Busniesses should pay for higher education

[Toni]

I mean they're the ones requiring college diplomas for nearly evey job that has a decent chance of paying more than minimum wage.

So let them foot the bill.

Businesses don't require college degrees for jobs when there are enough undegreed applicants to fill the open positions.

This is not correct. Businesses require college degrees for a host of reasons, including regulatory, licensure and basic literacy. In my particular field, there is a shortage of qualified applicants. But not a shortage of applicants.

My personal opinion is that a degree is often used as a proxy for socioeconomic class but that's my opinion only.

The problem we face today with paying for higher education is that we pay for a misplaced education. There simply is not a need for the huge number of Liberal Arts graduates as we produce. There was a time when a person who went to a university was not looking for a ticket to his future. Colleges were created to educate clergymen. They had to learn Latin and Greek and how to recognise Lucifer, when he appeared. All critical stuff. Soon, room was made in the classrooms for the sons of rich people. They weren't going to be priests. They just needed enough education to not be ignorant savages.

Today, we let people choose their course of education with little thought of its utility. How many English majors do we need? How many will actually get a job and use the unique qualities of a BA in English Lit?

That's not quite correct. The first university was the University of Bologna, which was founded in order to educate people so that they could defend their rights and those of emerging nations against the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church.

Education is the most important tool we have against tyranny.

There is no greater tyranny than ignorance, which is the greatest weapon wielded by the powerful against those it seeks to dominate.

Look at the world's biggest conflicts today: job training might make the populace more compliant as it would address immediate concerns for obtaining food and shelter. Education: now that is the tool of revolution. Why do you think that education was forbidden slaves? Job training sure as hell was not. Job training made slaves more valuable. Education made them dangerous. Why do you think some societies forbid or severely limit education for women? Or: creationism. Just look at that one issue here in the US: who is promoting it? Who is limiting access and censuring science?

I don't know about you but I know for certain that I am not smart enough to know what my children should study to best serve their present and future needs. I have opinions, sure. Absolute knowledge: no. And I have their best interests at heart, not the needs of some corporate entity. I also know enough university administrators to know that they also do not know what any individual student should study in order to best serve their own needs. And enough CEOs to say the same, with a great deal more assurance.

The real question is not who will pay for higher education, but why are we paying for something we don't need?

" O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life is cheap as beast's."

As relevant today as it was 500 years ago.


It is a foolish mistake to confuse job training with education and worse to substitute job training for education. After my degree was completed, I obtained my job and was then trained. Training taught me to utilize the equipment we use daily and also how to trouble shoot when things go wrong. It taught me to do what I was told. My education taught me what the results mean, how to understand and interpret them and how to communicate findings with clients. And what next steps could or should be taken. Education taught me to think.

Job training teaches one to follow an algorithm--which is a very valuable tool. I use them daily. Education teaches one to develop the algorithm and to tailor it to specific process and needs. And also the limits of an algorithm. Also used daily.

I work in a STEM field. I love science, specifically cell and molecular biology. But I also love literature, art, theater, music, all of which give us tools to understand ourselves and others and society as a whole.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

But what use is a field that exists only to perpetuate itself?

Ksen, you just completely refuted your entire OP by pointing to societal benefits of college beyond satisfying employer requirements.

Loren, specify exact what fields you think should not be taught. Second, the vast majority of knowledge is not profitable. Thus, by your criteria, society should not invest seek to gain or disseminate most knowledge, only the small subset on which their is a clear-cut profitable application.

I'm looking at fields for which the only job is teaching the field.

 

[Toni]

Ksen, you just completely refuted your entire OP by pointing to societal benefits of college beyond satisfying employer requirements.

Loren, specify exact what fields you think should not be taught. Second, the vast majority of knowledge is not profitable. Thus, by your criteria, society should not invest seek to gain or disseminate most knowledge, only the small subset on which their is a clear-cut profitable application.

I'm looking at fields for which the only job is teaching the field.

Such as?

 

[rousseau]

Businesses footing the bill for a higher proportion of education via more taxation would be a win for society. But then we could also reduce it to:

Businesses footing the bill for a higher proportion of stuff education via more taxation would be a win for society.

Business has too much power right now. In general, taking power out of business and putting it back into the hands of people, is good. This is because the function of government is to help people, the function of business is to fuck people over.