« instant | Main | thinkers »
September 14, 2010
education bubble
A friend posted recently about the education bubble. I knew changes were occurring at the graduate level but I didn't see the issue permeating through all upper education levels.
I graduated with undergraduate loans in spite of working at least one job and up to three jobs all through my college years. Once I graduated, I found out that my undergraduate degree (which will remain nameless) would provide me an income below the living wage. However, due to my college connections and graduating at the right time, I was able to gain employment and on-the-job training in another field. I would not have been as well-prepared if I had gone straight from high school to the work field. Maybe, if I had Bill Gates or Madonna as a parent, but a few are so lucky.
Over the years, I have seen misuse of school loans but I saw a small percentage of my fellow students abuse them. Most of time, these students had no need for the loans.
The article brings up interesting questions about directing loan money to certain areas of studies. Yet, I don't see significant short-term effects of education bubble collapse. Faculty will most likely to be culled but the effects will be minor due to the number of incoming students.
I believe there is a problem with student loans but I would hope that the government believes it to be an long-term investment rather than a black hole (unlike some of the other mandates that it funds). Education has been a safety net for people during this recession and hopefully, this positions us to better lead and steward the next economic growth.
BTW, a friend was raving about this online journal on higher education.
From an article on pharmaceutical consultants on the site:
In a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, Biederman was accused of promising positive research results to the company in exchange for funding. A hint of Biederman's self-opinion emerged in a deposition, where a lawyer asked him about his academic ranking.
Biederman: "To move in the ranks from one rank, for example, at Harvard, there is instructor, from instructor you move to assistant professor, from assistant professor you move to associate professor, from associate professor you move to full professor."
Lawyer: "Full professor?"
Biederman: "Mm-hmm."
Lawyer: "What rank are you?"
Biederman: "Full professor."
Lawyer: "What's after that?"
Biederman: "God."
Lawyer: "Did you say God?"
Biederman: "Yeah."
Posted by azileretsis at September 14, 2010 03:37 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)