Graduating from college 50 years ago was about as necessary as getting your teeth cleaned every month . It didn't hurt your future, but a high school education was generally accepted as "good enough" to live comfortably. In the United States, manufacturing jobs were easy to find and many people purely climbed the employment ladder by using experience and hard work. The true "academic" in American society was a minority. Today, well-educated, intelligent, ambitious youth are facing the once-unthinkable for the educated: unemployment.
Multinationals have taken shelter in countries like China and India where labor is cheap and expendable. What are a few possible causes?
- Overpopulation
- Climate Change
- Globalization
- Outsourcing
- Over-educated
- A widening "generation gap"
Four of the five business classes I am taking this semester work to incorporate these issues. It's the first time we are asked to apply the classes we have taken and analyze the big picture. The ideas I listed above are broad, complex and each worthy of their own graduate degree.
I am interested in the consequences of our actions today. It is impossible to predict the future, but I can't help but be fascinated by this crisis. As I said in the beginning, in the last 10 years, our population has become over-educated. There is a gap forming between the established 50-somethings that have worked hard to get to where they are, both through education and experience, but mostly experience. They are the ones that take an "old school" approach and believe you must work your way up from the bottom.
Today, there is an increasing sense of entitlement from 20-somethings. Over-educated, well-to-do young professionals with MBAs and JDs and PhDs find themselves barging into positions, expecting raises and thinking that they deserve everything when, in actuality, they have a $150,000 piece of paper. That's not to say that education is worthless, nor is it to say that smart people don't deserve high salaries.
The problem is there is an inordinate amount of these people with expensive pieces of paper all shooting for the same jobs and, in some cases, have expensive pieces of paper financed with loans that are starting to come due. Interest is piling up and unemployed young lawyers, fresh out of law school with degrees from the finest institutions in America, are unable to put food on their table for one. This last part was pulled from an article I recently read in the New York Times entitled: "Is Law School a Losing Game?"
This perspective is merely one part of the issue. Law school is one example, in one part of the country, affecting a relatively small number of people. It gets worse. In China, "Slumdog Millionaire-type" slums are forming with college graduates that have blown their life's savings, with that of their parents on degrees that promised a better life. The only thing is EVERYONE thought that might be a good idea. Now there are millions of young Chinese standing around with no jobs, no money and a pile of debt for life.
Solution? I've been taking an interest to this craziness because of the future. The future of America and my great-grand children. I hope to try and wrap my mind around what is becoming a larger global crisis that will affect generations to come and hopefully help to remedy the issue.
Showing posts with label Political Ramblings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Political Ramblings. Show all posts
15 January, 2011
09 December, 2010
"Tuition fee decision day"
So, this being a former London blog and me being a college student, I thought it appropriate to comment on the madness that went down in the City of Westminster earlier today. London's Metropolitan Police had their hands full dealing with massive protests. Rocks were thrown into the windows of City Hall, likewise at the High Court, a Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square was set alight and a car carrying Prince Charles and Camilla was pelted with a barrage of rocks.
Why all this violence? Earlier in the day, MPs finalized a vote that effectively *triples* university tuition rates, capping the fees to a maximum of £9,000 per year in England, by a majority of 21.
First, I'd like to point out that yes, if I saw my tuition bill tripled, it would infuriate me, but no I wouldn't find myself running for DC ready to throw rocks at the President.
I get that David Cameron, with the help of his coalition Government, has successfully implemented the largest austerity plan ever; cutting billions of pounds from the Government's annual budget and I understand that it must be outrageously expensive to cover the cost of all those tuition bills (since the number of students attending university is rising steadily every year). But tripling the cost? Really? All at once?
What ever happened to doing things methodically, with a plan or maybe some options? It would be so much more reasonable if they had a ten year plan that would A: allow students who are in the middle of their schooling to finish and B: give some people some time to prepare for that massive increase.
We must also put this number into context: £9,000 per year in England. As of 30 seconds ago, Google told me £9,000 is equal to roughly $14,000. What? $14,000?
For a typical private, liberal arts education in the US you're going to pay $20-30 if not more than $40,000/year for school. Let's realize that the British Government is still subsidizing much of that cost. Universities in Europe don't have some magical power which makes them any less expensive to run, maintain, stock with books, or cut the grass. The Brits have just been pretty generous. And to think that before this so-called "austerity plan," put in place by the now-divided "coalition" Government (quickly becoming an oxymoron), Parliament was set to vote on ELIMINATING TUITION FEES for all university students. Mind. Blown.
PM Cameron's new coalition Government, however, has realized running a massive budget deficit probably isn't the most fiscally responsible thing if one is trying to ensure long-term growth and stability. The result? They've been cutting everywhere to the tune of 81 billion pounds ($126 billion). That's about what we spend in Iraq over the course of two business days. Awesome.
Two problems: a ballooning deficit and poor university students. I don't have a solution, but I will say:
A: As cool as Government subsidizing every student's university education sounds, it's impractical, expensive and unreasonable.
B: Give those poor students a break; decrease the funding in small, planned increments until it drops to the final level which is evidently triple the max now (£3,000 to £9,000).
And let's be real, if I was paying £3,000/year to attend university, I would be ecstatic. Grow up, get over it and take out a student loan.
Why all this violence? Earlier in the day, MPs finalized a vote that effectively *triples* university tuition rates, capping the fees to a maximum of £9,000 per year in England, by a majority of 21.
First, I'd like to point out that yes, if I saw my tuition bill tripled, it would infuriate me, but no I wouldn't find myself running for DC ready to throw rocks at the President.
I get that David Cameron, with the help of his coalition Government, has successfully implemented the largest austerity plan ever; cutting billions of pounds from the Government's annual budget and I understand that it must be outrageously expensive to cover the cost of all those tuition bills (since the number of students attending university is rising steadily every year). But tripling the cost? Really? All at once?
What ever happened to doing things methodically, with a plan or maybe some options? It would be so much more reasonable if they had a ten year plan that would A: allow students who are in the middle of their schooling to finish and B: give some people some time to prepare for that massive increase.
We must also put this number into context: £9,000 per year in England. As of 30 seconds ago, Google told me £9,000 is equal to roughly $14,000. What? $14,000?
For a typical private, liberal arts education in the US you're going to pay $20-30 if not more than $40,000/year for school. Let's realize that the British Government is still subsidizing much of that cost. Universities in Europe don't have some magical power which makes them any less expensive to run, maintain, stock with books, or cut the grass. The Brits have just been pretty generous. And to think that before this so-called "austerity plan," put in place by the now-divided "coalition" Government (quickly becoming an oxymoron), Parliament was set to vote on ELIMINATING TUITION FEES for all university students. Mind. Blown.
PM Cameron's new coalition Government, however, has realized running a massive budget deficit probably isn't the most fiscally responsible thing if one is trying to ensure long-term growth and stability. The result? They've been cutting everywhere to the tune of 81 billion pounds ($126 billion). That's about what we spend in Iraq over the course of two business days. Awesome.
Two problems: a ballooning deficit and poor university students. I don't have a solution, but I will say:
A: As cool as Government subsidizing every student's university education sounds, it's impractical, expensive and unreasonable.
B: Give those poor students a break; decrease the funding in small, planned increments until it drops to the final level which is evidently triple the max now (£3,000 to £9,000).
And let's be real, if I was paying £3,000/year to attend university, I would be ecstatic. Grow up, get over it and take out a student loan.
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