Given that, due to technology increases, per worker productivity has increased about 50 fold over the past decade, and yet wages (adjusted for inflation) obviously industry can afford to pay the difference (sorry investors – workers actually do the work)

As to education, I agree that it is too abstract. Also too focused on tests. And specific, segmented tasks, as opposed to a broader understanding oh how all the pieces fit together.
But where I disagree is I do think education “for its own sake” is important. Not everything has to be productive anyway, but there is real concrete value in an educated populace. In fact, I would like to see education less focused on making people job ready, and more on science, philosophy , politics, logic and reasoning, stuff that can make better citizens.

I have been too distracted while writing this comment, and now I feel if I continue it will be totally unfocused.

The end

I did an apprenticeship to fund my undergraduate degree. One year in the apprenticeship funded the next year in college. The apprenticeship gave me real world marketable skills in construction and manufacturing not to mention lots of confidence.

The degree taught me to write and think critically/more globally.It also allowed me meet lots of people including my loving wife. Social is a big bonus of college.

If there was a downside it was it took me 8 years to start making consistent money. I currently teach Industrial Art shop classes and guide my students fairly equally into apprenticeships, military, tech schools and university…. and of course right into work.

It all depends on what they and their parents desire.

Your point of view is so interesting and different. That would be so cool to harness the power of the gym to generate electricity. It might not generate as much as a nuclear generator, but if people consumed ten times less energy it might be enough. Besides, I would rather live next to a gym than a nuclear reactor.

Just as people consume and spend many times what they need on products and services, I think we consume many times what they need in energy as well. As you have said previously, “Once you learn to sweat, you don’t need air conditioning.” Minimizing air conditioning and heating could reduce energy consumption by 50%.

By the way, I am not saying that people should sell their air conditioners and heaters and suffer. I am only suggesting that our consumption is many times our needs. Keeping a whole house at 70 degrees during the summer uses ten times more energy as using a window air conditioner to keep one room at 80 degrees.

Similarly using a space heater or two to keep a few rooms at 70 degrees in winter uses far less energy than heating a whole house to 75 degrees.

Also, I feel the same way as you about using what I learn. When I learn a language (which is always), I feel like I want to do something with it. But most people don’t feel that way. They are perfectly happy doing what they are told to do. “Just go to school and don’t ask questions.” It’s easy to go through life without asking any questions. I think it depends on your personality.

George

Such rubbish all this… see how it enslaves us to debt?! ARG!

Education is the only thing that separates us from cave men. Our formal education system is far from perfect, but it’s also far from worthless.

Seriously, it took me 6 years and a change of major and a change of schools to get a 4 year degree. I personally think it was worth it, but then I didn’t go into debt and I can readily tell which of my coworkers have gotten their bachelor’s degree and the coworkers who couldn’t/didn’t.

By the time I graduated, I was desiring to earn a real salary, but it still took me 4 years to get a fulltime permanent job… oh, wait, I forgot it took another 4 years before the fulltime job was permanent.

Also, I don’t know what schools you the readers here are going/have gone to, but I think it is a bit of an overgeneralization to assume that undergrad is “4 years of summer camp.”

Not everyone is the same – humans are not made like Crispy Creme donuts, some might thrive at book learning on how to take ball point pens apart, while the person in the next seat learns better from actually takes ball point pens apart while class is going on.

As for higher ed – too many fluff subjects for me. That’s why I always skipped classes and stay in industrial arts room helping teacher with small engine repair. LOL

2. Apprenticeship is not a universal panacea. While it would be good for America to model European educational systems and steer the less academically suited students into vocational programs that would provide real on-the-job training, heirarchy still exists. Not every graduate of Wyotech (for auto mechanics) or similar programs for HVAC or cosmetology can secure a job because even at these sorts of trades they rank lower than their peers for the limited number of open positions. Being a roustabout (oil industry) or finish carpenter can be a rewarding job, when those industries are booming. But the former will be undercut by peak oil and the latter by the huge glut of housing built during the bubble.

I admit that as frugal and minimalist as my life is, I hope and strive to see my nephews and nieces (no children of my own) persist in obtaining degrees and becoming professionals or scientists. They will certainly struggle far more than I do or my father did; but the world will always need at least some doctors, lawyers and engineers. But I also tell them (and show them) why I believe it is important for their uncle (and for them) to know how to cook and garden and repair things. Because, for me, freedom is rooted not only in greater knowledge of the world, but also in greater self-sufficiency.

The world is at a roadblock right now. In the past there was always an objective to be completed by people. First it was conquering mother nature to become the dominant species, then we worked to discover every aspect of our world. It wasn’t until recently, historically speaking, that humans have covered and searched nearly the entire planet. All that is really left is the depths of the oceans. Technology has exponentially sped up the process and yet we still don’t have the means to leave the planet and continue expanding. All that is left right now is to continue increasing the standard of living for each individual. That is until the next massive discovery or we all die. So inevitably as the population continues to rise, and we work to protect this rise, along with having nowhere to go, the majority of work has no choice but to be directed as service labor. Practically every field now is directed at making life better for the individual. Most of these jobs don’t require continuous training. They are repeated steps. There are of course those working on the next thing that will advance the species. This work, because it has never been done before, is completed mostly through trial and error and requires continuous efforts. However, this work makes up the extreme minority.

Its kind of dark to think about.

The simple answer, yes. I have had quite a few office jobs (accountant, auditor, consultant, etc.), so I speak from experience. I have yet to have had a job I couldn’t have done right out of high school with a month or two of on the job training. Probably why I get bored and leave them so often.

These jobs are so easy, and pointless, no one ever notices a drop in service or in services offered when a large company cuts 10% of it’s workforce in hard times.

There is also a new way of getting a degree in France through ‘acquired experience’ this only works in some fields (not for doctors, thankfully).

And there are also an increasing number of companies (though still small) that will offer a 1-2 year apprenticeship program (bakeries, restaurants, hotels, sales etc) where you learn on the job and at the end are awarded a degree. Interestingly, the ‘apprentices’ are paid a percentage of the minimum wage based on their age–if you are very young and this is your first job, you might only get 80%.

In theory, a great program, although sometimes difficult to put into practice as it stems from government regulation, which tends to become so complex that no one can actually use it. . .