I know that's what the numbers they are presenting say, but it's not what the article implies. You simply cannot make a blanket statement about something with so many circumstantial variables in play based on averages applied across the board. In order for the information to be useful it must be broken down based on actual degrees pursued vs. their marketability in an actual career path. That, and student loans come with an opportunity cost. Averages hide too much actionable detail to be useful in this case. The article is painting the picture in black and white, and the necessary detail cannot be represented that way if it's intended to be meaningful to someone considering a college career.

I think, the question is better put, is college necessary for employment. The answer to that is, unfortunately, yes. College was never necessary for life.

The implication that going to a university is the only way to become knowledgeable? Sorry, but that is false. A person might have a degree, but still be empty-headed because they drank their way through most of it, did the bare minimum to get through their classes, and then promptly forgot everything. Another person could have dropped out of high school, and yet still be an expert in a field, simply because they had the drive to do the learning on their own. The two key traits needed to become knowledgeable are curiosity and diligence, and college will not give those to you if you do not already have them.

I wouldn't say necessary in all fields. Certainly necessary in some. Beneficial? Yes, absolutely, depending on the degree and the employment being pursued. This has been exacerbated by a job market that's recently been in decline. Again, though, just having some degree in something isn't always going to benefit you. Find out which degrees can actually help draw attention to your resume before you shell out thousands of dollars for it.

Unfortunately yes, if you want your life to entail getting a job with decent pay and benefits anytime in the near future.

In the grand scheme of things however it is a repulsive, bloated, expensive, self-serving, and bureaucratic system which ought to be destroyed and started over again from scratch.

I have a lot of opinions about the state of today's education systems.

I didn't say that it's required in order to become knowledgeable, nor that it guarantees knowledge (well, now that I think of it, I sort of implied that, but it was unintentional). It is, however, one possible path; as I did mention 'from a more intellectually-inclined mindset', the student in question would probably be paying attention.

Overall, I would say the knowledge gain depends on whether you're at college or in college--that is to say, are you there for the education, or are you there to get a degree? I mean, OK yeah, if you get an easy degree just so you have it, you probably haven't learned much. But if you're in, say, Engineering and Applied Sciences (generally pretty rigorous, I think), or studying something else rigorous like physics, math, etc, you're probably getting pretty knowledgeable along the way. And hey, what better way to become knowledgeable about software engineering than to take a Master's level class called 'Foundations of Software Engineering' (aside from experience, of course)?

I am not sure how true that is. I know people who work at George Lucas's company ILM that does computer generated graphics for movies like Star Wars and some of the Harry Potter movies. They have multiple masters degrees (fine arts and mathematics) and I am not sure how many people companies like that hire fresh out of high school. Talking with people in that industry, it sounds like most of the people places like ILM hire to do serious work have college degrees.

There are probably a few people with the innate talent, drive and organizational skills to get hired in positions like that without a degree, but many people are going to do better with some formal education to focus their talents.

Well, yeah, the engineering and business degrees are likely to earn more than a degree in literature. I don't think it takes a college degree to figure that out.


That is probably true to an extent, but I think, at least where I live, it was easier to find a high paying manufacturing job that required no particular skill or training 40 years ago. Most of the plants and industries that once provided such jobs are no longer in existance, and the few that remain don't pay what they once did. The communities economic development plan has conceeded that the future is in service jobs and high tech, not manufacturing. And many of those benefit by educations and training.

Sure, but that's not crux of my issue with that article. The article is implying that people should get a degree in something because they'll earn more and the difference will make up for the price of their education. In many cases this is very, very true, and in others it's not true at all. Lumping the situations together sends the wrong message, IMO.

Earning potential in a lot of fields depends more on socialization skills and connections and intangible things like whether you played college sports (and therefore can relate to others who did) than how good you are at your studies. I once went on a ski trip with a bunch of business people, including the head of one of the largest and most successful commercial real estate firms operating in a metropolitan area of about a million and a half people. So, the guy knew his stuff and was pretty wealthy.

I remember what he said. "If you want to be a successful commercial broker, don't be an "A" student. I would never hire an "A" student. I'd much rather hire a "B" or "C" student that played college ball."

One of the things not mentioned so far in this thread that you learn in college is socialization skills and connections that can help later in life.

Katherine Peralta depends on twitter for her source of news. She's not very insightful, nor has much perspective. "It's 83 degrees (Fahrenheit) with 40% humidity, it's like a moist oven."

And that is what it boils down to: Getting the best education does not guarantee a job, or even a career since companies are private (non-government) establishments. And if you did get the job, whose to say it will be around until your retire (thus making a career from it)? The company could be swimming in gold, but the owner could just say one day, "I'm not interested in running this company anymore. So I am going to sell this business (piece by piece) and get as much money for myself before laying everybody off."

I certainly wouldn't dispute any of that (except arbitrarily avoiding people that got good grades...that's a bit ignorant). I have a few long-time friends that are the type of people you're talking about (extremely successful business owners and executives in large corporations). Even in technical fields the ability to connect and communicate effectively can be really important...especially if you want to lead.

That said, this contributes to the point that I was trying to make about the article. To imply that getting any old college degree means that you'll earn more is a silly (and oftentimes completely false) generalization.