I think that the notion that "we" (working- or middle class) are so well-off that we can really consider a higher education as mostly a broadening of horizons, and life skills being kind of something that comes automatically along with it. We've already spent around 13 years in learning institutions at that point - what do people find so horrible about then looking for some kind of education/training that is more directly applicable to, um, surviving?
I think you are right. Taking on several dozen thousand dollars of debt right after highschool to backpack around Europe for 4 years would nearly universally be seen as wildly irresponsible, but at the same time doing the same to get a degree with low economic value is somehow seen as not irresponsible. However when we call it irresponsible, people freak out and act like that is wildly unreasonable.
It might be symptomatic of a cross wiring of people's sense of what should be, and what is. They believe that a college education should be free, so they behave as though it is. Where a college education free, then getting a relatively worthless degree would be perfectly fine. However since college is currently very expensive, getting a worthless degree is a very poor decision unless you are already wealthy.
Asking people to separate their beliefs about how reality should be from their knowledge of how reality currently is, tends to make them angry.
They believe that a college education should be free, so they behave as though it is. Where a college education free, then getting a relatively worthless degree would be perfectly fine.
I don't know. I'm getting my university education for free, but I still have living costs (which may be mitigated by a part-time job) and "losing" five years that could be invested in some relevant work experience. So if I was going for a useless degree, career-wise, I would be at least be a little worried.
I guess some people think that people like me should be living it up while they can, and not worrying so much about the future. But there might be a mortgage to worry about in 5-10 years, and buying your own apartment/house is becoming more and more expensive (which might change in 10 years, for better or worse). And even though I am well-off by world standards, the future seems more unsure then ever; having some sort of economic independence seems like something that is worth working towards.
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I think that the notion that "we" (working- or middle class) are so well-off that we can really consider a higher education as mostly a broadening of horizons, and life skills being kind of something that comes automatically along with it. We've already spent around 13 years in learning institutions at that point - what do people find so horrible about then looking for some kind of education/training that is more directly applicable to, um, surviving?
I think you are right. Taking on several dozen thousand dollars of debt right after highschool to backpack around Europe for 4 years would nearly universally be seen as wildly irresponsible, but at the same time doing the same to get a degree with low economic value is somehow seen as not irresponsible. However when we call it irresponsible, people freak out and act like that is wildly unreasonable.
It might be symptomatic of a cross wiring of people's sense of what should be, and what is. They believe that a college education should be free, so they behave as though it is. Where a college education free, then getting a relatively worthless degree would be perfectly fine. However since college is currently very expensive, getting a worthless degree is a very poor decision unless you are already wealthy.
Asking people to separate their beliefs about how reality should be from their knowledge of how reality currently is, tends to make them angry.
I don't know. I'm getting my university education for free, but I still have living costs (which may be mitigated by a part-time job) and "losing" five years that could be invested in some relevant work experience. So if I was going for a useless degree, career-wise, I would be at least be a little worried.
I guess some people think that people like me should be living it up while they can, and not worrying so much about the future. But there might be a mortgage to worry about in 5-10 years, and buying your own apartment/house is becoming more and more expensive (which might change in 10 years, for better or worse). And even though I am well-off by world standards, the future seems more unsure then ever; having some sort of economic independence seems like something that is worth working towards.