A Well-Rounded Education Doesn't Have to Start with College
Tuesday, August 26. 2008
I'm going to step back from economics for a moment and write about teaching economics to both undergraduates and graduate students. Based on that experience, I have some advice for talented high school students: Don't go to college. And advice for talented college graduates: Don't get a job. Read more...
Whether productive and relevant or downright horrendous, college internships are now considered a must-have for networking and résumé-building. School advisers say that even the most disappointing jobs can provide valuable lessons, from filing paperwork to dealing with crabby supervisors. 
I'm sometimes unnerved by some of the career advice that gets repeated over and over in job-hunting guides and career columns. Here are five particularly bad pieces of advice that I cringe every time I see: 
A New York investment banker becomes a small-town chef. A techie turns acupuncturist. An entrenched corporate exec accepts an early retirement package and converts to the ministry. Longer life spans, concerns about outliving retirement savings, and a desire to stay productive are inducing more and more workers nearing or in retirement to launch second careers. 
Democrat Barak Obama’s educational plan boils down to making minor amendments to the No Child Left Behind act, and starting a few new initiatives such as recruiting more teachers and providing more learning for students at risk. His Republican rival John McCain emphasizes school choice, but wants even more accountability, and local control over schools. 
It's time to banish the notion that all student loans are "good" debt. These products unquestionably offer the opportunity to boost one's career -- college grads make 60 percent more than those with only a high school diploma. But the changing nature of the private student loan industry -- which in recent years doled out dollars with the enthusiasm of subprime mortgage lenders -- makes it critical for students to assess the risk, and borrow with a realistic idea of future earnings potential. In fact, these loans are worse than subprime mortgages, because they can haunt the borrower for life. 
While for-profit schools as an industry suffer from a legacy of recruiting violations and continuing concerns about instruction quality, they account for 7% of post-secondary enrollment, according to a recent report by JPMorgan analyst Andrew Steinerman. They served 2.8 million students in the 2006-07 school year in degree and non-degree programs and are challenging community colleges for students who want to develop specific workforce skills. No longer content with novices in computer technology and seekers of entry-level business certificates, the for-profits are now racing to stake claims in such growth industries as health care. 
This paper addresses the pros and cons of a policy aimed at substantially increasing rates of postsecondary education. The focus is whether projected employer demand justifies an expansion of college education. 
Their book really emphasizes on creating results instead of just “being there.” An employee’s ability to produce positive results is what really matters. Every company that I’ve ever worked for threw sludge (snide comments from co-workers). Just last week I heard a comment about me coming in late when in reality I was giving a talk to a local organization, promoting our services. 
On a recent routine visit, a purveyor walked into Jesse Cool's Flea St. Cafe in Menlo Park, Calif., and told the restaurateur he was thinking of leaving a job on his family's organic farm to attend cooking school. Cool, a 33-year industry veteran, gently advised him first to see if he could live on a fraction of his wages for three years. 
If you're like most women, restarting your career after a few years off to raise kids depends on three magic words: flexible work schedule. While a 40-hour-plus workweek remains the norm, many employers—maybe even your old one—have adapted to the demands of working parents. With a little smooth talking and determination on your part, you might find a good job in which you set the hours and maybe even set up an office at home. And if not right off the bat, you might be able to work a conventional schedule for a while, then angle for a more flexible gig after an initiation period. 
Forget working hard for the money. Some factors that influence salary are beyond your control. The truth is that some factors correlated to higher pay are impossible for a person to control. Studies show that taller people make more money, but can people increase their height? Similarly, can a man become a lefty after decades as a right-handed man? Can a woman become a man? What's more, there are factors in how you behave outside the office that are associated with higher pay. For example: If you like rum in your Coke, you'll make more money. (It is, at least, a good argument against prohibition.) 
Princeton Review is out with its latest rankings of colleges nationwide, in all sorts of categories -- from the best classroom experience to the best party schools. A new one -- the greenest colleges. 
In our last post, we gave the real story behind five of the most common college myths. And now we’re going at it again. Here are five more popular college untruths, along with the reality check that goes with them. 