<p>UChicago president writing in The Atlantic.</p>
<p>[The</a> Myth of the Successful College Dropout: Why It Could Make Millions of Young Americans Poorer - Robert J. Zimmer - The Atlantic](<a href=“The Myth of the Successful College Dropout: Why It Could Make Millions of Young Americans Poorer - The Atlantic”>The Myth of the Successful College Dropout: Why It Could Make Millions of Young Americans Poorer - The Atlantic)</p>
<p>Education is very costly; the lack of a proper education is costlier. </p>
<p>If the college dropout is alarming, try the REAL number of high school dropouts. Fwiw, the problem is not that many do not finish earn a high school or college degree, it is that they do not learn any marketable skills along the way. While some dropouts discover the beauty of an ad hoc education on the job as a blue collar, many are not that lucky. Add the fact that many people WITH a college degree are barely more qualified, and the dropouts face an even more difficult path. </p>
<p>Although it hurst our romantic vision of equality, we would be best served by addressing the impact of our rapidly eroding system of education on the future economy. We probably could use a lot more people who were trained to do things --and know how to do things-- than merely talk about it.</p>
<p>The successful dropouts are the ones motivated to SELF-educate.</p>
<p>But such motivation makes them outliers among the entire set of dropouts.</p>
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<p>Or they loved what they were doing so much that they immersed themselves in it to the point where they became experts where someone else found value in that expertise or that expertise could be used to build products that others were willing to pay for.</p>
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<p>I guess that makes me an outlier.</p>
<p>We always took the self-education approach with our kids but we had enough to pay for their college educations. Can the desire to self-educate be instilled in kids when they are young?</p>
<p>Self-education is all about opportunities. I’d speculate that the areas of high dropouts (such as Detroit for high schools) are also poor in opportunities to find positive avenues for self-education. In addition, I’d also speculate that many of the dropouts are people who suffered from lack of guidance from the adults around them, and have learned to rely on their instincts, and not necessarily good instincts. </p>
<p>Fwiw, the bright kid who grew up in a loving family, attended a good school, but learned to code or create FB apps “on the side” might not exactly be the image of the “self-educated” who happened to be the HS or college dropouts the story had in mind. </p>
<p>We cannot expect that students will magically do better in high school or college. Our system is based on blaming the recipient (or their parents) for the collective failures. Not until we “de-romanticize” higher education and recognize that it is not the “one path for all” will we make a dent in produce masses of quasi-literates, including many with high and college degrees. </p>
<p>PS Look at the Cristo Rey model to see how some are trying to address this issue.</p>
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<p>I grew up in a single-parent minority household with one parent that worked two jobs to support the family. What helped is that we had a few books in the house and that we had a branch library that was within walking distance. A lot of things that my mother did would be illegal today - basically leaving a bunch of young kids unsupervised at home.</p>
<p>I play tennis with several business owners with no college - they have their own companies in trades, things like maintenance, landscaping, etc. I don’t know what their paths were but their destinations seemed fine.</p>
<p>I came across this article the other night when I couldn’t sleep. I was going to post it, but you beat me to it, idad.</p>
<p>BC, adult guidance can take many forms, including the mere fact to extol the value of getting an education and to do well in school. Our system is, unfortunately, based on the guidance being more and more expected to come from parents. </p>
<p>The example of business owners who do well without a college degree is well-known. That does not change that we could do a LOT better in offering better paths to the next generations of landscapers, plumbers, mechanics, and home builders. Just as we could do a lot better in helping those some companies delivering a minimum standard of excellence as opposed to the almost standard expectation of poor services and shoddy quality. </p>
<p>Does anyone really look forward to have to call a plumber or a HVAC guy? Are the houses built in the last decades as good as what was built two centuries ago? Do you know how well trained the line “chef” is who cooked your pasta or grilled your hamburger is? What has he learned about food safety and from where?</p>
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<p>I never got that at home (nobody around) or school (seems that they assumed that you knew this).</p>
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<p>I have not asked my tennis buddies how they got into their businesses. Something that I should ask them after a match. Perhaps they learned it from their parents or they just found a company looking to hire them. I do think that these guys have learned a lot on their own as they talk about experiences with customers.</p>
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<p>I assume that they do good work given how long they have been in business. They seem to be about giving good value for money. A few of these guys are mostly commercial though at least one does residential work. I wouldn’t hesitate to hire these guys for a job.</p>
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<p>I paid $10K for a new HVAC last summer. It was ready to die and I had budgeted the money. The guys who put in the last HVAC many, many years ago came and put in the new one in 1 day I believe. The weather had been hot and humid for two weeks and it was nice having AC again.</p>
<p>Our home is older than a few decades so I don’t know about what’s been built in the last housing boom but I read that homebuilders hired anyone that could swing a hammer to work on homes. That would seem to be more of a problem with hiring licensed (where applicable), qualified people to work for you.</p>
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<p>Yes, I do though I usually avoid pasta and hamburger buns these days. I do not know where she learned her skills and techniques but she does a great job with food safety from what I have observed.</p>
<p>One issue not addressed is the possibility of alternative credentialing. That is, are there ways other than attending college, or at least an “on-ground” traditional college that could provide a good indication a person is qualified for a particular occupation. Of course apprenticeships, etc. have been doing this for years, but I am thinking in terms of the so called knowledge worker fields. MOOCs are often discussed when this topic arises, but there are other vehicles. On proposal was a series of internships, with all training done on the job over a multiyear time frame rather than attending college. UW Madison now offers an assessment based degree where no coursework is required. It looks as though there may be emerging alternatives to the college vs. no college choice.</p>