Your Education Is Only Worth $10 - No Matter How Much You Have

[TheMastersNemesis]

Welcome to globalization and free trade and the Reagan world he said he was creating. Your education is only worth as much as what is paid in India, China or other parts of the planet. Workers are now really in it together. Wages are falling for a reason and will continue to fall for even educated people. When a college grad says a $25,000 a year job is their goal something is radically wrong.

You can blame the business community who has an entire generation of CEO's who believe they must go as low as they can, while THEY float down in their "golden parachutes. Until we reign in exploding CEO pay and interlocked corporate boards where all the same people are on multiple corporate boards, it will only get much much worse.

I hate to be right about my belief and fears in 1981 when Reagan announces a new economy called the "service economy". So if your PHD, MA, BA or other degree is worth only $10 an hour you are not worth "spit" if you have high school or less.

Until we are willing to shake up the GOP, the Kochs and their allies over equality then they will only take more until they have it all.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. high school here

$100K +

[abelenkpe]

2. Lucky you

So does this mean you have no empathy for those with student loan debt or whose jobs have been off shored to reduce wages? Or are you just letting people know you are fortunate?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

4. not lucky...

worked my ass off. i just disagree with the premise that your education is worthless and that you are limited BY that education or lack thereof. it took me a while to get here. but here i am. it can be done.

sP

and I should say that while I never completed a degree program I DID continue to LEARN... and that has made the difference.

[abelenkpe]

16. I'm sure you do work hard

And have struggled to perfect your craft. The point is fewer people today with only a high school education get the opportunity to the same. There have been many articles supporting this. I worry that when one points out disturbing trends that show fewer opportunities for younger generations at all levels of education and the response is: "I'm OK" it acts as way to dismiss a growing problem. A problem we should be united in combating.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

19. unfortunately we have made a mess of both sides of the equation

the job market has shifted due to innumerable factors and education has gotten bollocksed up... and the problems are HUGE and unfortunately the world has moved on and may not be willing to go back.

sP

[oldhippie]

8. Typical envy ....

Anyone here that shows evidence of having succeeded financially will ALWAYS be pilloried by certain forces on DU.

I see the posters point being that the broad generalization in the OP is not always true. People would always be happy to see counter examples of almost any other generalization or stereotype other than this.

So does this mean you have no empathy for those with student loan debt or whose jobs have been off shored to reduce wages?

Typical projection.

[duffyduff]

23. Sure, it's "envy."

When you don't have an argument that explains why we are in the fucking mess we are in, and it has to do with the elites gaming the system, people like you call us "envious."

Bullshit.

[PowerToThePeople]

5. May I ask, how? What type of Job? n/t

[ProdigalJunkMail]

7. is started to get a degree in history...

went that way for a while. did some work in the schools where i wanted to teach and realized i had made a hideous mistake. dropped out and went into technology. i have worked from entry level data entry...

sP

[ProdigalJunkMail]

11. i think you missed the word FROM

data entry is where I started...

sP

[PowerToThePeople]

12. No, I didn't

I was just posting what I did because you answered by avoiding the question.

No worries if you want to be private on how you "earn" 100k a year.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

13. i said i am in the technology field

how is that avoiding the question?

sP

[Rex]

32. So you are a senior administrator now?

Just curious.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

36. most of what I do now is troubleshooting and consulting

but I do have 'senior' in my title...

sP

[oldhippie]

3. I think it depends on what education you have ......

Some educations are more valuable than others.

In a thread yesterday the issue of college placement results came up. I was curious how my Alma Mater was doing, so I looked it up. I was a bit surprised at the result. If you have an education in a field that is in demand you can do well.

96% placement and starting salaries of $58K.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3450651

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Or workers unite in a global revolution

Truly a 0.01% versus the rest.

And yes, conditions could lead to that.

[WinkyDink]

24. Regardless of their politics, have you seen Egypt and what happens to protestors? Death, is what.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Who said this was going to be clean and free of death?

By it's very nature this kind of a challenge to ruling elites will lead to rivers of blood.

[leveymg]

10. This situation is akin to the prerevolutionary period in France, Russ. where the educated segments

and other disaffected elites were driven into relative deprivation, and a conscious decision was made to join with and organize the peasantry and prols in open revolt. The disaffected elites also knew how to effectively undermine the Old Regime's bureaucracy and Army, and the absolutist monarchs and their courtiers were finished.

Today, we are again seeing this sort of spreading disaffection and breakdown in unity among some segments of the elites and within the intelligence services. It hasn't become self-organized yet, but we're moving in that direction.

[WinkyDink]

25. The balance of weaponry is much different today.

[TheMastersNemesis]

14. Present Education Memes Mean That The 75% Of Workers Without Education Will Be Poor

The education meme means that workers in the trades are expected to work at starvation wages because ONLY the educted will be able to make barely living wage. Sure education makes a difference but private industry will not create enough jobs for all the degrees. And the new business model is lower pay for even educated workers. Most jobs over $30K a year have been lost. $30 is the new high in most jobs now.

I worked at DOL for 24 years and watched the business model develop. And to add insult to injury your career is over by 45 now. You are too old and burdensome to the bottom line with the new business model. Just ask the anti union and anti labor boomers how they did?

And is it really moral to ask unskilled labor working in dangerous occupations to work for less than dirt wage?

From my point of view having worked at DOL the GOP and big business has totally screwed up the labor market. Now full time employment is disappearing.

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. Speak for yourself, sparky. nt

[cbdo2007]

17. Getting a good job takes much more than having a good education

I know people who have jobs way above their education level and others with jobs way below their education level and in spending about 5 minutes with each type of person you can easily see why they are where they are.

[duffyduff]

22. "Merit"? What a joke. It's largely connections. n/t

[cbdo2007]

33. Nope, care to guess again?

[WinkyDink]

26. So to you, Mitt Romney is a great guy?

[cbdo2007]

34. Oh, you got me! You're so clever with your non-discussion posts!

[hfojvt]

18. there is another huge problem here

that probably nobody wants to talk about.

The fact that there are more people with college degrees than there are good jobs.

Because too many people are getting college degrees.

When my dad graduated from college in 1956, his degree was valuable, because he was one of a small percentage of the population that had such a degree.

When I graduated in 1985, my degree was still valuable because the pecentage, while larger, was still fairly small. But my degree was not as valuable as my dad's. I did get on the same career track as him, but when I foolishly jumped off in 1986, I was unable to get back on, even after getting a Master's degree in 1990.

Now, twenty years later, there are that many more people who either have degrees or are getting degrees.

Things tend to be more valuable in direct relation to their scarcity. One of a kind demands a high price. One of a hundred thousand becomes a dime a dozen.

Such is the case with college educations. They are not nearly as rare as they used to be. So logically enough, they are not as valuable.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

20. we screwed up somewhere along the line

and convinced everyone that they needed a college degree. it is the reason colleges and universities charge through the nose now... they KNOW 90% of high school student believe they need that degree and will pay anything for it.

there was a point in time where a job claimed the need for a university degree might really NEED you to have one. now, almost EVERY job tells you that you need a degree when in most cases, stuff you learned in college would do you no real good any way. i don't need a university degree to be a McDonald's manager...

sP

[SoCalDem]

28. And with so much technology now, a 4 yr degree may not be worth much

at the end, when things learned during that 4 years may no longer be necessary or in much demand.

I remember when teachers were in great demand, and all of a sudden every 3rd person (mostly women) were getting teaching degrees...right about the same time that many women started to delay marriage , delay children and sometimes skip the kids part of their lives altogether..

A teaching career lasts a LONG time, and between budget cuts closing schools all over, charters/vouchers/etc, a LOT of teachers were forced from teaching sooner than they ever wanted to be.

Degrees guarantee nothing, unless you are told by a boss that if you get "X degree" your pay will increase (many times those degrees are part of a company paid plan).

A lot of "success" is pure dumb luck...knowing the right person at the right time, being related to the right people, coming up with some idea that catches fire.

Wealthy people have always sent their offspring to college..for enlightenment and bonding with their peers. Some people can afford to get a degree in 15th Century French Art...or in philosophy or some other esoteric field, but most people find that their college years are valuable even if they do not work in their "field".. The difference now, is that people who are not rich, are racking up HUGE debt while "finding themselves", and they are often NOT finding work-after-college that will pay back that debt.

[duffyduff]

21. Globalism and Neoliberalism are evil

The real blame belongs to Washington politicians who slavishly followed the Milton Friedman playbook, and we are now suffering the consequences.

Nothing of what corporations and the rich fantasied would have come true were it not for the idiots and traitors in Washington.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

30. Nationalism also has an ugly side

[Donald Ian Rankin]

27. Living standards falling in the first world is a price worth paying for them to rise elsewhere. N.T.

[Notafraidtoo]

31. Its more complicated then that.

Living standards are something people have to fight for, sure they may benefit temporarily from a new innovation or business opportunity but once the business is up and running and growth starts to slow then the owners will turn on those workers to gain more profits. If people sit on their hands and allow themselves to be cannibalized then they will just end up back where they were.

In the end it is up to the population of a nation to fight the powers that be for a better life, but as we have seen religion,racism,sexism etc. are powerful forces to keep people divided and unorganized.

[duffyduff]

35. No, it isn't. And it isn't a matter of living standards rising elsewhere.

That is neoliberal horseshit.

It's ALL a race to the bottom so the few can have more.