Your arbitrary definitions have no bearing in reality. There are definitions for these things, and they are a little more specific in vernacular than "scrapping by".

You know there are people (called scientists) who study this stuff and have actual terms and a body of knowledge in this area. That is all.

if you choose a fringe major thats on you. I graduated with a bachelors in criminal justice and and am working on my law degree now a piece at a time.

I make around 50k a year as an engineer because i was not interested in bachelors level jobs in my field so i got a temp job that through my hard work and computer abilities has lead me to the position i am in, underqualified for acedemically but i do just fine job performance wise.

I agree that there are massive amounts of people who are unemployer or underemployed with bachelors but that is due to their poor choices in major. My gf has a dual major early ed. and special ed. she will never be unemployed in her entire life. Not to say people should be forced into a career they dont want but its insane to think people took ceramics as a major...

This is the most bullshit thing I've ever heard. Heard of trade skills? I make 72-90k a year depending on overtime and how busy we get... never went to college. Why is everyone brainwashed into thinking that you have to go to fucking college to be educated and learn to do a job?

Disappearing middle class is a fact in the UK, after Margaret Thatcher played around for abit. Not so much in USA.

Your daughter sounds exceptionally intelligent. But, the question presented in this thread wasnt, "Does every kid have a chance to succeed?" The question was one of social mobility, and whether it still exists to the extent it used to. If you took intelligent people from 20-30 years ago and set them off to succeed in today's job market, they'd be utterly fucked. The rate of jobs hasn't increased at the rate of competition. This is why college and other forms of investing in education are not worth it nearly as much now, the competition is willing to +1 the next guy but for what? To do 5+ years more education than the last generation only to make a fraction of what they make earnings wise?

Because you may have that job, but there aren't enough of those jobs to go around.

statistical probabilities

do you tell your children they don't need a college education to be successful in life?

This post was edited by duffman316 on Jan 20 2015 12:53am

This is such bullshit. People just get comfortable where they are and go "damn, no jobs in my city." I cannot tell you how many people I grew up with (in northern Maryland where it's a bit more blue-collar), post FB statuses about there not being work around the area. I'm like, you're only 30 miles from Baltimore and 35 from Washington DC where there are an insane amount of white and blue collar jobs, so learn to commute, or fucking MOVE. If I really had an issue making money, I'd move to North Dakota and drill oil where the unemployment rate is ~3%. People are such pussies.



Yeah, I think a lot of trade workers get a bit too prideful in their success without a degree. I admire their ability to work hard in a job that isn't behind a desk and make a great living, but I also think most would agree that their kids should have an easier life than they. If not, that's a bit ignorant to the ease of life in a white collar compared to blue collar setting. I enjoy my 30 PAID days off per year sitting behind a desk and the fact that I don't have to break my body working construction or on cars or doing HVAC everyday, as well as that may pay.

i didn't know a "middle" class was still existent