Here's a hell of a book. Here are the pain-in-the-ass facts: 1) A college education costs more than it ever did. 2) The returns on that college education are less than they've ever been. 3) The lifetime wage gap between high school diplomas and college degrees is greater than it's ever been. So: You're fucked if you go to college. But you're more fucked if you don't go to college. And your parents don't even understand the magnitude of your fuckedness. The book was a good read: it illustrated that every college is stampeding towards online education but none of them are willing to pass along the savings to their students because they're all mortgaged up to their eyeballs. It pointed out that three different nonprofit mammoths are establishing universal education standards such that if you test out of English 101, you test out of English 101 everywhere. And it made a convincing point that the middle can't hold, the entire system is going to shift and the future of higher ed is bright but there's a bloodbath coming before we get there. It's a shitty time to be a recent college grad. It's going to be a less shitty time for their kids. Millenials will have the last laugh; here's the 'boomers slagging on Generation X shortly before they created The Internet. Doesn't help in the moment, but all these people griping about what cheap pricks the millenials are have a future filled with cat food and sawdust ahead of 'em.
> It's a shitty time to be a recent college grad. It's going to be a less shitty time for their kids. Millenials will have the last laugh; here's the 'boomers slagging on Generation X shortly before they created The Internet. I wasn't born until a month before that article was written. Now people who were considered "whiners" around that era are complaining about us being whiny.
> So: You're fucked if you go to college. But you're more fucked if you don't go to college. This makes going to college sound like some sort of educational drug. 30 years ago, you used it to get anywhere you wanted to. Nowadays, you need it to get anywhere at all.
I should read that book. These are the things I idly wonder about. I knew those three facts, and that's what I'm talking about. Something's got to give, right?? Or will we all just end up really educated and really broke? I like that you mentioned the parents not understanding the magnitude of fuckedness. I constantly feel disconnected from a generation doesn't understand or even believe in the validity of the bleak prospects that millennials face.
This is something I keep hearing, and it scares the hell out of me. I'm glad the future is bright, but I'm wondering what will happen to the students, parents, teachers, and whoever else gets caught in the crossfire. I've no doubt that large groups of people are going to get really screwed. I'm also in the last two years of my 5-year program. When I finish, I'll actually be going into education. I guess I should keep tabs more closely on all this, huh? I love the article you shared. I feel as though if you replaced the nicknames for the populations of the respective generations in the article, if could be taken word-for-word as a gripe about millenials. I'm not really upset, but that's probably because my parents are more than understanding of the situation, and, regardless, I'm personally in an excellent spot and don't have a lot to be worried about. I'm very lucky and grateful for these things. I know many of my peers are much more frustrated.the future of higher ed is bright but there's a bloodbath coming before we get there.
It's a good read, and a quick one. Especially if you're going into education. I read just the one book but it seems to me that as always, there's opportunity in the delta. Focus on distance learning. Focus on compatibility between academic standards. Focus on, I shit you not, badges. And let me know what you find out. I got a kid to put through college and I'd like to be able to plan. The current state of affairs makes that a tricky proposition.