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Further evidence of the decline of the American middle-class in USA TODAY:
Jerry Jones
Jerry Jones
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Nah, that's not the point - free, state founded universities here definatelly do not accept everyone (typically there's much more candidates than places). The point was more like - yeah, we have free education system (practically up to any level), but so what, education doesn't give prosperity (even if you have a degree without a debt/without having to pay for education). BTW Jerrold, about Irish example - here's somehow opposite still, many qualified people are heavily underpayed, to the point that many of them currently leaves/threatens to leave to the "old" EU.Originally posted by Dr MordridMe either given the plethora of what my dad called 'college educated idiots'
Another problem is the uncanny ability of an educational system to absorb funding with little imorovement in classroom results over time, if any. IMO a guarantee of massive numbers of new students, and the funding that comes with them, would just give us more of the same inefficiencies we see now and little net gain.
You also have to understand that ~20-25% or more of kids, teens & adults are not significantly educable; 8-10% are flat out mentally ill and the remainder is otherwise learning impaired. Not to say that some of these can't 'make it', but most not at college level. Guaranteeing this group a college education is a waste of scarce resources.
Trade schools etc., sure....but college? Pffftttt....
Before reacting to that statement consider that my wife is a teacher of ~30 years, who spent more than half of that in special education, and she feels the same....if not more so.
Dr. Mordrid
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Let me put it this way.
A person who graduates from college debt-free faces far better odds of being a prosperous individual than a person who graduates from college with a massive debt load.
In other words, do you know a single college graduate who would be foolish enough to say "Load me up with more debt, Baby?"
If you had two choices:
1. Graduate from college with $0 debt.
2. Graduate from college with $80,000 to $120,000 of debt.
Which option would you choose?
One has to wonder why the United States barely manages to squeeze into the top 15 nations ranked according to quality of life as compiled by "The Economist" -- here in PDF format:
1. Ireland
2. Switzerland
3. Norway
4. Luxembourg
5. Sweden
6. Australia
7. Iceland
8. Italy
9. Denmark
10. Spain
11. Singapore
12. Finland
13. United States
With all of its wealth, the United States -- pitifully, in my view -- continues its slide.
Now look at "executive compensation."
According to the PBS "Now" Web site...
..."The Economist" has done an analysis of executive pay throughout the world.
Executive compensation in the United States is so much higher than executive compensation in other industrialized nations that it's shocking:
Japan: 11 times (the factory workers' pay)
Germany: 12 times
France: 15 times
Italy: 20 times
Canada: 20 times
South Africa: 21 times
Britain: 22 times
Hong Kong: 41 times
Mexico: 47 times
Venezuela: 50 times
What about the United States?
United States: 475 times
So -- hey -- you want to be rich?
Then become part of the exclusive "executive" class in the United States.
Of course, that's easier said than done.
You'll find that membership in that posh club is limited to only a tiny minority -- and chances are good you'll never be accepted no matter how much education you might have.
Now let's look at the how the World Health Organization ranks the health care systems of the nations of the world:
Where does the United States rank?
A shameful 37th.
In the United States, one of the leading enemies of prosperity is the cost of health care.
If one is graduating from college with thousands and thousands of dollars in student loan debt, the graduate may find a job that still offers health insurance (although more and more companies are cutting health insurance benefits).
However, many United States health insurance policies lack sufficient coverage to keep citizens from *still* being socked with devastating medical costs, one of the three leading causes of personal bankruptcy in the United States (along with job loss and divorce).
With no college debt -- again -- a citizen stands a better chance of being able to afford *extra* insurance *or* sock away savings in a health savings account to cover the gaps that health insurance doesn't adequately cover.
But with huge debt loads, students here in the U.S. -- just ask them -- are barely surviving.
In fact, I know many who are already headed toward bankruptcy and they will never be participants in the so-called "ownership society."
Again, I think we're shooting ourselves in the foot with the current system.
Does education -- on average -- help pave the way toward prosperity?
Ask the State of Maine:
David Lazarus wrote an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle about education in the United States.
"The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a study showing that the United States is losing ground in education as other nations post bigger gains in academic achievement and school graduations."
Lazarus pointed out that...
- Among adults ages 25 to 34, the United States now ranks ninth among industrialized nations for the share of its population with at least a high school education (South Korea is No. 1).
- The United States ranks eighth for the percentage of citizens who hold a college degree (Canada tops the list).
- The OECD found that 15-year-olds in this country are below average compared with their peers in Europe and Asia when it comes to applying math skills to real-life situations.
Personally, I think we need a free university system -- now -- to avoid losing what competitive strengths we have left and I see it as a national defense issue.
Jerry Jones
Last edited by Jerry Jones; 12 July 2006, 20:18.Comment
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By the way, there's a campaign for "free higher education" that's starting to gain steam in the United States.
The campaign Web site is here:
Jerry Jones
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