What are people doing?

Their all watching Tik-tok .

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chart%20of%20u…

https://files.epi.org/charts/img/1131.pn…

College enrollment is down because it's (A) entirely unaffordable for many and (B) often irrelevant except in a narrow set of professions (doctor, lawyer, etc.). Even if a students decides to go to a local state school or community college at a lower cost, the education they get is often outdated by the time they graduate or it's outdated while they are getting that education. Who wants to pay off student loans for an education that is often irrelevant to the targeted job field, or even spend 2 to 4 years getting that education?

A good chunk of those students are going to trade and technical schools. Depending on the school and the region, trade/technical schools are currently reporting an increase in enrollment ranging from 20% to over 50%. That's not a bad thing, particularly in the trades, where the average age of an experienced practitioner is between 50 and 55 years old. So, the new blood is needed. It's good news that the stigma against these schools is fading away. It's unfortunate that it is the unaffordability of higher education that drives a growing acceptance of the trades.

There's also a percentage of post high-school students who are trying more entrepreneurial ventures. This is a mixed bag. Some are, for example, trying to become "YouTube" and/or "TikTok" famous, but the number of people who pull that off is tiny. But there are others who pursue slightly more realistic goals. I have a friend whose kid started doing "retail arbitrage" when he was 17 years old. He went to big box stores and bought goods that were on sale, and would then resell them at full price on Amazon, eBay, etc. He would also haunt local yard sales and flea markets and buy up various collectibles and resell them on eBay and Etsy. Now he's designing his own products and importing pallets of goods from China.

I have a feeling that this thread might have been started to have (another) bitch session about the lazy, privileged millennial-and-younger generations. There's certainly some of that going on as well, but every generation has a percentage that doesn't actually want to work. But, in a lot of cases, it's just students not wanting to subject themselves to an education and employment system that is growing increasingly archaic.

None of my uncles had a college education. One owned a pair of hardware stores that did very well until the economy of Flint tanked and his customer base disappeared almost overnight. He continued to make a living wage in small engine repair. The other uncle ran a small town hardware and was also a master plumber. My dad went to engineering college on the GI Bill and with his practical farm education became one hell of a farm equipment engineer.

I went to college for naval architecture and marine engineering. I always say that I got my Masters degree working in the shipyard by listening what the workers had to say. That respect paid off, because those guys listened to me as well when I had something to say. I have always treated the tradesmen who have worked on my house or boat with total respect.

Not everyone needs or is suited for college, and a tradesperson, or baker, or pool maintainer can make a good living. Society needs people of all descriptions, and looking down one's nose at people who don't have a college education really don't have anything but blurred vision and big noses.

Colleges morphed into a social club. They stopped focusing on rigorous instruction and preparation for a competitive world. They marketed luxury dorms, safe spaces, indoctrination, and reliance on a dissipating reputation. You are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a piece of paper instead of an improved mind and maturity. Students are figuring this out. So are employers.

^
Public Service Announcement (PSA)

Dixie_Normus is just cacaplop trying to swamp these forums with repetitive, stupid questions, and racist comments, either via his own threads or crashing other threads.

But, as always, take a look at his posting history and judge for yourself.

If engaging with his inane posts is fun for you, then go for it.

Otherwise, don't think you're answering sincere questions.

~ Call.Me.Ishmael
~ April 29, 2022

“In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers."

~ Father Mapple via Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".

Republicans wanted to pull people up; democrats want to keep them down, so now we are dumbing everything down to the lowest common denominator. Ideocracy has come true.................

The problem is the corporatization of higher education.

Education is an after thought and is under funded. Tenure track positions are eliminated and adjuncts...the day laborers of higher education are hired instead and vie for positions with grad students.

Research and sports are the main focus. Getting money for them whether through donors high tuitions or getting education is fine so long as they give the school a name. Even a mediocre football coach makes more than a department chair.

I'll share one success story. My grand daughter now 24 graduated from Kennesaw state college 2 years ago with a degree in accounting. She has no student loan debt. She used the Georgia Hope Scholarship. She had a job waiting for her and has since moved up twice.

Tenure means paying a teacher who no longer does their job. Lowering standards to make the Democratic base feel better about themselves by getting rid of advanced placement courses. Football coach makes money; department chairs produce useless maggots called progressives.

Seems like there are lots of people juggling two (or more) "part-time" jobs. Mandated benefits mostly apply to full time jobs, so keeping people part time saves employers money.

For guys with less discretionary income, I think many have concluded that camgirls are a better alternative than strip clubs.

The money an employer saves with part-time workers is wiped out by their unreliability and the constant training of replacements.

Our economic system has not worked since the 1870s. The COVID crash pushed it over the edge, where I think a very large portion of the population will be on the sidelines.

SJG

The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter - 2013 School of Rock AllStars Team 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we-3Y3vh…

There's no good money in working for another man these days, and most colleges for regular plebs just get you ready for the corporate grind. Outside of certain lab work, you aren't taught anything in college that you can't learn on Youtube. Might actually be able to understand your professor's accent on Youtube versus the cheap H1B guy the college probably hired

But don't you work for Don Quixote?

He'll give me that island any day now

The COVID crisis was the straw that broke the back of our non-functioning economic system.

SJG

Pleaser
https://pleasershoes.com/collections/all…

Shirley Manson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYJ1jNnG…

To go along with what CIM said, some trades in demand have been paying much more than what they were pre-covid, and some governments and businesses (including blue chip corporations like IBM) have removed the requirement of a degree for applicants.
The cost of college has far outpaced inflation over the past 3 decades, meanwhile because both a larger portion of the population has higher education and jobs that traditionally did not require degrees did begin to do so, suppressed the economic gains of employees. For too many the net benefit wasn't what it was supposed to be.
Personally I think there is also some jaded attitude because of the reported for-profit schools that essentially ripped off their students by providing a worthless degree and no placements.