Presidential candidate Andrew Yang, in an interview with Joe Rogan, explains how the failing excellence of college education negatively impacts our economy and the future of our children.
- U.S. student loan debt is now 1.5 trillion(!) dollars, 15 times higher than in 1999. It is causing young people to have a noose around their necks that prevents them from starting businesses.
- 32% of Americans graduate from college.
- The U.S. has the highest college-dropout rate in the industrialized world. Only 59% of students graduate. Telling students what to think rather than how to think does not set them up for a life unscripted.
- 44% of college graduates are underemployed. So, tell me again, how does college map to real-world needs?
- Only 6% of students are in technical or vocational training (59% in Germany) and are unlikely to get automated. Meaning, 94% are in studies that can be done by robots.
- 94% of new jobs created are gigs, temporary, and contractor jobs offering no benefits like health insurance or pensions. Leaving young folks without a safety net.
Apart from those unbelievably distressing statistics, the exorbitant interest rates the student loan companies charge students. I have seen numbers as large as one-third of the total loan amount, which further exacerbates the negative impact of education on our economy.
More fodder from ten years ago here.
The paved road for students to walk on is statistically a road to nowhere. Please think twice before you send your kids to college with a debt of +$150K they will not be able to get rid of for a long-long time.
“You cannot get educated by this self-propagating system in which people study to pass exams, and teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything. You learn something by doing it yourself, by asking questions, by thinking, and by experimenting.”
— Richard Feynman
