You're assuming here that everybody who exists in your world view can apply to and be accepted to the best public university in the state. But in reality, only a very few are that talented. And its not just because of bad life choices, its because they never had access to the kind of ideas that would have gotten them interested.
Society now writes many poor Americans off before they were even born. Its much worse now than when I was growing up. And outside of tech, in so many areas, the entry level jobs are all "internships". Meaning unpaid work. Worse than perpetual postdocs.So public higher education that you count on existing, here, is under attack.
What about in a few years when its gone private?
Or perhaps I should be asking, what happens in a few years, when the bulk of work is automated, jobs are increasingly scarce for all but the very very brightest, and the Kool-aid of capitalism so many have drunk so deeply of, starts wearing off?
Quote from: blueskull on Today at 18:43:20>
An in state student needs only to pay half the tuition and they are allowed to work to make living cost, and I know guys who can support all their living costs on their own labor. That means their family only has to pay $40k for the entire BS degree.But dont people need at least an MS or PhD now to get a good, permanent, stable job in the sciences? (except maybe in engineering)
Quote from: blueskull on Today at 18:43:20Considering average household income in NC is $53k per year, I don't think there is any difficulties for a US student to attend STEM education.
Whats happening is the middle is vanishing and the extremes of income are fattening. An M shaped distribution. The trade agreement I'm talking about may also undermine the kinds of jobs you're talking about which grad students depend on. We may even see those jobs getting outsourced, seriously.
The problem I can see is the demand of higher quality of living. If you want high living quality (say, driving a Porsche, go to bars every a few days and join frat houses) without having a rich family, then that's your own issue.
The middle class families that I'm talking about arent like that at all, NONE of them drive Porsches. More like ten or fifteen year old Toyotas. Most young people I know could never afford to buy a new car.
If you are willing to live a poor and minimalistic life for 4 years, then an average US household should be able to fund a kid to go to college every a few years. Considering age difference of siblings is ~3 years, that should not really be an issue.
Should be but again, you're making assumptions which just arent realistic. The key to all this would be teachers, but the US is bending over backwards to discourage people from entering the teaching profession.
Quote from: cdev on Today at 18:09:17>
Those who think they can go into non-STEM careers and have a stable working life are about to get a big surprise in the form of the aforementioned international services agreement which will offshore a lot, perhaps more than half of those kinds of jobs, especially ones in sectors formerly thought to be safe like quasi-public service/government. Remember all the incredulous posts in the recent Grenfell Towers post about how employees of this dysfunctional local council were still sending emails several days after the twoer burnt causing heavy loss of life wondering why they werent answering phone calls for some kind of language tutoring appointments. Thats a sign that they were outsourcing all those jobs literally to the other side of the planet. Thats coming to the US soon too, and its going to decimate certain kinds of jobs. At that point, home prices will fall, a lot because some communities will be hit so hard people will just stop buying, and tax receipts (how towns fund themselves) will dry up. They will have to raise taxes and that will cause even more problems. What I'm trying to say is the best thing the current Administration and the Democrats too could do would be resign en masses and tear up all trade agreements, NOW.>>That's an American problem, not mine. The rule of the world, boil down to the root, is to make as much money as you can. Bosses tend to screw up their employees if they are not competitive.
Blueskull, we want to welcome you, but if you want that from us you have to see our problems here as your own too, because they are. Because if you put down roots here, you will be one of us. Also, the whole world's problems are interrelated.
>>Think of Japanese white collars, they work form 9am to way after 5pm, sometimes after 9pm or later. That's why Japan is so innovative, technically developed and yet can still compete China on price in a lot of product categories.
Yes, and big parts of Japan are virtually abandoned because the stressed out Japanese have almost stopped having children. The schools, carefully shuttered up for the day the children return, are particularly touching. Something is broken in a society that treats people like this. We're now making it possible for people to do what they want. Soon its going to be possible to have only those who really want to do something and like what they do, work. I put forward that as things get more competitive, it becomes impossible for people who just want to do things for money to ever get to be the best at whatever it is, and if thats what it takes to be hired, its going to leave most people out. But thats okay because not that many will be needed unless we work at making an inclusive society.
>>The development of a country is bound to be the deprivation of the workers.
Eventually advantages of the western world will be no longer exist, and that's bound to happen as the competitors are rising. Japan, Korea, Singapore, China, and now Vietnam, and I believe Africa is not far away.
The alleged advantages of the "western" world came from fairly egalitarian nations many of us here grew up in in the postwar labor scarcity years, brought about by exactly what they're trying to eliminate, public services, delivered to end users below their costs. Public universities, public water systems, public transportation, and highways, and especially public health systems.
China is trying to emulate that level of public investment it seems in some area (the richest areas in China?) But China is still way behind. India is far worse off. India it seems now, post Modi, doesnt even try.
And in the US, it seems, becoming more like India every day. Massive greed and privatizing everything and rigid caste systems will eliminate the alleged Western Advantage faster than anything else.
However, I can see that not to happen to US at least in the next few years, and I am pretty sure I will sell this house in less than 10 years.
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