Mike Rowe trashes college degrees, says Harvard grads are taking their 'degrees off the wall'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come back to me when high schools grads make the same money. I’m pretty happy when college educated engineers design our infrastructure

I mean…if someone passes the engineering certifications I don’t care how they learned the material whether attending college or on their own.

You do realize that the founders of Oracle, Tumblr, Open AI and many other companies only have HS diplomas…however they are skilled.

Oracle has 3 founders with 2.6 college degrees between them.

OpenAI has many founders, most have degrees. I got bored before checking them all.

Tumblr has a high school "dropout" founder.

A college degree is required for a Professional Engineer certification.

[Anonymous]

What a bunch of BS. Sure, you don’t need to go to college to be a millionaire, but by any other measure a degree from a good to great college produces the knowledge that has built the entire industrial and digital economy. Mr. Rowe should count his lucky stars that he lives in a society where smart and curious people want to learn and produce real advances in society, not just start the next landscape company or pizza chain. Not that the latter are inferior choices, but they are not the source of technological advancement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come back to me when high schools grads make the same money. I’m pretty happy when college educated engineers design our infrastructure

I mean…if someone passes the engineering certifications I don’t care how they learned the material whether attending college or on their own.

You do realize that the founders of Oracle, Tumblr, Open AI and many other companies only have HS diplomas…however they are skilled.

Oracle has 3 founders with 2.6 college degrees between them.

OpenAI has many founders, most have degrees. I got bored before checking them all.

Tumblr has a high school "dropout" founder.

A college degree is required for a Professional Engineer certification.

You realize you just reinforced pp’s point. What is the difference between the ones with college degrees and the ones without? Nothing. The degree was obviously not critical to their accomplishments.

[Anonymous]

Mike Rowe is a dufus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who hangs their degree on the wall? I have no idea where my degrees are. Once every five years or so I clean thr basement and find one. My husband and I have 5 degrees between us, three of them Ivy, and none are on the walls. Nor do we talk about them. You wouldn’t know unless you read out online bios that our employer makes us put up.
The only people who I know where they went to college are the ones who went to big basketball or football schools, because they won’t shut up about the alma maters teams. Everyone knows a Duke/ or UNC grad around March madness time!

My, oh my. How superior you are!

DH and I have five degrees between us and three diplomas of five are on the wall in our office in our basement. Not sure what on earth you think is so awful about that.

My husband and I went to undergrad at a school DCUM scoffs at (I was told here my degree isn’t worth the paper it’s written on) and we have ours hanging up in our hallway. Along with his two masters and my medical degree. I guess we suck.

I don’t understand why you would hang them up in the hallway. Why not put up nice pictures instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come back to me when high schools grads make the same money. I’m pretty happy when college educated engineers design our infrastructure

I mean…if someone passes the engineering certifications I don’t care how they learned the material whether attending college or on their own.

You do realize that the founders of Oracle, Tumblr, Open AI and many other companies only have HS diplomas…however they are skilled.

Oracle has 3 founders with 2.6 college degrees between them.

OpenAI has many founders, most have degrees. I got bored before checking them all.

Tumblr has a high school "dropout" founder.

A college degree is required for a Professional Engineer certification.

Sure, everyone knows the founders of Oracle…Larry Ellison and….who?

Sam Altman at Open AI and who? Oh yeah…the people nobody knows

Thanks for proving my point BTW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s absolutely right. At this point most people are just paying for a piece of paper, not an education.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Have you met a biomedical engineer?

Yes. Many, in fact. And I also know what the word “most” means, so…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a bunch of BS. Sure, you don’t need to go to college to be a millionaire, but by any other measure a degree from a good to great college produces the knowledge that has built the entire industrial and digital economy. Mr. Rowe should count his lucky stars that he lives in a society where smart and curious people want to learn and produce real advances in society, not just start the next landscape company or pizza chain. Not that the latter are inferior choices, but they are not the source of technological advancement.

Get real. The average college graduate is going to be a worker bee, doing what they’re told for 40 hours a week, often in a job which bears little to no resemblance to their field of study. So neither will they be the source of technological advancement. (Not to mention the implication that ALL technological advancement is inherently good… I strongly disagree, but that is an entirely separate conversation.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He’s absolutely right. At this point most people are just paying for a piece of paper, not an education.

Agree. Few kids are actually prepared for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come back to me when high schools grads make the same money. I’m pretty happy when college educated engineers design our infrastructure

I mean…if someone passes the engineering certifications I don’t care how they learned the material whether attending college or on their own.

You do realize that the founders of Oracle, Tumblr, Open AI and many other companies only have HS diplomas…however they are skilled.

Oracle has 3 founders with 2.6 college degrees between them.

OpenAI has many founders, most have degrees. I got bored before checking them all.

Tumblr has a high school "dropout" founder.

A college degree is required for a Professional Engineer certification.

You realize you just reinforced pp’s point. What is the difference between the ones with college degrees and the ones without? Nothing. The degree was obviously not critical to their accomplishments.

Tell me you know nothing about AI without telling me.

Most of OpenAI’s founders have PhDs, as do a huge, disproportionate number of the top staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fact still remains that majority of jobs require a college degree. Even EA/"secretary" positions now often list it as a requirement for the job, when 20+ years ago that was not a thing.

So unless your kid is interested in the Trades, a college degree is the best path forward to a good paying career. And even if you go into the trades, a 2 year business degree can be helpful because I don't know many 45yo+ working in the trades who don't wish they could be "running the business"/not be doing the physical labor for 8+ hours a day. Those jobs can wear on your body as you age. AA in business just might set you up to be managing/running the business.

So the key is getting the degree at an affordable rate. That means with minimal debt, especially if you know the first 5 years with your degree will be "lower paying" and for some majors will never go "high pay" unless you switch careers (think social work, education and even things like PT---a 3 year Doctorate is required yet you will max out at $100K in most areas, except VHCOL, yet many spend $200K to get the degree, so if you plan that route, undergrad needs to be Debt free or close to it). If you want to be a teacher, great, we need awesome teachers. But don't go into major debt to get your degree. Figure out where you want to teach, go to school in that state and do your student teaching there and get certified in that state. Do it as cheaply as you can at a decent school---there are many in most states that are great and affordable. Life will be much easier when your starting salary is $45K if you don't have $80K+ in student loans hanging over your head.

I am not agreeing with Mike Rowe...but, there are tons of headlines of companies no longer caring about a degree vs. showing they are qualified for the job. You can decide you don't believe Deloitte, Google, etc....but publicly they are claiming a 4-year degree is no longer required.

Here are several recent articles:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-degree-job-requirement/
https://www.intelligent.com/nearly-half-of-companies-plan-to-eliminate-bachelors-degree-requirements-in-2024/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-12806053/companies-ax-college-bachelors-degree-requirements-walmart.html

Well we're in a labor shortage now. Who do you think they will hire when the tables turn back and unemployment rates rise? The high school graduate or the college graduate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a bunch of BS. Sure, you don’t need to go to college to be a millionaire, but by any other measure a degree from a good to great college produces the knowledge that has built the entire industrial and digital economy. Mr. Rowe should count his lucky stars that he lives in a society where smart and curious people want to learn and produce real advances in society, not just start the next landscape company or pizza chain. Not that the latter are inferior choices, but they are not the source of technological advancement.

Get real. The average college graduate is going to be a worker bee, doing what they’re told for 40 hours a week, often in a job which bears little to no resemblance to their field of study. So neither will they be the source of technological advancement. (Not to mention the implication that ALL technological advancement is inherently good… I strongly disagree, but that is an entirely separate conversation.)

NP. And the average non college grad is going to likely work more hours for less pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t it interesting that as degree attainment becomes dominated by women, it’s no longer valuable/meaningful? (Along with greater rates of POC and those from lower SES.)

Things that make you go hmmm

Yup

[Anonymous]

So Mike Lowe’s kids should not go to college. And the kids of anyone who is persuaded by his arguments. Maybe someday someone will sue him because they followed his advice and later realized all the things he didn’t take into consideration and what a bad choice it was. Don’t think any jury would side with them unfortunately. At any rate, I, and most normal people will continue to send our kids to college if it’s right for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come back to me when high schools grads make the same money. I’m pretty happy when college educated engineers design our infrastructure

I mean…if someone passes the engineering certifications I don’t care how they learned the material whether attending college or on their own.

You do realize that the founders of Oracle, Tumblr, Open AI and many other companies only have HS diplomas…however they are skilled.

Oracle has 3 founders with 2.6 college degrees between them.

OpenAI has many founders, most have degrees. I got bored before checking them all.

Tumblr has a high school "dropout" founder.

A college degree is required for a Professional Engineer certification.

You realize you just reinforced pp’s point. What is the difference between the ones with college degrees and the ones without? Nothing. The degree was obviously not critical to their accomplishments.

Tell me you know nothing about AI without telling me.

Most of OpenAI’s founders have PhDs, as do a huge, disproportionate number of the top staff.

There is that stupid phrase again…the bulk of the Open AI “founders” relate to its non-profit days and are academics that are not even technologists. They weren’t founders in any real sense because they had nothing to do with actually creating the technology but are ethicists that really just sat on the board. Yes, there are PhDs at Open AI, as there are at plenty of companies.

Sam Altman who everyone recognizes as the product founder and CEO dropped out of college. As did the 2 Microsoft founders; Jack Dorsey that founded multiple companies; Mark Zuckerberg; The he list goes on.

Folks…stop being obtuse…you have to be skilled, this is not HS dropouts with no skills…the point is companies don’t care how you acquire the skills.