Bill Bennett: Is College Worth It?

Funny how all these guys telling people college isn't worth it have multiple degrees.

 

Well, for "you people," anyway.

 

There's a massive selection bias going on in the average salary comparisons. Right now, it is culturally ingrained in us that going to college is an achievement and not going to college is a failure.

Could you in theory come up with a ton of alternate plans for 18-year-olds that would leave them better off in the long run? Probably. But right now, the kinds of kids who would thrive under alternative plans aren't the ones who are skipping college.

 

You need to be trained in something. Having a master's license in electrical, HVAC or plumbing can be very profitable as well. But getting these licenses also takes some amount of schooling. Though it is much less, but it is schooling.

If you can be trained to do something in a day, it's probably not a career.

But getting a certification to do something, no matter how minimal the certification is, will help you earn more money in the future.

I know eighth graders making $20 an hour, getting as much as 10-12 hours a week if they like reffing soccer. They had to sit through a four-hour training course, but it was a training course. It beats flipping burgers.

 

Since nearly half of the students who enroll in a four year degree program do not currently complete their degree, aren't they already having to deal with this alternative?

Therefor, wouldn't they have been better off not acquiring the debt, and just moving on to this alternative?

Some percentage of students will not graduate, no matter what. Whether their not smart enough, not motivated enough, run out of money, or just have life get in the way.

But isn't 50% too high, and a problem of it's own?

And, doesn't it mean that the answer isn't encouraging more people to pursue a college degree?

We're already sending kids to college who are not prepared/qualified/interested.

 

Bill Gates was a college dropout. Some people finish their degrees well after they stop going to college - Emmitt Smith and Shaq being two of them, and me being another. I know people who didn't finish college, but I think they benefited from their time there.

Caroline Bird did a book on this many years ago. Some people are better of getting a technical education. Presumably, for-profit technical schools would take the place of college for young people. However, the dropout rate from those schools is higher than most colleges, and it seems like loans guaranteed by the federal government is a main source of support for some of these schools. The other thing is that even with the best schools teaching, say, computer skills or auto mechanic skills, become outmoded 20 or 25 years later.

The other thing is - consider the source. William Bennett's leadership of the so-called War on Drugs was "Just Say No". Bill Bennett declared education went to hell during the 1960s; presumably, integration and greater opportunity in higher education were not a good thing in the eyes of Bennett. To "help" everybody, Bill Bennett wrote the Book of Virtues. He used stories from ancient mythology - no need to promote anybody else's book or have to pay royalities to any body. With this book and a couple of sequels, he earned a significant income. With this income, he gave $8-million over five years playing slot machines in Atlantic City. After the mandatory blaming the media, of which he is now a member, he acknowledged the reports of dumping money in casinos were true. What got me wasn't so much losing money, it was that he blew it all on slot machines late in the night. I mean, if you're an education guy, at least play video poker where there is some strategy. If you play a table game and were at least aware of the situation, you should be able to figure out that you can't compete with the good players and would learn something. As Matt Damon said in Rounders, if you are at a table for 10 minutes and can't figure out who the sucker is, you are the sucker.

People buying Bill Bennett's books are the sucker.

 

This one's not too hard to figure out. Bill Bennett and his brethren need to discredit higher education because their political party needs a stupid electorate to remain in power. Don't believe it? For at least the past 60 years, the 10 least educated states -- those with the lowest percentages of residents who have college degrees -- have voted for the GOP presidential candidate. The 10 best educated states tend to pick the Democratic candidate.

 

The trick is getting Mommy and Daddy to wipe your ass until the ripe age of 25.

 

Past 5 elections: Dems are 43-7 in the 10 best educated states while GOP is 41-9 in the 10 least educated states.

 

I want to tread lightly here, lest I give deskslave any ammo to call me a racist, but...

While more women receive degrees, and the Democrats get more of the women's vote that Republicans, whites earn a bachelors degree at a much higher rate than African-Americans.

About 73% of whites, and 10% of African-Americans: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72

Now, I'm also not equating a college degree with smarts. I'm the last guy who would do that.

But, you seem to be.

And, since Dems get greater than 90% of the African-American vote, a lot of less educated folks are voting Democrat.

 

Is that 50 percent just a four-year rate, or is that total?

When I went to school, I was told that 25 percent of the students wouldn't come back for sophomore year, and that less than half would graduate.

I looked up my alma mater just now. They lose about 15 percent of students after freshman year, and have less than half graduate in four years. But their six-year graduation rate is 67 percent.

So, for whatever reason, a lot of students have to take longer than four years, but they're still getting their degree. This may mean anything, from life circumstances, to the major they choose.

 

We know Bennett won't explain what the statistic actually measures.