I saw academic rigor fall of a cliff in exchange for 'better job alignment' between end 80s when I had my first class after finishing highschool called 'Formal verification in software' on to beginning of the 2000s when I left giving the first class to new students 'Programming in Java'. All the 'teaching how to think' was replaced with 'how to get a well paying job'.

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mschuster91 3 hours ago | parent [-]

> All the 'teaching how to think' was replaced with 'how to get a well paying job'.

Yeah. Companies didn't want to train new employees any more as that costs money (both for paying the trainees and the teachers) so they shifted to requiring academic degrees. That in turn shifted the cost to students (via student loans) and governments.

People call it a red flag for scams if you are supposed to pay your employer for training or whatever as a condition of getting employed... but the degree mill system is conveniently ignored.

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Sharlin 21 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Costs are externalized, profits are privatized. A tale as old as the society itself.

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lotsofpulp an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

The problem was the government providing the blank check loans with no underwriting. Without that subsidy from future taxpayers, incentives would be properly aligned.

No lender would have been stupid enough to give 18 to 22 year olds $200k for bullshit degrees and sports facilities.

The onus would have remained on employers and government to pay for education, rather than a certification, because they would have been the ones paying.

	▲	999900000999 4 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		College should have never been presented as the only way to the middle class. In high school they shutdown my advanced trades class, maybe I could have been ready to hop into a decent job after graduation. I recently spoke to a young art school grad who talked about getting on disability over a life of the corporate grind. Who am I to disagree ? The Pentagon has never passed an audit, the government coffers are effectively a slush fund for defense contractors. At this point, I think a universal basic income is the only way. Not enough jobs exist for everyone. Poverty doesn’t need to exist