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Comment by mynameishere | Hacker News Reader

Far too many people go to college. Most of you went to decent schools, so you're probably not aware that US state schools are literally inundated by federally-subsidized mouth-breathers, who are doomed to drop out and work at Burger King, or get communications degrees and work at Burger King.

A high school graduate in the 1960s could earn a middle class income through unskilled labor. This was an historical anomaly, and there's no reason to compare wage data today with that of the past. As soon as non-Western manufacturing labor entered the market, the price was driven down. Anomaly over.

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> Far too many people go to college.

I am convinced that many people go to college only to become employable, not because they have any academic interest to pursue.

If a high school diploma actually meant that you could read and write and multiply and divide, then maybe there wouldn't be as many jobs out there requiring college degrees when all they really need are the skills you should have learned in high school.

>I am convinced that many people go to college only to become employable, not because they have any academic interest to pursue.

I know this is true of business schools. B-schools don't really teach anything; they're actually a way to signal to potential employers that you could come up with the 100k and 2 years necessary to go through school, the smarts to get through admissions, the persistence to get through it, and the willingness to absorb bullshit management-speak (meaning you'll be obedient).

"A high school graduate in the 1960s could earn a middle class income through unskilled labor. This was an historical anomaly, and there's no reason to compare wage data today with that of the past."

Interesting response.

One can also consider the shift toward the "service economy," which in many cases is lower-paying and even easier to outsource than unskilled physical labor like manufacturing and construction.

Everybody should further their education and reasoning skills, even if a system is not perfect. Secondly, college graduates who work at Burger King later decide to get a Masters or get a job at a good company through a friend or when the job market improves. Such work experience is itself not necessarily bad or demeaning.

I think this is conventional wisdom coming from a biased source and about 10 years out of date (at least). The premium paid to college graduates has been shrinking - I know that in Canada, there are huge shortages of "skilled trades" - meaning plumbers, electricians, welders, etc, and I know that friends of mine who have gone into those fields have done very well economically.

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