How America wastes talent

[wilt the stilt]

America has a very lopsided view of promoting education. My daughter is a top rated student. We will be trying to raise the money to send her to one of the top universities. We probably won't be able to make the stretch and she will have to attend a public university. I graduated from a public university so I am not an elitist in terms of education but in reality many top talented people do not attend the top "universities" and therefore they don't get the top jobs coming out of college. They do start at a decided disadvantage while numbnuts like * and Tucker Carlson and the sons and daughters of the elites do start at the top jobs. These people come into work with a very sheltered view of life and people who may be more talented rarely get the opportunity that these people get. It's too bad that money is so important when it comes to education.

[Bill McBlueState]

1. have a look at this site

http://www.freehighered.org/

These guys are active on my campus. Their point is that compared to other government expenditures, it wouldn't be that expensive for state and federal governments to provide free education for all students at state colleges and universities.

[glowing]

2. And I hate to point it out... but America will continue to waste her talents

when she gets out and ends up taking a brain dead job in a cubicle wondering why she has so much debt to pay off now.

[wuushew]

3. What field is your daughter interested in?

Public higher learning intuitions can and do turn out excellent students.

Isn't educational snobbery mainly a factor in graduate or doctoral programs?

Please no more lawyers, we have too many already.

[Tyler Durden]

4. Try Canada.

Cheaper than the cheapest in State for a RESIDENT. Also, TONS of scholarships for commitments (mostly medical).

[midlife_mo_Jo]

8. With the fall of the dollar is Canada still that much cheaper?

[Tyler Durden]

9. Their PRICE didn't go up, the exchange did.

However, you can get their healthcare as a college student on a student visa last I checked.

[DaveJ]

5. Why is it so important?

Sure maybe less than 1% of people go to ivy league colleges, but the goal should be to destroy the paradigms that might put them at an advantage. Lots of rich politicians send their kids to public schools for the same reason. Ivy league graduates have the ability to scam high paychecks, but I don't think they positively contribute to society as much as the rest of us. That's what I consider "opportunity."

[Manifestor_of_Light]

6. This might make you feel better. Same story, different decade.

I went to college in the 70s and graduated from a highly esteemed private college, although not Ivy League. It's extremely highly rated by US News & World Report, anyway. I got a very good education there, and I rubbed shoulders with the rich and privileged.

That BA did not help me get a job in any way, nor did the Juris Doctor I later earned at night school, while working fulltime. My parents paid for the BA and I paid for the JD, so I don't owe any loans. The only degree I got that helped me get a job was the 2 year vocational degree I got, and I got burned out on that profession before I was 35, I think.

I went to school with the elite, both college and the private law school I attended, but no classmates would do the slightest thing to help me find a job either.

I got two of my three degrees from private schools, but still couldn't use them to find a job, for reasons that baffle me, other than corporate greed.

I don't think the difference in opportunity would be explained by a public university degree versus a private university degree. I think it's who you know. A lot of the rich kids go to public universities too.

In Corporate America, you're supposed to crawl off and die quietly when you turn forty, because by then you are too educated, too experienced and too expensive to pay.

However, when the middle class disappears, the rich will have nobody to buy their products and services.

[Book Lover]

7. I manage people who have gone to "elite" colleges

and here I am with my BA that it took me 5 years to get from a CUNY school. You have to be born into the elite class to get these advantages - they do not come from attending the "right" school.