their kid really needs college to carve out a very nice living. Unfortunately, so many parents would rather tell their friends that Johnny is studying sociology at Wittneberg versus letting them know he's in a welding program.

[hoopster68]

Be cautious when extolling the positives of a "blue collar" job. Those same jobs are notoriously dangerous, with disabilities suffered by many. Secondly, some of those same jobs will likely be replaced by robots in the v. near future (autoworkers, delivery drivers, truckers as examples). OTOH, the community college experience as described above should be promoted for more HS students. "Work experience" programs benefit both the student and employer. Finally, colleges are going to be reduced in number: those without a strong mission, significant endowment, and a series of "niche" academic programs will be shuttered or forced to "merge."

[GoMuskies]

Our President and COO surely has a net worth in the 9 figures and went to Emporia State. Tuition (which I'm sure he didn't pay as a football player): $6,797.

[boozehound]

If you limit one's choices to just white collar jobs, then you are correct. However, what is sorely misunderstood is that there are millions upon millions of jobs available that don't require a degree and pay well. Specialty Trade etc I think are only going to become more and more important and higher paying jobs because quite frankly, a lot of people either don't know how to do things, or just simply don't have the time.

Hell, there is a handyman that me and my neighbors use quite frequently and it is simply because we don't have the time and in some cases the knowledge to do certain things, and the guy is booked up for two months currently.

If you have some common sense, take a few business courses and work hard, you don't need a degree to succeed....now of course if you want to do the desk job or doctor, lawyer or whatever white collar job, yeah you're screwed.

I totally agree. I was thinking more white collar jobs. Trades can provide a great middle class living for many people.

We also need to do a better job as a country of incentivizing kids to go into something that they have an aptitude for that will also allow them to earn the kind of living they want to earn, while also matching skills to the future needs of the economy. For example we keep having to import computer programmers from India and Asia because there aren't enough Americans who want to study it.

The absolute worst thing a kid can do, IMHO, is pursue a degree in Sociology or some other field with a low placement rate. Unless their parents are rich, then I guess they can do whatever the hell they want with their money.

Any 'free college' type of programs should be grants / rebates matched to America's economic needs. Not free college to pursue a History degree while smoking tons of weed. I literally know a guy who did just that, and now works landscaping with a 4 year degree.

[noteggs]

Wonder if this same study asked Lefties if they believe the riots of last summer are mostly peaceful...

Check your premise.

Shockingly (not really) they didn’t ask about the riots, sorry peaceful protests. However, a lot of negative Trump stuff. Yeah love the premise they went off, “are conservatives more prone to political misperceptions?” Then used the following methodology:

True statements were/had:
78 Democrat slant/benefit
11 Republican slant/benefit

False statements were/had:
28 Democrat slant
55 Republican slant

Not real hard to predict the results. Actually, I would have been stunned if they came up with a different outcome based off their methodology. I am sure if you flipped flopped the true statements slants, good chance results would as well. Nothing like making sure you find answers to something you already think, while trying to establish it as fact!

Well, guess I’m not completely surprised because study was funded by Facebook and used a social media monitoring system to pick their stories. We know all too well how reliable that system has become. Maybe next time they could do a study on social media suppressing and censuring conservative views that happen to be true. One big problem, they would lose their financial sponsors.

Edit: It is been reported their next study is going to be about misperceptions about covid. Can’t make this stuff up. Now that will be a must read!