Best Forex

Are college degrees becoming worthless?

I'm not going to go into specifics about what I do, but essentially I trade 3x index pro share and pro short etf's on the S&P 500 and Russel 2000. I got a scholarship to a VERY good college prep private high school. Upon graduating I received a few scholarships for college but not near enough to pay for it so I decided to work for a year and save my money then trade. Yesterday, I was talking to some friends of mine who recently received their degree they said that going to college was a huge mistake. I am not trying to brag but I make significantly more then their degree earning power will allow to make even after 20 year of climbing the corporate ladder. He proceeded to tell me that it seems that everyone has a degree and that they have become essentially worthless. This got me thinking is the promotion of going to college really going to help our economy and better an individual's life? I mean I would not be able to do what I do if I didn't receive such a good education in high school. Shouldn't we focus on teaching throughly in K-12 rather then promoting college so much. My friend is learning to trade forex from my dad, luckily his parents paid for his college so he is not in debt, but your average person has to take out loans. These loans will tie them down for a long period of time they will be unable to save and with so many people going to college I think their is going to be a bit of.. I guess degree inflation causing these people to live in debt for most of their life. I am not saying college is not necessary for people like engineers and scientist, however I think that apprenticeships accompanied with a good k-12 education and a bit of self-education would do an individual far more good then going into debt to get a degree that is now no-longer exclusive and really does not teach them any career skills. I saw president Obama talking about promoting college on TV (I'm not targeting Obama for political purposes because all Presidents have done this) I just do not think that the politicians have taken into account what an exponential explosion in college degrees will actually do. Am I just insane or does anyone agree with me?

Public Response to Are college degrees becoming worthless?

1. definitely overrated
2. If you think of education as a way to earn more money, then for people like you, they are pointless. Of course, not everyone thinks of education this way.
3. That's great you make a lot of money. Good for you. However, many people have specific jobs in mind that they want to do (whether or not it will make them rich) and a college degree is absolutely required for the job. So we're in college. No, it's not the best choice for everyone. No, it's not guaranteed to make you rich if that's what you want. But on average college grads make more than those who did not go to college. I certainly agree that many of the people going to college would be better off in apprenticeship programs. No, most people talking about sending more kids to college and graduating more college students don't really think about what that means (less qualified people with degrees they didn't really earn). But college is certainly not worthless, and the more people who don't go in the future, the more a degree will be worth.
4. Consider these similar but equally invalid arguments: Since everyone in the US attends elementary school - elementary school education is worthless. or Since well over 80% of the US population has a high school diploma, a high school diploma is worthless. Especially since neither of those is any longer exclusive and you could learn just as much through self-study and a little tutoring - right? All that those conditions accomplish is to make it even more essential to attain the level. Not worthless at all, required and expected. As for the politics issue, it's not all about creating a more educated citizenry. It's about extending childhood out another 5 years because on the other side of the age range we have workers living too long and not retiring. We needed to find a way to delay entry to the workforce for a large segment of population because their aged peers are holding onto jobs too long. "Be cool stay in school" HS movement took care of some of the problem by delaying a lot of people from entering the workforce very early (16-18 yo) but there was still a balance problem because of the number of Boomers still working. The idea is to extend adolescence to about age 25 so that the workforce isn't inundated with too many job seekers. Reality is that only about 25% of all jobs require a college degree - there's no valid reason to push the number of degree holders above 30% (we're pushing way over 30%) in terms of macroeconomic need - it's an issue of social engineering. The three largest occupational groups will remain retail and food service employment areas with their low relative pay whether everyone has a high school diploma, bachelor's degree, or master's degree. There has been no significant change in the need for higher education since the early 80's, it's all an experiment in social design. You do not, however make more than all people's degree earning power and if something happens to that position you're in right now you may find yourself in a bit of a bind. The point you may be missing though is that it's likely you're one of those who would succeed no matter what you face. Everyone isn't the same though and some people are going to be homeless no matter what degree they get, they're just lazy. You haven't controlled your analysis of the value of higher education for other conditions and factors. But, let's not be fooled by the party rhetoric that this is about improving the lot of the individual. This is all about adjusting the workforce population by keeping young people in childhood five years longer. Alternatives (that wouldn't be received very well) include mandatory retirement at age 60 or somehow finding a way to return to the principally male workforce. Since we can't do those, let's get people to not start working (and definitely not start their "grown up job") until they're about 25. The easiest way to do that is to add four years to high school. We didn't really think the whole reason for moving the drinking age from 18-21 was for public health? Look at all of the rites of passage markers and compare them to 25 years ago. Notice anything? The scale has moved to the right all the way across the board. Wait until your generation notices that "mid-career" is now 50-something.