Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk
Because not everyone is a hyper-achiever. Because a lot of people are happy making enough money to buy a modest home and take a vacation to the Jersey shore or camping in a national park for a week every summer. Because not everyone wants to continue their education--even if they are "capable"--and is drawn to a trade or career which doesn't require a college degree or only requires a two year degree. If everyone became a doctor or lawyer, it would seem we would have a pretty serious problem, wouldn't it?
Money isn't everything, and it's unfortunate that you are unable to understand that some people are happy with their lower paying job that gives them enough time to go fishing after work, doesn't require them to work evenings and weekends, and allows them to leave their work at work.
As I said in another thread, I didn't go wright to college, I took a few years off and then went p/t when I did start. Not everyone knows what they want to do with their life at the age of 18.
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At 18 most students aren't prepared to make the decisions that should be made before they attend the first day of class.
I don't totally buy into the idea it's college that it that made the wages possible. More than college it's smarts (smarter people tend to go to college but I have met a pile of really stupid morons with degrees) but mostly it is perseverance coupled with a strong work ethic.
I see the point but college is not the only way economic success can be achieved. I am convinced that even today that with hard work, diligence and perseverance the American dream can still be achieved that does not necessarily require college.
The lazy and stupid will never achieve and just because one has a college degree doesn't mean they're not stupid.
I went to school in the 50's, graduated in the 60's and I am serious in my claim many college degrees today are equivalent to the college prep high school diploma of 1965. I'm not kidding either they've dumbed college down to the point nearly any moron can go all to attract more sheep to the slaughter.
A few days ago we hired a high school graduate as an inspector but what separated him from the herd is he had a nationally recognized certification that takes a minimum of five years to obtain and if I told you what the demand was right now most wouldn't believe me.
He's a married guy with kids and wanting to live closer to his family which required moving several states distant. What he did was (and this is in the order he did it) gave notice he was quitting, sold his house, purchased a new house where he wanted to live, moved his family over 500 miles and only then did he start looking for employment.
Sounds gutsy, don't it?
Not really.
He came in cold turkey, asked about a job and in 48 hours we offered a job for $28.50 ($59,280/yr) with full benefits including a company vehicle. He had been looking for two weeks and in that two week period had received five other solid job offers the lowest being $25/hr and up. He knew it wasn't gutsy, that he wouldn't be putting his family at risk because he had a marketable skill set It is very marketable and we hired him right away damn well knowing if we didn't someone else would.
And yet we have tens of thousands graduating every year with that BA in social studies, journalism or humanitarian arts which in my opinion are all but worthless.
I could hang a national ad for a certified inspector paying $20/hr and even with full benefits I doubt I would get a single qualified applicant. For an inspector you would have to offer $23 to $25 an hour to have any hope of attracting anyone qualified.
A typical inspection runs between $150 to $250. Without busting ass an inspector can conduct four per day working by himself. There isn't any material involved and the only expense is a vehicle, half a tank of gas/day, pay and benefits. What's his worth to a company? Of course he is, I'll pay anyone $250/day that can gross net (after his wages) $500+/day on a consistent basis.
But if I put an ad up $16/hr with full benefits for a BA in social work, journalism or art studies (whatever that is) I'd be half terrified of the mile long line of applicants winding around several blocks waiting to apply.
I am a high school graduate with a certification that took a lot of work to obtain. Looking at the pay scales I make more than all of the Masters degree holder with the exception of 44 to 55 year old group. They have me beat by less than $2k per year but I am nearing retirement, I've slowed up and not earning what I used to. Ten years ago I was making six figures but I don't need to work that hard anymore so I don't.
The problem with to much of the college business (it is a business) is they've been too successful in selling the idea the only way to be successful is go to college. To many peddling worthless degrees work hard at perpetuating the myth because their livelihoods rely on it.
Anyone want to tell me what a degree in Black or Womyn's Studies is worth outside Academia? Exactly.
To many fresh out of college are like a herd of cows following each other around like cows are prone to do in the pens outside the slaughter house. I know I said this twice but it is dead on in the way I picture it.
College is no guarantee of success in life but to many have bought into the idea it is the only way.
Meanwhile thousands of jobs paying above $50k, some well above $50k, requiring certification in testing highway concrete are left unfilled because qualified people are not available. Do a Google search for NICET highway testing jobs and then read
National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia With certification you could get a good paying job in two to three days once you started looking. By good pay I am talking about $50k and up with $55k to $75k being normal with higher in metro areas. It is that tight.
I have a similar certification and it is not easy to get. Takes an absolute minimum of 10 years (there is talk about raising it to 15) and in many respects I would consider many four year degrees as being easier to obtain. But I am lucky, at my level there's less than 1,100 of us in the United States (averaging less than 22 per state) so when someone is looking to hire it isn't like their prospective labor pool overfloweth with qualified applicants. You'd also have nobody under the age of 30 to 35.
Just walking in off the street for an interview? My guess is I would get an interview 75% of the time.
The first time I read about mass interviews, I gather this is where they interview a cluster of people at the same time, was here and it made me laugh. With the exception of Las Vegas and Phoenix (Las Vegas is like an atomic bomb went off) you couldn't get three of me to show up for a cluster interview unless you paid them. Hard for me to imagine something so insulting. Give me $500 and I'll show up at your little party as long as I don't have to travel.
Seems one of the catchwords often used is "network" or "networking". Whenever I run across it in another forum networking seems to be getting someone to sponsor a job at Starbucks for $10 an hour. I've never heard of networking in our industry because no need to... you either have the certification or you don't and if you are interviewing someone with the certification the interviewers are always nice because he might be the only qualified applicant they get.
In my opinion the wage chart above doesn't have so much to do with whether you have a college degree so much if you're stupid or lazy.
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