High School should stop 2 years early. A third of the country makes under 12 dollars an hour doing jobs that require little schooling.

Mormontheman on November 23, 2012 at 9:46 PM

The sad thing is that in trying to give students general knowledge of everything, high school ends up just cramming too little on too many subjects, most of which – teachers forgive me here – they may never use in their lives.

We need to have students start choosing specific fields of study earlier, IMHO.

Scientists could discover new ways to get rid of lawyers.

viking01 on November 24, 2012 at 12:28 AM

rofl..

Do we really need more lawyers and scientists though?

nazo311 on November 23, 2012 at 11:59 PM

Scientists could discover new ways to get rid of lawyers.

These are innovative approaches, and could help some students keep their education debt to manageable levels. It won’t work in every discipline — law, medicine, and the hard sciences usually require a set curriculum at the college level — but it could help a lot of other students succeed without economically burdening them or taxpayers for decades. It’s worth watching to see whether these programs can indirectly lower costs and reduce the strain on academic resources in those other areas, too.

Do we really need more lawyers and scientists though?

I don’t see a downside to this plan. There are a lot of colleges that only require a student to graduate with a 2.0 and they pay up to $100,000 or more for a degree. I would think the kid who has to keep a 3.0 is going to have to work a lot harder for his “cheap” degree than some of these elite students at Ivy League schools do.

scalleywag on November 23, 2012 at 6:00 PM

Except that once 3.0 becomes the minimum grade required to continue in the program, 3.0 becomes the new 2.0. Professors — more likely, part-time adjunct instructors — will give out B’s like candy. They did when I was in college.

Too often people bash the liberal arts as if they don’t matter; they do, and for centuries they were the foundation of a well-rounded education. But no one should be going into 6 figure debt for a degree in English or Philosophy.

Get government out of higher education and watch the costs of a college education plummet.

Also, Mac Brown’s salary.

You have to have a degree to get an entry level admin job now a days.

And the greater the percentage of job seekers with a degree, the less effective having a degree becomes.

This is progressive thinking. It now allows just about everybody to get a degree. Which makes everyone’s degree worthless. If we all have degrees, how does having a degree allow you to get ahead? Remember, in the phrase “get ahead”, it is understood to mean that you are getting ahead of the pack. The pack can’t possibly get ahead of itself.

keep the change on November 23, 2012 at 5:35 PM

You have to have a degree to get an entry level admin job now a days. That salary barely lets you live comfortably in a lot of places.

There are going to be a lot of people who can’t afford this either. What this does do is allow people to work and put themselves through school without taking loans. That’s what I did and believe me it was hard work.

The Case Against the College Degree
Columnist Jack Hough: Today’s degree loses money and obstructs learning. … and compile the results on standardized knowledge transcripts.

I didn’t read all of this, but

That says it all.

This is very good. But they should also include testing out on generic required subjects like history and the arts.

Rocks

They can do that now via CLEP and DANTES tests. Most students don’t know they have this option, and most colleges and universities make little if any effort to get this info to them because it means less money for them, and we can’t have that, can we?. It’s all about the money for colleges and universities. That’s why they pile on all these unnecessary courses in the first place.

The only quibble I have is that the system is still structured to protect the revenue of the 4 year schools. Rates for community colleges are very low, particularly for students who remain in their own district. Two years ago, classes were $35/credit at our local college. However, once a student has been a student at any of the 4 year schools, he can no longer receive credit for community college courses once he has earned 60 credits. This makes sense for 4 year schools that are trying to prevent students from taking more cost-effective classes at other schools. It doesn’t make much sense for individual students, particularly those who leave the 4 year system but want to continue work on their degrees. Just amending this provision would improve the costs for many students, but the 4 year schools would pitch a fit.

Agreed. Depending upon the major and future career plans of each student, there are already ways to dramatically reduce the costs of finishing a bachelor’s degree. One could knock out most of the courses of the first couple of years by taking CLEP or DSST exams, which are accepted at most colleges and universities, pay far less for courses online through something like Straighterline (accepted at about 30 schools so far), switch to a school like Thomas Edison State College for their bachelor’s while seeking a better name school for their master’s, etc. Check out many of the ideas on Degree Forum Wiki and DF Forum to cut costs.

Bear in mind, however, that some of these ideas will not work for jobs that require more hands-on-training or where having a degree from a better-known university is a must. Oh and certainly if you get a scholarship to a college you should take it. Yet for the bulk of college students, the alternatives online nowadays will satisfy most of what they need for their intended careers. What I really like about many of these changes nowadays is that the monopoly brick-and-mortar schools have had over higher education is being seriously challenged and competition is becoming more and more accepted.

I wonder when holder will sue the state again for endless going around bho’s plans? The 10th alive and well it seems in our TX? Keep up the good work Perry and Abbott!
L

Step two: There is no step two.