My headline should have grabbed your attention, especially if you recently went heavily into debt to obtain a bachelor's degree. The WSJ reports that college grads' inflation-adjusted earnings have declined by about a tenth in a decade. How does that sheepskin look on the wall now? Hopefully it's loaded with a bunch of pretty calligraphy that has some aesthetic value, because it's not worth anything else.
In a related development, state governments are cutting what they spend on K-12 education. This probably does not result from any realization that a well-rounded formal education now has rapidly eroding earning power and is thus a poor investment. It has more to do with the bloat that's accumulated in state-run schools for years thanks to unneeded technology toys (iPads for all!), useless administrators (i.e., multicultural curriculum specialists), and overinvestment in suburban schools that will be socioeconomically untenable as the viability of suburbs erodes.
Whatever austerity measures are unfortunately visited on K-12 education should be more appropriately directed towards state-run collegiate systems. Malinvestment in higher education shows no sign of slackening despite the disappointing WSJ report on earnings. California's madness continues with the enactment of the California Dream Act, a law that would provide more financial assistance to the children of foreigners who break the law than to out-of-state U.S. citizens who want to study in the Golden State. I am disgusted with this development and the blatant pandering to an interest group that it represents.
Middle class earnings continue to disintegrate for educated professionals. Legitimate government functions continue to hollow out with cuts to basic education. California's response is to provide more subsidies for an alien presence within our borders that undermines the rule of law. We should start asking college-educated U.S. citizens how they feel about subsidizing the educations of people who should not be here.
Nota bene: My own bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame is completely and utterly worthless.
In a related development, state governments are cutting what they spend on K-12 education. This probably does not result from any realization that a well-rounded formal education now has rapidly eroding earning power and is thus a poor investment. It has more to do with the bloat that's accumulated in state-run schools for years thanks to unneeded technology toys (iPads for all!), useless administrators (i.e., multicultural curriculum specialists), and overinvestment in suburban schools that will be socioeconomically untenable as the viability of suburbs erodes.
Whatever austerity measures are unfortunately visited on K-12 education should be more appropriately directed towards state-run collegiate systems. Malinvestment in higher education shows no sign of slackening despite the disappointing WSJ report on earnings. California's madness continues with the enactment of the California Dream Act, a law that would provide more financial assistance to the children of foreigners who break the law than to out-of-state U.S. citizens who want to study in the Golden State. I am disgusted with this development and the blatant pandering to an interest group that it represents.
Middle class earnings continue to disintegrate for educated professionals. Legitimate government functions continue to hollow out with cuts to basic education. California's response is to provide more subsidies for an alien presence within our borders that undermines the rule of law. We should start asking college-educated U.S. citizens how they feel about subsidizing the educations of people who should not be here.
Nota bene: My own bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame is completely and utterly worthless.
