American education, parody version
STUDENT loans are based on a simple idea: that a graduate’s future flow of earnings will more than cover the costs of doing a degree. But with unemployment rates in parts of the rich world at post-war highs, that may no longer hold true for many people. The consequences will be felt by everybody.All over the world student indebtedness is causing problems—witness this month’s violent protests in Chile (see article). In Britain, according to a recent parliamentary report, rising university fees mean that student debt is likely to treble to £70 billion by 2015. But, partly because higher education there is so expensive, the scale of the problem is far greater in America.
–The Economist, Oct 29
This is what American education now feels like:
Source: Ed Stein, GoComics
When Tony Blair promoted the idea of student loans the premise was that Graduates earned up to £400 000 more over the lifetime of the student. Though that was not the case for most degrees. The idea was to create a knowledge economy, unfortunately many of the new degrees were in useless subjects. So now find that graduates do not earn much more. Excess supply of graduates has meant that the extra earning capacity of graduates is far lower than predicted, and much of those gains have been diverted towards the loan provider and university. Pretty much like in the US. I suspect that the worth of degrees in the US is falling rapidly when you have to borrow to pay for it.
Education in the US is way too expensive. Time for radical change. High quality internet universities should be developed. Universities should be more vocational. Liberal arts is of questionable value. For example engineers learn engineering as undergraduates. Doctors can too just like they do in Europe. Ditto for MBAs, lawyers, etc.
The current system is broken.
The reason it has become expensive is that states and employers have abandoned their training roles. Companies now are free riders in the education system. Hence the claims that they need to import labour if locals cannot be found. It leads to brain drains from poorer countries as skilled staff emigrate. I am all for free education at all levels but this should be recovered through higher taxes.
The reason it has become expensive is that states and employers have abandoned their training roles. Companies now are free riders in the education system. Hence the claims that they need to import labour if locals cannot be found. It leads to brain drains from poorer countries as skilled staff emigrate. I am all for free education at all levels but this should be recovered through higher taxes.