Earning Half A College Degree Is Better Than None

To me its all good. People should study hard, get good grades, work hard, read and learn outside of school and work, and commit to a life long learning program. It is not enough to study for 4 years at Harvard and then slack the rest of your life. So I agree that going to school is a good way to get paid more but it is not sufficient in the private sector. Many college graduates are inept and incapable of doing anything useful at work. I know this because I have worked with some of them.

 

I think the days of working your way up are gone for my generation and the one after me. You might be able to work your way up at a fast food restaurant, open your own business (most businesses fail), or get into IT without a degree (even though this is probably changing); but, most of the high-paying jobs require a degree: law, healthcare, accounting, engineering, etc. Maybe it's because I've been working in the criminal justice field for several years, but I know too many security officers, corrections officers, and police officers without degrees who have the IQ of a brick and suck at their jobs. It may not be the case that college would make them smarter. As you said, smarter people are probably more likely to go to college; but, some agencies could really benefit from raising their standards. My agency seems to embarrass itself in the news a couple of times a month every month.