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Comment by bawolff | Hacker News Reader

> I guess most of them have/had other jobs, like teaching at a university for example. And some — especially people who were university teachers — tend to continue on that job.

University prof might not be a wealthy job, but class wise it is usually considered pretty high class. We're not exactly talking about the people putting 9-5 in doing manual labour at a construction site.

> A college degree in things like literature, political science, economics, and general science subjects (physics, chemistry, math, biology etc) tend to be inexpensive here, as compared to a degree in engineering or medical science.

Maybe, but its still a large investment for questionable financial gain. The opportunity cost is high. The pay-off (ignoring things like love of the subject and instrinsic value) is pretty low. Its a hard thing to justify if you're not at least upper-middle class.

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> University prof might not be a wealthy job, but class wise it is usually considered pretty high class. We're not exactly talking about the people putting 9-5 in doing manual labour at a construction site.

Ah, yes. Agreed.

> Maybe, but its still a large investment for questionable financial gain.

No no, I don't think you realize how cheap education can be where I'm from. Getting admitted is an entirely different matter. And don't ask me how, but here there's an inverse correlation between how good a university is and how expensive it is. Like, here the best universities seem to be run by the government and are therefore much cheaper than private universities. Which is why it is also very hard to get into those govt run universities.

Also — I think this is a cultural thing — generally people here tend to want go to college, even if ultimately there is little correlation between what they study and what they end up doing (atleast, for non-engineering non-medical courses).

And, college degree is kind of expected for any job here. I don't know if that's what's caused the cultural default of going to college, or vice versa.

So yes, lots of complex, and sometimes contradicting dynamics at play.

There are inefficiencies with such an attitude, but I guess it is what it is.

(And, I'm not an expert in any of what I said above, so take all of that with a pinch of salt.)

I think the US has a very weird relationship with education. Here in Germany, you pay a small fee to the university, then an even smaller fee for something else and then like 150€ or so for public transport through the whole state. I think I paid something like 250 or 300€ a semester (graduated in 2016 in the state of North Rhine Westphalia).

Whether or not a degree provides financial success later in life is just not something people care about. You only have to pay back 50% of your student loans but 10k max. Even if your family is dirt poor you will be able to pay for that degree. And even if you end up as a taxi driver youll be able to pay it back (if you even have too... I think there's a certain income threshold you need to hit).

And I think statistically speaking the unemployment rate amongst higher educated people is lower on average than for others even if you look at those "unemployable" degrees.

Going for a philosophy degree or a history degree because it's what you want to do is 100% something society accepts as a valid choice.

Oh and same with private universities. Some universities have a really good reputation for one degree but as a rule of thumb: if you have your degree from a private university in Germany, people will assume Daddy bought your degree.

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