I was a technician in the Electrical Engineering field. The ten thousand hours rule seems to make the dividing line between talent and no-talent, every ad I see for engineers specifies 5 years experience or more and that is about 10,000 hours... Some just can't do the work after they get the degree. I did a home study course and was always interested in electronics so I could engineer things that lots of degreed people just couldn't. The worst off were the oriental buggers that were engineers because their grandfather decreed they should be. If one is not suited for the work one simply will never excel at it.. I had friends that could not design the simplest of circuits, they just had krammed their way though all their courses and learned nothing... they were the epitome of misery on the job..
Eight, I hear of many engineers who have been laid off and can't find new work. The only thing I can think of it's because they are not willing to relocate. otherwise, I hear corporations saying they have jobs but no qualified candidates and engineers saying there is no work available. what's the deal?
I have a degree in accounting and finance and pursued economics on my own. I have educated myself in a lot of things, like computers and programming. I teach myself stuff then put it together. I wrote a computer porgramme for a taxation system for a political party that was subsequently sent the Ministry of Finance in Prague and more recently reviewed by the British Treasury's Office of Tax Simplification. I did all of this off my own back and taught myself the skills I needed to do it. It just goes to show you on a applied level nothing beats a bit of self discipline and hard work.
ever heard of Ben Franklin? (he was an American (well, after he was a subject of the KIng)) and all he had was a sixth grade education. I really think with computer technology today, kids could learn at their own pace. You could still have schools based on age for sports and social activities, but all the kids in any grade may be at different levels in their own computer educated school. An 18 year old may be at a 12 year olds level and a 12 year old kid could be at graduate university level. Some would excel in finance or music or medicine or mechanical drafting. resumes would be simple, all you would need is a printout
That's what I think is happening. The universities are not bringing the best candidates forward anymore. They think it is all position and background. It is not. If they ignore the natural workers they will collapse the system, which is happening.
getting back to opie's post, you wonder what will happen to China if it is as they say where a persons chosen field is chosen by someone else. A billion people, mostly men all doing work they were not cut out for. oh well, I don't know anybody in my high school that stared out the window and dreamed, "Someday I am going to be a regional manager for an office supply company." Yet, that's where they ended up. otherwise, the mere fact that China is for the most part unified and not starving is quite impressive. Over here, we only have 300 million to worry about. but I couldn't agree more. People are starting to see the University for the sham it is. You can only fool people by acting important for so long. Well, I gotta go, we have something over here called football. Keep kicking that black and white ball around and pretty soon you'll get the hang of it. (might I suggest you replace the nets with posts and start using your hands? I think that would help you a great deal in your progress.)
I recently sent an email to the president suggesting that since so many people were not satisfied with the department of education that maybe he should give them a real job for once. The DOE should offer college credits for courses that they would make available to the public. The student buys the text book from the government, studies the material and takes a test that the government provides and presto the credits are awarded to the student with the grade based upon the test results. For many courses, going to class is a waste of time. When you take advanced mathematics do you learn anything in class about boundary value problems. Hell no. You take the book home and busted your ass trying to figure them out. There are also many other crip courses like history and english literature that don't required class time. In my opinion, any class that doesn't require lab work could qualify for home study. Think about it. This idea could revolutionize our education system because students could work from home, pay lower tuition expenses and have time for some part time work that would result in much lower cost student loans. You guessed it. Obama didn't reply.
I know for a fact that the Chinese used to send thier best and brightest to US Universities to gain knowledge and bring it back home. It was mostly paid for by the US tax payer. It was an incentive to bring and retain highly talanted people to the US. Unfortunately they often left with thier American Degree and went back home. Now that the world has changed and R&D is being done in China the shift to getting a US degree is declinating and becoming less valued. Check the numbers for patent output by country year over year. Akuma