Quality of life & education

Something that has interested me in the past few years but more recently has been the quality of life versus education. The summarized version of my thoughts go something like this: while education allows us to advance technologies at a higher rate, it also reduces the quality of life in turn by taking a larger portion of each person's freedom.


Now let's dissect that.

Today, at least in the United States, everyone is encouraged to go to college. Money is pumped up into the system, and prices increase since more people are interested in getting a degree. However, more people also have the same exact degree, where there would normally be less, so the earnings decrease as the degree devalues. This causes costs to go up, but earnings to decrease, and a higher education level therefore becomes a requirement of earning more. It's a cycle of longer studies for the same exact earning level. Here's an interesting graphical representation of that.




This also causes a higher level of unemployment, because while we need a limited amount of "higher class" earners, more people are interested in graduate careers, which once again, in turn reduces the amount each person earns, and also makes a disproportionate pool of workers in each field we actually need workers in versus the ones people are interested in.




So the question that remains: is it worth it? To increase technologies, such as medicine and advancements in science, is it worth it to continue adding on to our learning agenda and suck the majority of our life to do work? Yes, working conditions have improved from two centuries ago due to workers' rights, but it seems that we're becoming virtual slaves for less and less money. Fifty years ago many people could get jobs by finishing Junior High School, but now the same jobs require a High School diploma. And now, people are recommending students get Masters degrees instead of Bachelor's, or to go to Graduate school to specialize.

What's going to be the next level? By 2100 are we going to have to all get a Graduate degree to earn minimum wage? And once again, do you think it's worth it?

 

Of course it's worth it, what kind of silly question is this? Knowledge and expansion of the human race is over all beneficial, just because standards increase doesn't make it bad.

In fact we have two choices with over population at the moment: either we push forward with knowledge and technology and take the necessary steps to allow further human population growth (such as space explorations), or we stop now and death ensues due to the lack of resources.

 

I agree with you that it would be worth it if you see it as the long-run of human advancements, but when I asked if it's worth it, I specifically meant to ask if you would still allow it to continue at the rate it is, knowing that we will eventually all be studying for the majority of our life, collecting debt, and then paying it off the rest of our lives, as individual humans, with a much lower salary than we normally would get.

At a point, the debt we pile up as a student will exceed the money we earn afterward as a degree. I know it's absurd to think so as of now, but we're headed in that direction. And if we increase technologies, less "lowly" workers will be needed, which will just cause them to be unemployed, since I imagine more and more machines will replace these jobs. So do you still think it would be worth it with what I have just described, or do you disagree that it will happen how I described it? If so, what do you think will happen?

 

You're thinking as an American. Some countries have wonderful public college systems where if you take their entrance exam and pass you get your education for free. Th catch is the entrance exam is very difficult and only those truly dedicated get in. So they produce great thinkers at a much lower cost without all of those people who don't actually want to be there and are just taking up space.

 

That's actually worse. Higher taxes for everyone in those socialist and near-socialist countries means that even if you get the highest degree, the majority of what you earn will be even less, and if you go based on my argument, it is that more people are going to college, meaning entrance exams would have to be tougher. However, I do like your idea that only the "great thinkers" would go on to get the limited available jobs, rather than everyone having useless degrees. Maybe that's the way to go.

 

Its totally worth it, getting people educated and expanding their knowledge is invaluable in today's terms, it would be the same by 2100.
Getting a high school diploma for a job is normal, you have to learn to make money.

 

The study also reports on a number of other trends. For example, the proportion of U.S. adults who have a four-year degree has doubled in the last 30 years and has increased almost fivefold since 1940. Other factors relating to trends in higher education, including community characteristics and international comparisons, are also documented.

 

The trend that's been happening can be explained by the laws of supply and demand. The middle class is larger and therefore more people are able to send their children to college. As such the number of applicants with degrees for any particular job is higher than the rate of job growth and so not every job is worth less and pays less, and to get a similar paying job you have to enter a group with a smaller supply - the next academic rank.
This trend's been going on for ages - you used to be able to get a perfectly good job with an 8th grade education in the late 19th century.
tl;dr no fret pump in enough money and you get a job.

 

In regards to Australian college education I know through peers' experience that it is much more different to American colleges.

From what I've been told, mostly all high schools in America are low in costs, and as a result families save their money for their children to go to college and board and pay for tuition fees as said.

In Australia, it's much different, there are government supported places where they will pay your education fees for you if you are smart enough. Hence, those that learn exceptionally well are supported and endeavor even further where those who met course entry requirements will still have to work hard...

In the end, isn't that what is wanted? A certain discipline must be adhered to in order to motivate one to learn and to succeed, if everyone were to be given college education free there would be less pressure to do well.

 

In the UK high profile degrees such as medicine and law are controlled by the state. So the amount of doctors and lawyers being produced is always slightly above the amount of these people that are retiring - keeping jobs widely available for the minority 'top' learners.

Education is always worthwhile, but can be considered more worthwhile in some areas more than others. As for the other sectors people are battling for jobs in the recession - I know people that do the same work 2 or 3 people would do just so they can keep their job.

Ultimately everyone will soon need a degree. Who would McDonald's rather employ - a graduate who has just finished their diploma or a high school leaver? The choice is pretty obvious.