There was a discussion this morning on
Fox News concerning a large number of college graduates going home to live with
their parents after graduation.
The consensus was that this is bad, because as those young people return to homes where they lived his children, they do not have an opportunity to mature. The question then is what is maturity and is it a good thing? It seems that maturity is primarily an ability to assume a sense of responsibility, particularly maintaining one's own life and subsequently assisting in the development of responsibility in others, such as children.
A second disadvantage of "going home" is that it admits to likely having made an improper judgment in obtaining a college education in a field for which there are no jobs. From that point of view, the cost of a college education is a waste of money.
We should then be asking why the US society finds itself in this position. The answer is a fairly obvious. First, the advantages of a college education with respect to employment have been oversold. There is no doubt that employed college educated people on average make a higher annual salary than those with high school educations, but there is a limit to the availability of such high paying jobs.
The second fallacy is a belief in the minds of the general public that a college education solves all personal economic problems. This leads to young people obtaining college degrees in fields where there is limited job opportunity, such as Family Relations and International Politics. This belief also leads to avoiding fields, where there are known bona fide job opportunities, such as Statistics, Accounting, Genetic Biology, and Mechanical Engineering. In other words, if all I need is a college education why not take the easy courses?
The third significant problem is the interference of the federal government. Perhaps politicians see the opportunity for garnering additional young people votes or perhaps even have a misguided understanding of market economics. This has led to subsidizing college educations with taxpayer funds. In effect, the federal government is using your money to entice young people to do the wrong thing. However, you stand for this obvious stupidity, because you likely believe also that there is some advantage to you and your children. There is not. Your children will not mature under the system of living at home. They will have wasted your and taxpayer funds in an education of insignificant value to improve their own economic situations and aid in the development of the country.
The consensus was that this is bad, because as those young people return to homes where they lived his children, they do not have an opportunity to mature. The question then is what is maturity and is it a good thing? It seems that maturity is primarily an ability to assume a sense of responsibility, particularly maintaining one's own life and subsequently assisting in the development of responsibility in others, such as children.
A second disadvantage of "going home" is that it admits to likely having made an improper judgment in obtaining a college education in a field for which there are no jobs. From that point of view, the cost of a college education is a waste of money.
We should then be asking why the US society finds itself in this position. The answer is a fairly obvious. First, the advantages of a college education with respect to employment have been oversold. There is no doubt that employed college educated people on average make a higher annual salary than those with high school educations, but there is a limit to the availability of such high paying jobs.
The second fallacy is a belief in the minds of the general public that a college education solves all personal economic problems. This leads to young people obtaining college degrees in fields where there is limited job opportunity, such as Family Relations and International Politics. This belief also leads to avoiding fields, where there are known bona fide job opportunities, such as Statistics, Accounting, Genetic Biology, and Mechanical Engineering. In other words, if all I need is a college education why not take the easy courses?
The third significant problem is the interference of the federal government. Perhaps politicians see the opportunity for garnering additional young people votes or perhaps even have a misguided understanding of market economics. This has led to subsidizing college educations with taxpayer funds. In effect, the federal government is using your money to entice young people to do the wrong thing. However, you stand for this obvious stupidity, because you likely believe also that there is some advantage to you and your children. There is not. Your children will not mature under the system of living at home. They will have wasted your and taxpayer funds in an education of insignificant value to improve their own economic situations and aid in the development of the country.
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