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# 1. 2/4/10 1:31 PM by Alan
"Hard work should be enough in this country to support a family."

In your view, what's the minimum it takes to support a family?

Editor's Note: $35K a year

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# 2. 2/4/10 8:25 PM by Jim Mattison
I agree with your premise, Peter. The halls of academia cultivate superiority complex like fine wine. One advantage of being uneducated vs miseducated is; at least uneducated is frugal. The overbearing unreality that places 4 years at a university in a superior position to 20 years working in an industry is baffling...well not baffling actually. It's a wonderful way to create exclusivity and class superiority in a socially acceptable manner. If education were a tangible commodity, it would be the most wasted on the market.

I remember having a discussion with a college professor and a small business man about two years ago. Dinner party talk. The topic ended up touching on this subject. The professor literally, and sincerely believed that 20 years teaching in an institution of higher learning was "not sheltered" when compared to working for a living. In response to the business man, these words actually passed his lips, "You aren't REALLY educated". I almost fell on the floor in hysterics. I couldn't write comedy that funny. I guess he actually thinks time spent in practical education is like walking around in the nether. He was clueless of his condescension. It was simply a matter of fact in his opinion. And we wonder why things are so screwed up and polarized.

Editor's Note: There is a value in education. Engineers for example learn a great many things that qualify them for the position of engineer after graduation. That is an extreme example of education that works though. Most of the time it amounts to a waste of time. The rise of certifications is proof that education in many (most) industries, isn't enough.

I think that college credit should be granted for work experience and that it should be manditory for emploters to not discriminate against workers who earned their degree on the job.

It'll never happen though.

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# 3. 2/4/10 10:33 PM by little john
The socio-economic model for the twenty first century. A Peter Principal of educational hierarchies on how best to get the best out of the little man in any way that they can. Shareholders like sharecroppers still getting the short end of the stick.

just musin' little john

Editor's Note: My grandfather worked hard his whole life, belonged to a union (he was a bricklayer) and supported his family with honor. What that jackass said was eff you to my grandfather, may he rest in peace, and I think that it'll cost him. Americans hold hard work in high regard, and the false belief that you need a college degree to be an honorable man or woman is hogwash. Education is overrated, literally.

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# 4. 2/5/10 1:00 AM by Mickey Sanders
It has literally gotten to the point with me where I don't care if someone has a college degree when they apply for a job with me. I have met more morons with a degree than I have without.

I don't know what they are teaching in these colleges but in most cases they are NOT preparing their students to make it in the real world. I sometimes wonder if a degree would have held me back from the success I enjoy today.

Editor's Note: It's a racket

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# 5. 2/5/10 6:57 AM by Zjabs
"Hard work should be enough in this country to support a family."

Couldn't disagree with you more. Going outside at 8 AM and digging holes and then filling them back in until 8 PM every day would be incredibly hard work. But it isn't needed- why would anyone want to pay me to dig holes and fill them in? Going outside and climbing every tree in my neighborhood every day would be difficult and hard work...but again, it isn't needed and no one would pay me to do it. You need to work hard AT SOMETHING THAT IS NECESSARY. Heck, my learning to speak Klingon would be hard work....but there isn't a lot of demand for that talent. Hard work alone does not mean a thing- it has to be in something that is wanted. And believe it or not, there's nothing wrong with getting an education.

Editor's Note: Ah you see! You too take exception to college grad who created the job to did holes and fill them in!

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# 6. 2/5/10 10:12 AM by little john
My apologies... In rereading my comment I can clearly see where I was not coherent or direct.

The socio-economic model for the twenty first century.
A Peter Principal of educational hierarchies on how best to get the best out of the little man in any way that they can.
Shareholders like sharecroppers still getting the short end of the stick.

The Peter Principal, (to Me), is where people are promoted to their highest level of incompetency. A degree, or series of degrees, awarded by educational hierarchies, which sucks the life blood out of the "out-siders" of educational aristocracy. (the blue bloods of "organized" academia and their condescension of blue collar honesty and integrity.)

Their PHD's in reverse psychology, "enables" them to "best", (cheat, lie, steal), from the honest, humble, and honorable, for the egotistical sake of their own selfish interests.

Still, I am not too clear.
Education has "KILLED" the small farmer, and the small business owner, taxed to death, so "Exemptions" could be "HAD" by large "monopolistic" (collectives?) directed by "Masters" of business administration.
(MBA's) of Masters of Busy-"NESS" Mis-administrations aimed at cost effective, "down sizing"? (subsidized directly or indirectly by government.)

Ask any Kodak or Xerox shareholder, (sharecropper), what happened to their hard earned, mutual trust? (Their "stake" in America's dream.)A short stick at best, whittled down by "educated" masters of business mis- administrations who brokered on the long and short calls of hedging off other people's funds.

Thanx John son of a farmer and independent dairyman.

Editor's Note: An education be useless when it ceased to impart facts and focused on world views and opinions. When college grads can't find the US on a map of the world, you know the system is broke. Thanks little john!

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# 7. 2/5/10 1:47 PM by Alan
$35K huh? Trust me, you can support a family on a lot less.

Editor's Note: It depends on the size of the family. I'm not talking about the poverty line. I'm talking about living like my grandfather did. Raising a family, buying a home, putting kids through college. If you can do it for less then fantastic Alan! I would out that figure at $35K a year.

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# 8. 2/5/10 4:18 PM by Jim Mattison
Don't misunderstand me, I think formal education is wonderful, often necessary, and always useful to varying degrees. What stuns me is how prevailing the belief of many if not most educated and educators alike that all worthy education occurs within the halls of higher learning. To even consider the fact that forms of education exist outside their industry that are equivalent is academic heresy. Acknowledging that some alternative educational experiences might even be superior...well you might as well be Satan PHD.

Editor's Note: It's because Big Education has controlled the message for too long, and people like myself speaking out are too few and far between. Did you know that George Washington was a proponent of a national university system? It wasn't to control minds, push agendas or to create a political power base. His design was to make America better by advancing it through science in particular. Or in other words he wanted to give us a competitive advantage with technology.

Universities don't stress making better workers or a better country through a technological technical advantage. They stress the promotion of higher learning itself, and they themselves as the priest class who controls it. It's a racket.