What is FREAKING you out today??

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Ft3, that strategy is exactly what (some of ?) the "for profit" colleges have used,
and the Feds are starting to do something about it...
Maybe the Feds are going to make such colleges ineligible for the individual grants and/or guaranteed loans.

Such colleges are fighting back with ads on TV are running now.
Once you see one, the spiel makes more sense.

Ha! Yep, we posted nearly the same thing. You are correct, lamp. I cannot, ethically, speak for or against proprietary schools...but this issue is a big deal on the scene.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

That's too bad.

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Hope springs eternal...

You silly boys.

[footfootfoot]

I didn't realize there were any not for porfit colleges left. Even the SUNY system was run by MBAs. The biggest problem I saw/see was/is the use of adjuncts. An adjunct is only hired if the class is filled. The class is only filled if the adjunct is popular or an easy grader. To assure a contract the adjunct becomes sensitive to the demands of the students and not their educational needs.

One of the colleges I taught at still had students requesting a teacher who had been fired years before they (the requesting student) had even matriculated (such was her renown for an easy A)

I have a very dire view of education unless you are phenomenally wealthy. For most of us, you can get a better and more comprehensive education at the library and OTJ.

[Shawnee123]

Well duh, just ask Good Will Hunting.

You are lucky to be smart enough and in a decent position to make the distinction. Unfortunately, that is not the norm in the world around us.

Though I know you were being facetious, there are private colleges (your Harvards and your University of Daytons), proprietary (or for-profit) schools (a lot of the commercials you see) and public institutions (your Ohio States and your community colleges.)

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

You silly boys.

Shawnee's got all serious.

[skysidhe]

Interestingly good info s.

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

I have a very dire view of education unless you are phenomenally wealthy. For most of us, you can get a better and more comprehensive education at the library and OTJ.

My son would agree with the bolded statement. I think he thinks he was born to the wrong family.

Because of the special education system that didn't address his intellectual level, he managed to kick the system to the curb at 18 and passed his high school equivalency in the 97th percentile in the whole state. ( self taught) He could have gone to a state school, expenses paid, but was not ready at the time. Now he is getting his transfer degree but is wonder-struk at how many people my age are at a community college.

For myself, I had one term of Access and Excel which are valuable. I want more of the valuable and not pre-( this or that class) or basic internet explorer. I already know how to surf the web and it was a waste of money.

As far as OJT goes, these days, you need a piece of paper that says you have the right/skills to sit at a computer terminal, and that is worth more than it's weight in gold

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

Shawnee's got all serious.

I think she gets that way when she talks about work.

[footfootfoot]

True about sitting at a computer terminal. Terminal is apt.

[skysidhe]

haha yep, but after a lifetime working with children and adults with disabilities and raising a child with autism, I will welcome having an inanimate object in front of me.

[footfootfoot]

You've earned your rest.

[Shawnee123]

More people need the luxury of poo-pooing jobs they find distasteful. You know, like TSA agents.

Most of us are just doing what we have to do to make it in the world, instead of sitting around maligning education and mind-numbing jobs.

I'd love to save the world, I just can't afford to...so I save a little person every once in a while. It's fulfilling. I could wax poetic about justice and truth and the deeper meaning of my existence...but that's a bit of hand-wringing and very little action...which amounts to nothing.

No education is wasted. I wouldn't trade my education for anything: even the classes many might find useless, like art history and literature and archery, etc. It's all still up here in my tiny little brain, and I read and learn more every single day. I consider myself an exceptionally well-rounded human being, terminal job and all.

[skysidhe]

In this economy, I will take just about anything.
I wonder if the younger kids with Administrative degrees will cut me out for a job.
I think I'll probably end up being a house cleaner at an old folks home just to have full time work. I worry, I'll get old and grey and won't care there are stains on my smock and cookie crumbs in my pockets.

I cannot lift people off beds anymore, and I don't want to change diapers or wipe poop. I don't want my hair pulled or body smacked, or even the runny nosed hugs. I need something to take me into old age, so being an office personal seems like the way to go. Not so much a rest, but a way to retire gracefully and in one piece.

I don't have the money or the time to choose something amazing or worthy of awe.

[TheMercenary]

What my oldest child's school (for the first 2 years) did was not let her take the loan out, WE had to take out the loan. And we are still paying.... and paying... and paying....

That's what I get for trying to make her happy.

[footfootfoot]

I don't know about poo pooing jobs. There are jobs I would find it difficult to do, but not because they are beneath me. I've already done plenty of jobs that are beneath me. And the problem with TSA is the idea of the necessity of that job, and the fact that the drivers of the economic engine have created an economy where people are put in a position where they have to take such jobs, jobs that defy reason.

What would be wrong with a world where people could "follow their bliss"? In your list of possibly useless classes, Art History, Literature, Archery, I would say perhaps those are some of the only useful classes to take. Not that they would be of interest to some company whose values and morals were shaped by MBAs, but useful to leading a more fulfilling and satisfying or significant life.

Running any business the way an MBA would is like thinking delicious, wholesome cooking is merely serving protein and carbohydrates. It's the idea that if a match is good at lighting a fire, then a flamethrower has to be better.

There's no subtlety.

As far as the value of an education, I suppose it depends on what you are learning. I spent one semester at Syracuse University ($18,000) and while I have to say I had some very good foundation art classes there, I don't think it was worth $18,000. One of the soon to be graduates in the photo program ($36,000 x4) said to me she was looking forward to experimenting with filters to see how they would affect her photos. Another senior was unsure of what a guide number was for his flash. These are both things they should have mastered by the end of their first year, not things that they'd never tried before.

I had already had several years of professional experience as a photographer (self taught) before I ever went to school. School was not able to teach me anything about photography, I switched majors and schools after SU nad went to a state school and finished my degree for less that half of the cost of that first semester.

I learned a few things, but nothing that I couldn't have learned in a book, met a lot of people, but no one I couldn't have met out and about in life. The one thing that school had was access to facilities, but then as a begining photo assistant one of the perks of that job was usually access to the studio during off hours and a film allowance (back in the day) One week in any busy studio had more instruction than an entire semester at a college.

The first studio I worked at I started by sweeping floors, in a little while it was evident that I could be put to better use and was. I realize not every job allows for that type of trajectory, and for the ones that don't I guess school is a requirement.

And in the case of 4 years at SU, $144,000 would pay for a hell of a photo studio and an ass load of film.

[skysidhe]

Foot.That is the longest post I have ever read of yours.

I wish people could follow their bliss!

My son is great at statistics. It is a matter of finding where in the world that fits and in this economy which MBA will accommodate.


Without an BA/ MBA it's just a great hobby.

( sorry for the hijack. I know you were responding to shaw)

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

What my oldest child's school (for the first 2 years) did was not let her take the loan out, WE had to take out the loan. And we are still paying.... and paying... and paying....

That's what I get for trying to make her happy.

I wish someone would find their sweet spot. If I could see or hear of an example, I might think the educational degree is the road to happiness.

This reminds me. I did watch a movie yesterday on lifetime. It was called, Homeless to Harvard. True story of a girl named Liz Murray.

She found the sweet spot, but most of us don't have amazing life stories that win us a scholarship to Harvard.