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0 pointspaulpauper4y ago0 comments

you have a lot of kids who don't think that taking on tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars in debt is worth it for some Zoom classes.

Yeah, but you are assuming people only go to college for its educational value , ignoring that college grads tend to have much higher wages and lower unemployment compared to high school grads. If you look at FIRE subs for example, almost everyone who attains early retirement has a degree. The college wage premium is amplified by both higher wages and higher returns from investments by investing said wages in rapidly appreciating stocks and real estate (the post-2009 bull market in real estate and stocks, on an real basis, exceeds even the '80s and '90s).

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ozzythecat4y ago

You’re implying causation - that a college degree is the cause of these outcomes. I’m not convinced that’s true, and in my mind, it might be one of the most damaging beliefs.

It could be that people who are driven or passionate, on average, want to pursue higher education, or that they take on risks, exercise their brains in learning endeavors, and it’s their effort and drive that leads to success.

It’s entirely possible that high earners have college degrees because they were told that to be successful, they had to go to college. It’s a belief they were raised with.

I think it’s highly misguided that we give college so much credit. And we also demonstrate survivorship bias where those who went to college but didn’t get the pay off are blamed for having made some wrong decision.

We treat higher education as a silver bullet and put it on a pedestal when it’s not.

majani4y ago

Yup, it's certain traits that lead people to go for certain degrees and we use the degree as a quick and fair signal for those traits. If you have a problem with that signal, try develop another one which is at least as quick and fair of a representation of those traits as a degree is.

Also if companies gain a substantial advantage using other signals outside of degrees, you can be guaranteed that their competitors in their industry will follow. In media and marketing, degrees have long been abandoned for other signals such as portfolios and social media engagement

paulpauperOP4y ago

This may be true, but at the same time, if the goal is to make a lot of money, rich parents and other luck aside, a college degree in a high-paying major is probably the best shot at it, instead for example trying to copy Garry Vanverchuck or Steve Jobs. Drive and effort apply for all professions, but it's just that college grads will get a higher return for their effort.

hn_throwaway_994y ago

> you have a lot of kids who don't think that taking on tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars in debt is worth it for some Zoom classes.

> Yeah, but you are assuming people only go to college for its educational value , ...

But that's exactly the point, a huge expectation of going to college is the whole college experience: building independence, lifelong friendships, extracurriculars, etc. 50k for Zoom? Fuck that.

whywhywhywhy4y ago

Keep seeing “the experience“ over and over in this thread.

Children literally taking out 5 and 6 figure loans for a glorified multi-year vacation with some half arsed “education” strapped to it.

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