Someone made a reply to your post... also positive-signalling feedback loops do exist until they are cut off by thresholds, like the urge to urinate... isn't crypto technically a positive signalling feedback loop?
My suggestion is that we need to overhaul the public school system in this country to reflect something more akin to Europe and the German model as was when I was there.
We have waay too many folks entering college, who should not be there. At least double. You make mention (graph) of the rising numbers of females and the flat numbers of males (IIRC). More interesting might be the graph of the numbers of males vs females in rigorous courses of study, say STEM fields vs faux courses of study, like “Communications”, “Feminist Theory”, and the like. Universities admit those of low ability—basically anyone who can fog a mirror—for the purpose of tuition milking, then are forced to create faux study fields to award degrees in. In my day, it was faster and cheaper just to send a $200 to a ‘degree mill’ and have them send you a fancy engraved piece of parchment with your name on it.
HS is much the same. I believe you mentioned something to the effect that anyone can attend and complete. Definitely, and so an HS education and degree now is worthless as well. That wasn’t the case in the early 1900’s thru the 1940’s. Many did not complete a HS degree due to the rigors of the instruction and the lure/need of gainful employment. Grade school taught what was necessary to make your way as a self sufficient American citizen. HS was a bonus of sorts, but not always completed, and considered more as preparation for university application. For me, indeed it was.
So where do we go from here? The resources devoted to tertiary education are immense, while the economic/societal promise of a degree is fading rapidly. HS is now pretty worthless and the students often learn nothing of value to a future employer. I propose we divide students at the HS level into dual tracks: academic (college bound), and trades. Concomitantly we can restructure the curriculum of each to provide a solid education tailored to the student’s interest and ability.
Of course, this requires we reject our egalitarianism fantasy. Not sure we are at that point yet as a nation.
I agree with your comment and I think taking a closer look at the German education system makes much more sense for the US than looking at East Asian systems (or Finnish).
I’m also familiar with the point you make about lots of people not going to high school in the early 1900s through 1940s, and I think it’s an interesting point. I knew a couple older generation members of my family who grew up in the 1900s through 1940s; one was Canadian and one was American. The Canadian one was the first member of his family to complete high school. His siblings only completed 8th grade. He then went on to college. The American family member only completed 8th grade. She was certainly more literate than many high school graduates of today.
The mess we are in is all complicated by the lack of jobs for people. I have come to believe that offshoring manufacturing was catastrophic for our country. It didn’t create the problem we are in, but greatly exacerbated how unbalance, weird, and out-of-whack things are. It has played a significant role in people chasing bogus degrees and careers. What else can they do?
“She was certainly more literate than many high school graduates of today. “. Bingo, hence we claim HS is a worthless signaling device. Of course, ironically, that’s also a defect in my argument. Failure to complete HS today is much worse than 50 years ago due to the lack of high standards of curriculum.
My father had to get a job after 8th grade—this was in Europe. My mother, second generation European, graduated HS here. I was the first to complete university. My father never really understood this as he was a successful tradesman and wanted his heir to take over the business he created. Those were the days of the “storied” successful immigration to America.
In my long life, we went from a society where a blue collar workers could rise and afford a home and support a family to today where two wage earners can’t afford such and the family be damned! It’s arguably worse than the European country my father fled from after the war. Such is the hollowing out of the vaunted American middle class. But what makes it even more tragic is the breakdown of wealth accumulation in this country. Look up some of the graphs showing the upper class and their share of the country’s wealth across the 20th century. Middle class remains basically flat, while the wealthiest’s share rises off the charts.
I’m no socialist to be sure and am doing quite well myself, but I’m not blind either and have children facing an uphill economic battle that I never faced at their age—and that’s with them having attended the best schools available and majoring in the hard sciences.
Someone made a reply to your post... also positive-signalling feedback loops do exist until they are cut off by thresholds, like the urge to urinate... isn't crypto technically a positive signalling feedback loop?
https://endofworld.substack.com/p/beyond-signaling-education-pacification
My suggestion is that we need to overhaul the public school system in this country to reflect something more akin to Europe and the German model as was when I was there.
We have waay too many folks entering college, who should not be there. At least double. You make mention (graph) of the rising numbers of females and the flat numbers of males (IIRC). More interesting might be the graph of the numbers of males vs females in rigorous courses of study, say STEM fields vs faux courses of study, like “Communications”, “Feminist Theory”, and the like. Universities admit those of low ability—basically anyone who can fog a mirror—for the purpose of tuition milking, then are forced to create faux study fields to award degrees in. In my day, it was faster and cheaper just to send a $200 to a ‘degree mill’ and have them send you a fancy engraved piece of parchment with your name on it.
HS is much the same. I believe you mentioned something to the effect that anyone can attend and complete. Definitely, and so an HS education and degree now is worthless as well. That wasn’t the case in the early 1900’s thru the 1940’s. Many did not complete a HS degree due to the rigors of the instruction and the lure/need of gainful employment. Grade school taught what was necessary to make your way as a self sufficient American citizen. HS was a bonus of sorts, but not always completed, and considered more as preparation for university application. For me, indeed it was.
So where do we go from here? The resources devoted to tertiary education are immense, while the economic/societal promise of a degree is fading rapidly. HS is now pretty worthless and the students often learn nothing of value to a future employer. I propose we divide students at the HS level into dual tracks: academic (college bound), and trades. Concomitantly we can restructure the curriculum of each to provide a solid education tailored to the student’s interest and ability.
Of course, this requires we reject our egalitarianism fantasy. Not sure we are at that point yet as a nation.
I agree with your comment and I think taking a closer look at the German education system makes much more sense for the US than looking at East Asian systems (or Finnish).
I’m also familiar with the point you make about lots of people not going to high school in the early 1900s through 1940s, and I think it’s an interesting point. I knew a couple older generation members of my family who grew up in the 1900s through 1940s; one was Canadian and one was American. The Canadian one was the first member of his family to complete high school. His siblings only completed 8th grade. He then went on to college. The American family member only completed 8th grade. She was certainly more literate than many high school graduates of today.
The mess we are in is all complicated by the lack of jobs for people. I have come to believe that offshoring manufacturing was catastrophic for our country. It didn’t create the problem we are in, but greatly exacerbated how unbalance, weird, and out-of-whack things are. It has played a significant role in people chasing bogus degrees and careers. What else can they do?
“She was certainly more literate than many high school graduates of today. “. Bingo, hence we claim HS is a worthless signaling device. Of course, ironically, that’s also a defect in my argument. Failure to complete HS today is much worse than 50 years ago due to the lack of high standards of curriculum.
My father had to get a job after 8th grade—this was in Europe. My mother, second generation European, graduated HS here. I was the first to complete university. My father never really understood this as he was a successful tradesman and wanted his heir to take over the business he created. Those were the days of the “storied” successful immigration to America.
In my long life, we went from a society where a blue collar workers could rise and afford a home and support a family to today where two wage earners can’t afford such and the family be damned! It’s arguably worse than the European country my father fled from after the war. Such is the hollowing out of the vaunted American middle class. But what makes it even more tragic is the breakdown of wealth accumulation in this country. Look up some of the graphs showing the upper class and their share of the country’s wealth across the 20th century. Middle class remains basically flat, while the wealthiest’s share rises off the charts.
I’m no socialist to be sure and am doing quite well myself, but I’m not blind either and have children facing an uphill economic battle that I never faced at their age—and that’s with them having attended the best schools available and majoring in the hard sciences.