From Where I Stand: Step 118

When I sat down yesterday at the luncheon following the rabbi’s daughter’s Bat Mitzvah and started to talk with my friend Dr. Mark a dean at California State University-Fullerton about what he did on his furlough day, I had no idea the question, “Is a college degree still worth it?” was the headline story in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times. Our conversation centered around the growth in prison budgets being many times the level of higher education during the past decade, while the article pointed to the “vast majority of job gains this year have gone to workers with only a high school education or less,” and the prospects for the future look like that trend will continue.

Needless to say this is disheartening for me to hear since following my parents’ advice led to two advanced degrees, nearly a dozen certifications in three states, and two years of rejection in the pursuit of returning to full time employment. In the words of Rodney Dangerfield, “I just can’t seem to get any respect.” Actually I’ll forgo the respect factor in favor of putting those of us who bought into the American dream of improving oneself through education back to work.

To make matters worse most of us who bought into this ploy, no doubt perpetrated by an educational aristocracy with connections to some Chinese, Indian, or Waltonian demonic plot, foolishly led our children astray with this illusion. It certainly appears conspiratorial when your oldest child is an adjunct faculty at a Midwestern university working on her doctorate, your second child graduated from law school and is studying for the California bar, and your youngest child is completing her bachelor degree in a state more interested in protecting menial jobs for high school dropouts than developing the talents of the brightest at their noteworthy institutions. Why did the Times wait a decade for them to pile up their own individual debt accounts before raising the question about whether or not it’s a worthwhile venture?

Almost as astounding to me is the notion by various economists, bureaucrats, and members of the media that we are supposed to somehow buy our way out of this Great Recession. All of them seemed to be equally amazed when consumers put away their credit cards and sales fell in May. While most consumers are deep in debt like myself, those with resources may be following Franklin’s advice and saving for those rainier days ahead.

Speaking of rainier days, Robert Reich, the diminutive secretary of labor in the Clinton administration now teaching economics at Berkeley, reported there is now a 50:50 chance there will be a double dip recession. For those of us who have yet to climb out of the first dip this comes as both further bad news and no surprise. When banks which double dipped by making unsecured loans and writing them down with the assistance of both the Republican and Democratic administrations stop gambling in derivatives, provide a rate of interest on savings in line with rates charged for loans, and invest venture capital in local small businesses the economy will recover.

Meanwhile we may seek refuge from the storm by losing our worries for a few hours watching the classic match up of NBA Finals rivals the Lakers and Celtics. For sports fans not into professional basketball there is the thriller from South Africa. By the way I know both Kobe and the G-man chose to skip college and March Madness in favor of ever increasing economic opportunity, but I have no idea how many soccer players on the men’s and women’s teams decided college had nothing to offer them.

How about it: has your college degree paid dividends? Are you still planning to send your kids to college? Let us know in the comment section.