A Different America...

[SteyrAUG]

Scanned from Male magazine July 1965.

http://i61.tinypic.com/2j3pi08.jpg

Not sure if the "get a high school diploma in your spare time at home" line is legit, a worthless paper mill or some kind of other scam, but the sentiment is accurate.

In 1965 if you didn't have a high school diploma your jobs prospects were limited. Of course if you DID have a high school diploma you could probably get a job that enabled you to buy a house, car and raise a family. Today most people with a 4 year degree struggle to do the same and many still live at home with Mom and Dad as they try to find a job in order to pay off their student loans.

And if you ONLY have a high school diploma, things can get pretty bleak. An interesting sign of the times and a benchmark of how far we've come as well as how far we've fallen.

They used to have great magazines back then too, try and beat this for a cover.

http://i59.tinypic.com/23wtsnt.jpg

[Dienekes]

The pitch for "individualized instruction" sounds a lot like the rationale behind home schooling. Hm.

Not to mention that a lot of men in that era had definitely already attended the "school of hard knocks". Now it's all about hurt feelings...

[SilverBullet432]

My buddy dropped out and went and got a "diploma" (he paid $300 and took a test) I don't think its real :lol:

[thei3ug]

Is it a different america?
You don't have evidence of prerequisite scillz, you don't bet hireds.

College diplomas are not evidence of required skills, or are grossly overproduced for specializations with limited positions. Students are making poor choices in academic paths.

As a weird aside... I didn't graduate high school. I jumped to college with the backing of a few teachers, and went back to my high school two years later and asked if they could just take my work and credit me. Graciously they did. I believe wholeheartedly that no matter the system, capable people will find a way to make it even if they don't fit into a traditional education/vocation path. I think part of the problem we see with so many unemployed graduates is what they are learning isn't economically valuable, and we're encouraging them to take paths regardless of the outcome. Even worse, we create expectations that 4 years post high school equals good job. We incentivize the behavior with loans and scholarships. Everyone is coached on the idea they should pursue academic paths of what they want to be. You can be anything you want to be. Absolutely true, but not everyone WILL be anything they want.

The main difference between the idea of a high school diploma (and not all of those are equal by a long shot) and a college diploma is that the high school should be relatively uniform and indicate a person is capable of reading, writing, and basic math. The next four years is a crap shoot. Right now 30% of our managerial staff is not college educated. They rose through the ranks and specialized that way. How am I supposed to take a person who took four years, majored in history, and have him run 50 guys? Or do cost analysis? Understand a Gantt chart?

[ramairthree]

I would not. I would take a good guy already working for me and get him to knock out a relevant degree part time and put him in the job. Or a guy that killed a summer or two working/ internship for me and nailed it it with a relevant degree.

I get sick of the liberal arts argument. All these guys saying they were trained to think, etc. with nine out of ten useless. Unless someone , regardless of their major, has passing grades in a year of calc, organic, etc. on their transcript it is impossible to know if they have any real brain power or not. You can get a b.a. In English and be a genius. Or you can be a total dumb ass. Just like an education degree. The Econ major with a minor in math or chem could not be a dumb ass and pass.