[ExI] big rip in education

[Stuart LaForge]

Spike wrote:

> We are so accustomed to the rich (money rich) having access to the  
> best schools, the best teachers, the best opportunities in general.   
> Now I would argue that the best educational opportunities are  
> online, available to anyone who wants to go in and gobble it up like  
> a ravenous PacMan.  Plenty of the PLP superstars come from the lower  
> socio-economic ranks.  Our local library offers free WiFi, and a  
> ChromeBook can be had for a few bucks used over at the Salvation  
> Army.  The very poor don?t really get rich (yet) but they can get  
> really smart.

The wealth of free knowledge and education available online is a  
wonderful thing from the perspective of maintaining a well-educated  
populace. But from an economic perspective, all it seems to be doing  
lowering the value of technical knowledge. Science knowledge,  
technical skills, and  STEM degrees no longer offer any sense of  
employment or financial security. I know this first hand. The only  
knowledge that matters in the modern job market is knowing the right  
people.

https://alltogether.swe.org/2017/12/is-there-a-shortage-of-stem-jobs-to-stem-graduates-its-complicated/

If you look at the graph in the link above, you will see that there  
are plenty of very well-educated STEM people flipping burgers, serving  
coffee, and performing whatever menial jobs they can find.

The value of a degree from an Ivy League school is not in the what you  
learn. As you have quite well extolled, one can learn that stuff  
online for free. The value of a high-priced private university is the  
getting to know the sons and daughters of wealthy people, since that  
is a far greater indicator of future success than any amount knowledge  
or technical skill. So many people with STEM degrees work shit jobs  
while saddled with enormous college debt, yet chances are nobody who  
knows Mark Zuckerberg personally is unemployed regardless of their  
skill level.

This is what I have observed so YMMV.

Stuart LaForge