Out with the Philosopher, In with the Plumber
Starting with the end of the 1950s, the amount of young Americans going to college has skyrocketed; this has been facilitated by teachers pressuring students, universities advertising themselves, and a growing sense of entitlement that sprung up thanks to the growing “give me that” mentality of the post World War II era. The current population of the United States does not want to present the current labor needed to maintain a strong economy and as such the idea that illegal immigrants are a required tool for maintaining the US as an economic power has taken hold. This issue can partially be fixed by having more young people pursue practical fields and having “privileged” folks start working in jobs that they previously considered unworthy. The United States no longer needs thousands of economists, philosophers, playwrights, or thinkers; it needs plumbers, electricians, and mechanics who will pay taxes and provide a stable base for the country.
With more than one hundred universities in the US sporting acceptance rates higher than 90 percent, the education system inside of the country is starting to approach a dangerous trend. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65.9 percent of high school graduates move on to universities to pursue higher education, and large amounts of these young people eventually start working in fields unrelated to their major or simply stay unemployed. However, besides being economically draining on the young adults of the country, many majors that are being pursued are increasingly oversaturated. A Georgetown study (2014) claims that fields as diverse as information systems, finance, and philosophy or religious studies have unemployment rates as high as 23.5 percent, 16.5 percent, and 21.4 percent respectively. The goal of university is to create young adults who will help create a more stable and bright world, and while some unemployed people do make differences in the world not every philosophy major can be Diogenes of Sinope, living in a ceramic jar in the town marketplace while running around during the day with a lamp in search of an “honest man”. How should the people of the US battle this problem? It’s a very simple solution. Universities should accept less people who apply and more people should pursue practical fields. Quoting self aware economist John Kenneth Galbraith, “economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.”
When trying to rebuild the US economy during the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt didn’t put young men into cramped tired offices. No, he made them work on mountains, fields, and the countryside in the Civilian Conservation Corps, doing hard physical labor. While these jobs were not highbrow these young men were and still are heralded as heroes in a dire time that greatly shaped the United States’ spirit and future.
Few things have harmed the value and strength of this great nation as huge monetization of universities and the huge pressure on young people to attend these institutions for several years in order to earn a flimsy piece of paper. It is for these reasons that some of the youth should abandon the pursuit of worthless degrees and rebuild the strong base of the economic classes.
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