Education

I came across an this article and figured i'd post it. There were many key points so take your pick...

how do you view education? what do you think about post grad in so many fields, after 4 years of a college degree?

Has it become a business?

Is education the next bubble?
Higher learning is just an overpriced, speculative investment that typically rewards graduates with dismal career prospects, says billionaire Peter Thiel
posted on April 19, 2011, at 1:03 PM
PayPal founder Peter Thiel warns young Americans that shelling out for an overpriced college education is an ill-advised, speculative investment.

PayPal founder Peter Thiel warns young Americans that shelling out for an overpriced college education is an ill-advised, speculative investment. Photo: CC BY: Jason Bache SEE ALL 16 PHOTOS

Best Opinion: L'Hote, Forbes, Atlantic

Billionaire libertarian businessman Peter Thiel, the founder and former CEO of PayPal, is perhaps best known as the venture capitalist who gave Facebook the angel investment it needed to really get started. But, increasingly, he's getting attention for his controversial views on higher learning. Last year, he launched the Thiel fellowship, which gives grants as large as $100,000 to 20 tech entrepreneurs who drop out of college by age 20 to pursue their own ideas. Then, in a National Review interview earlier this year, Thiel said that higher education is a "bubble in the classic sense," because education is "overpriced," something people have "an intense belief in," and an investment that's unlikely, in the majority of cases, to have a positive return. He made the point again last week at TechCrunch. Given the "financial disaster" of student loan debt surpassing credit card debt, does Thiel have a point?

No, education isn't about returns on an investment: The concept of the education bubble is based on horrifying, false logic, says Freddie deBoer at L'Hote. "To see an education, college or otherwise, as merely a way to increase the amount of money you make is a terrible corruption and fundamentally unsustainable." Increasing earning potential was never meant to be the sole purpose of education, and if it's reduced to that, we're all in trouble.
"Yet another casualty"

Well, college is overpriced: College has gotten too expensive, with state governments cutting aid to public universities, says E.D. Kain in Forbes. But let's not abandon institutions of higher learning. If needed, we should raise taxes to make public universities more affordable. "Yes, education costs money. But that money should not fall squarely on the heads of middle class kids who are forced to take out tens of thousands in debt just to attend school."
"A college education should not result in crushing debt"

And grad school is a particularly poor investment: College is still a good decision for most young Americans, but I can't say the same about grad school, says Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic. Grad school has become a socially acceptable way to drink beer, read, and go into massive debt in your 20s. "Upper-middle-class Americans tend to overvalue the non-financial benefits of grad school." Thiel's wrong about a lot. But at least he's "challenging the cultural assumptions that cause a lot of people to make bad life decisions."
"Is there an education bubble?"


http://theweek.com/article/index/214400/is-education-the-next-bubble

PZ your right about his take on education. I think he is more focused on having a person reach their highest potential, but in either case education is important.

There certainly are pros and cons of modern formal education. While, I feel that a basic education is necessary simply to fit in and understand modern society.
Am expensive formal education, unfortunately, seems to create (or simply expand) the gilded cage we now live in.

Was it not the No. 2 man from Oracle a few years ago that got thrown off the graduation ceremony stage for congratulating the graduating class of that year stating that they were now USD 140,000 in debt and qualified to become his servants. He further stated that they would indeed start with higher salaries than most other graduates, probably between 100K - 130K. Also that they would probably be making 200 - 300K within 10 - 15 years. That was ridiculous for the amount of time and money invested. A business based on that model would never attract s single share purchase. This was a speech to the Yale crowd. The point that was sorely missed by all those who only saw the insult was that modern college/university education is more about what you cannot do or are not allowed to do as opposed to true independent thinking. His further pointed out that the very books from which they were taught were, in all likelihood, written by people that did not conform to the existing mould at the time of their writing those books!!

Too bad about all those Wall Street super stars who were begging for jobs at McDonald's in the not too recent past.

Did any of you guys realize that our lowly "Pau-wala", entirely illiterate for all we know, remembers the exact number of pau and gutli's for at least 300 - 500 households that he delivers.
Makes the tally at the end of each month, accurately without a mistake and all this, with out knowing how to write.

How about our dabba system that is better organized than the best designed logistics operation of UPS, DHL, etc. - they themselves acknowledge this. Look up the documentary about the dabba walas - it is truly amazing.

How about India being the worlds' best recycling operation - THE absolute best. Guess who is running that operation - a group of homeless street urchins who make virtually nothing for all their efforts.
No MBA graduates would (or could) have ever designed such a seamless operation.

Unfortunately, a formal education, like money, seems to have established itself as a necessary evil without which it is virtually impossible to get ahead.