Robert ReichEver notice how forgiving loans is suddenly a big problem when students get much-needed relief, but nobody blinks an eye when the richest 20% of American households get their PPP loans forgiven? Or when corporations are handed billions in subsidies?
freeluna@rbreich that’s because in debt students can’t buy there own representatives and senators. But also, a college education is absurdly expensive these days. IMHO, we need alternate, cheaper, educational paths that are of equal value to a college degree. And, most importantly, employers need to stop using college degrees as a filter for employment, and accept alternative educational paths as relevant. This will especially be a problem as AI tools are used to filter job applicants.
Louis Ingenthron@billclawson @rbreich We already do have that. They're called trade schools. And some businesses are so desperate for skilled workers, they'll even pay you to go to these schools, if you work for them after.
But for some reason, most Americans seem to feel like they're too good for such solutions. 🤷♂️
Pamela Ehn@cadenza Well, sure, but that applies to everything in life, including college; what's your point?
@LouisIngenthron you made a statement saying that Americans don’t want to go to trade school, that they think they are too good for it. That statement is problematic for several reasons: 1. It’s not true. To the extent that college has been favored over trade school is due to parents pushing college as the ONLY way to be successful. Disillusioned millennials are now giving trade school a new look. 2. Trade school can also be expensive and out of reach of many. 3. Yes, the trades are great. But as I said, not everyone can go into the trades. They aren’t exactly friendly to disabled people (or rather, they are beyond the capacity of many disabled people) so a college degree to become a knowledge worker is a better choice.