A generation of American men give up on college

Re:A generation of American men give up on college by Grakel on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @10:22AM (#28445214)

Everyone going to college has turned it into high school- in every metric. I'm a professor, and college is a lifestyle, the classes are a part time job, and there is greatly reduced academic rigor and seriousness. At some age, general education should become a personal journey, or soon we'll have PhDs in general studies and everyone will need one.

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Re:A generation of American men give up on college by silexia on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @11:26AM (#28445989)

My kids will be strongly discouraged from going to college. Colleges have somehow devolved from centers of education into something else entirely. Colleges now often push extreme viewpoints that lack evidence, colleges have dangerous drinking and drug cultures, and colleges bury their students in debt that enslaves them for life.

A good education can now be had on YouTube... I have spent the last year learning construction there and the quality of content is excellent. Years ago, I learned to program quite well using online courses and I am sure those have improved even further. I tried to learn diesel mechanics from a textbook That was the top rated in the field, it is shocking how terrible learning from a textbook is.

I am going to have my kids do a combination of apprenticeships and online learning.

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Re:A generation of American men give up on college by poopypoopington on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @11:55AM (#28446267)

This is a vastly overgeneralized statement. Where I went to college [in the US] was much more than a "part time job" and academic rigor was incredibly high. It was not uncommon for students to work 60-80 hours a week.

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Re:A generation of American men give up on college by bradlys on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @11:41AM (#28446149)

> I'm a professor, and college is a lifestyle, the classes are a part time job, and there is greatly reduced academic rigor and seriousness.

Where/what do you teach? When I was doing math & cs - they (especially math) were more than a full time job. Rigor was pretty high - lots of kids failing, dropping out, or transferring schools out. I see this still happening with people I know in school now - mind you not as severe since they’re not in math.

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