Friday, June 22, 2012

The Endth Degree

The Endth Degree

By Bill Maher

Is going to college still even worth it? College grads are coming out with degrees, yes – and herpes – but also with student loan debt totaling $60,000, $80,000, $100,00. These kids haven’t even gotten started in their careers and they’re already saddled with what’s tantamount to a full mortgage. In this sucky economy, graduates find themselves back in their old bedrooms at their parents’ homes, taking jobs in the service industry that they could have gotten without a college degree.

The cost of higher education in the US has soared in recent decades while median incomes have stagnated. The California State University schools raised their tuitions for the second time in less than a year, making this year’s tuition over 23% higher than the previous fall’s. And those are just the most recent increases. Attending a Cal State school now costs twice what it cost just back in 2007. And that’s not even counting the price of weed.

The old canard is that people with bachelor’s degrees make twice as much as high school graduates over their careers. But average starting salaries for college graduates just fell 10% and, if you take into account the higher income taxes paid by college grads and the four to six years they spend out of the job market getting their degrees, is that $60,000 to $100,000 in college loan debt really worth it?

And is the degree really worth it? A new comprehensive study of college grading over the decades finds that just about everybody who pays their tuition bills is deemed exceptional. 43% of letter grades awarded today are A’s as compared to just 15% back in 1960. By 2008, A’s and B’s represented 73% of all grades awarded at public colleges and 86% of all grades awarded at private colleges. It’s Lake Wobegon, “Where all the children are above average.” And that’s in spite of studies that show college students spend far less time studying today than they did decades ago.

If everybody is a genius, aren’t you paying $100,000 to $150,000 just to get your ticket stamped? You’re not buying an education so much as you’re buying a degree with a commendable GPA. Has the college degree with a B average become just a consumer product you can buy with a $100,000 loan? Wouldn’t a bright, industrious kid be better off in this economy to just jump into the job market and try to excel through merit?

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

College is for hooKing up with rich pEople who need foot soldiers to do their biddiNg, to arrange & dispose the wenches & drugs and after colLege, to arrAnge the pillaging and plundering.
I think a genius is someone who makes an extraordinarY contribution to the benefit of the entire human race. A piece of paper that promises a person who hasn't done anything yet is a genius is like fiat currency. A degree is in many ways a form of discrimination; they want pretty, obedient sheep, not people who can do their job far better than them, and who are not apologetic about it.
Want to get your money back, Bill? You can kill vampire squid with silver, but they are fierce & resourceful. Sunlight works much better. They ripped off a lot of well connected college grads...

Perfissor Graidpimp said...

In the highly nepotized politicized and subsidized corporate NWO with bloodsucker enforced State mandated HR policies & quotas, what does merit have to do with anything? Its like gun control & drug laws, Bill. The only people possessing anything resembling merit are by definition criminals.
So was Robin Hood. And all the Founders. See how that works?
Next time you see one ask a janitor if he-she wants to be a janitor. Then ask your thieving political friends what the fucking H1B program is for when we have 54% of the next generation out of work. If this is about jobs people don't want to do, then where is the H1B program for janitors? The brain harvesting argument is bullshit. Do a little homework and figure out how the private apprenticeship programs were destroyed. Do the math on what is actually happening to children when after 12 years of school they didn't learn any useable skills there, including study habits. If they learned anything it was at their hobbies, jobs, or mandatory charity work.
Not all colleges are accredited. Education levels are a political measure so many countries issue college degrees for what I would consider an 8th grade education. The stories I could tell...
Formal education is like every other commercialized thing. Some is very good, most of it is a scam to get your money. Everyone knows you can't turn a cabbage into a pumpkin, but so many people wish they could that there is no shortage of chumps.

Anonymous said...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-who-destroyed-middle-class-part-2

Anonymous said...

evolucion

Anonymous said...

The scary thing is that for decades you could actually buy a college degree without having even stepped once in the state the college campus is on.There was a whole network of registrar officials or employees in these colleges, many of the major ones well among them where you could with the right connections become an instant surgeon. lawyer or MBA. That's when you could not actually get away with lying on your CV like the recent Yahoo executive shows. I myself had as an English Lit teacher a person who they discovered two years after his hiring not only not having a PhD, but not even a BA and his name was not the one he was known to us.As many will of his students will attest, including myself, he was a pretty good Shakespearean scholar.But he did steal the authorship of two of his ex-students who had written a teaching book which was how he was caught.
The fact is that education which is certainly the greatest wealth of any nation is dying in the States for the very reasons stated in your blog.But we must also remember that what made the American system so great was that colleges hired the best minds of the world to teach on American campuses, which is why Albert Einstein,Jacques Derrida,Camille Paglia, Edward Said,and even Henry Kissinger came to this country.The Americans by themselves would not have become the greatest nation if not for this money invested in great minds.
What has galvanized this even more is that the definition of what is a college and university has been totally distorted beyond recognition when evangelical mega churches began to be accredited their places of mind numbing propaganda under these terms.That someone like Romney would address the graduates of such a college should be a nudge to you where the real standard of knowledge is in the current USA. But you really mustn't worry about that because if fraking,pollution and the climate change you don't believe in won't kill you, the genetically modified foods,artificial additives,various chemicals in your food will.Or a wide variety of other stuff that don't exist.Or so you say, until you die from it.

Anonymous said...

The last bit was meant for you,Bill, but for the Republicans at large.

Anonymous said...

http://www.examiner.com/article/media-censored-seven-hate-crime-mob-attacks-grand-rapids

Anonymous said...

Dr. Michael J. Burry at UCLA Economics Commencement June 20

Anonymous said...

Hey Bill, you rock but check out this guy's blog:
http://ryanfoxrants.blogspot.com/
I know you'll love it!!
He just started blogging and he is hilarious AND smart! Plus I know for a fact in just graduated college (summa cum laude no less) and has ZERO debt! LOL Really.
You should hire him or help him get a perm. post on some show or paper or something because this guy's voice needs to be heard!!
Always been a fan - keep doing what you do!

Anonymous said...

The inconvenient truth about people

Anonymous said...

Don't fine them, string 'em up.
Taibbi-Smith-Moyers

Anonymous said...

For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.
War Is A Racket Major General Butler

Anonymous said...

GMO grass mutates and produces cyanide gas.  Cattle drops dead...

http://www.weareaustin.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_2393.shtml

Anonymous said...

The truth is some college degrees are worth it and some are not, and mindlessly telling children to "follow your dreams" is just plain irresponsible. There is high unemployment in this country, but there are also shortages of talented workers. And yet we keep smiling and nodding as we watch our children incur $100k+ debt getting degrees in liberal arts... because who wants to kill a dream?

College administrators have absolutely no interest in having a frank discussion with teenagers about what their life is going to be like 4 years later with a ton of debt and one unpaid internship after another. They get paid no matter what, and they just sold you an overpriced degree that cost them the salary of a few starving grad students to give you!

Not everybody wants to be an engineer or technician or plumber or nurse, but everyone should hear the truth about what their life 4 years later is likely to be like.

Unknown said...

Oh Bill, I am in love with you. Marry me. --Student from CSUS

Anonymous said...

American college students are used to finance corporate re-engineering of America. Corporations bring in ultra-conservatives from India, give them free educations and advanced degrees on the back of American taxpayers and over-charged Americam students. Then, the corporations give the India graduates the new jobs which include pay discounts for the H1B Visa. Result is cheap consevative labor, depressed liberal Americans, and richer corporate execs.

Freewayblogger said...

Hi Bill, I got this slogan from one of your fine rants about climate change deniers: "Wake up and smell the burning planet!" It's been seen well over a million times now (probably three or four million, actually) and has confused enough motorists to make "smell the permafrost" the first suggestion when you google "wake up and"

feel free to use any of the pictures from my sites. yours, scarlet p. (big fan from way back)

Anonymous said...

fathers and men in a misandrist society.
(still learning to work this electronic stuff)
IT IS NOT WORTH IT IF YOU ARE A MALE!!!!

Bill, I find it amazing that you support misandry; what do you have against other men and boys?
Were you so bullied at school that now you can make societal changes you are reaping revenge on those bullies? Well let me tell you; you are reeking havoc on a lpt of men and fathers who are just trying to survive; you are adding to the 80% suicide rate that men experience

Anonymous said...

There's a security cam video of Mitt Romney on a well known strip in NV drunk beating the shit out of one of those women handing out flyers to titty bars. You can hear him in it telling her as he kicks her in the ribs, "The coupon didn't work!" Looks like he peed himself too.

Anonymous said...

Why don't we just admit the fucking country has been abducted already and revolt? Who are we waiting for? We know it will not change. Your kids are dieing in battle already anyway for ideals and money you don't approve of. Stop blogging your fucking lives away and make a difference already. But of course this is easier.

Anonymous said...

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” – Frank Zappa

Anonymous said...

How do you like King Obeyme now? You still think there is going to be even the pretense of an election in November? Pipe dreams, brother. This is the end and education, not a college degree, is civilization.
Can you see?

Anonymous said...

Monsanto test results

Anonymous said...

Homeschool your kids and give them a Classical education (i.e., the 'trivium'). They will know how to think and reason and will be able to succeed at anything they decide to do in life. They will in all likelihood become the best, most respectful, reverent citizens our country has to offer. More likely than not, they will be able to get into college on scholarship, thereby graduating with zero debt....and all without a government handout, whining to politicians (or anyone else, for that matter) for help, or kissing some bureaucrat's ass. Priceless!

Anonymous said...

Not all majors have the problem of passing people through. The hard sciences like physics is still pretty difficult to get an A in. I spent 50-60 hours a week studying to get my A's in undergrad and grad physics. I will agree that many of the social sciences, biological sciences, English, medical, business and law are quite easy to get A's in. Yes I have taken some classes in those areas just to see how the other 90% have to work to get an A. No wonder we have so many dumb a..ses out there. I will also agree that students have gotten real lazy over the last 10 years since I have to teach some of them becoming engineers and frankly I would be scared to buy some of the things these students may design in the future. Not all students are lazy and weak minded, but many are. This stems from a weak public school system and parents that do not have the time to show their kids how to do things. A lot of gamer kids.

Anonymous said...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/7473254794/in/photostream/

Lily Cruz said...

What's the difference between going to an ivy league (second rate college) and community college?
Well you'll be in debt for more than $100,000 for a college education. The latter less than $10,000.

Why are we paying an outrageous amount for education just so the college can spend on latest splurge on Snooki's speaking engagement.

College tuition's have sky-rocketed since the beginning of this century.
Enough already get back to the 1960's, when tuition was a very good
price to get a very highly warranted education and not a overpriced diploma.

Gissellr78 said...

I love you bill. You are fucking hillarious and so is your fucking show. Lol
Oh and mitt is a retard ;)

Anonymous said...

Inside Job, Narrated by Matt Damon (Full Length HD)

Unknown said...

I personally think that nowadays in the global village distance learning has emerged and evolved in a positive direction which allows students to study at home and buy college degree easily within their premises.

Unknown said...

Nice Post, thank you
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Gambar Animasi Lucu said...

Homeschool your kids and give them a Classical education (i.e., the 'trivium'). They will know how to think and reason and will be able to succeed at anything they decide to do in life. They will in all likelihood become the best, most respectful, reverent citizens our country has to offer. More likely than not, they will be able to get into college on scholarship, thereby graduating with zero debt....and all without a government handout, whining to politicians (or anyone else, for that matter) for help, or kissing some bureaucrat's ass. Priceless!

Gambar Animasi Lucu

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