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A generation of American men give up on college

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Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#351

Post by tchaffee »

smitty1e wrote: post #74
baron816 wrote: post #63

A lot of this is driven by narratives—A narrative that college isn’t worth it anymore. A narrative that (white) men are uniformly privileged and life is just easy for them. And a narrative that those men aren’t wanted by society any more. I’m not convinced that all those men need to go to college, but they clearly need something. They need to feel like they’re part of society. Nothing good can come of an entire gener…

My brother in law is an electrician. I had enough EE in college to change a light switch without burning the house down. However, that book-learnin' fell apart when confronted with troubleshooting a strangely wired room, and I got very polite while asking him over to bail me out. These fellows eschewing the ivory tower, where being of European extraction and bearing a Y-chromosome on the college campus is an indictme…

> I got very polite while asking him over to bail me out.

> all the Grievance Studies majors

So you're polite to those you find useful and insulting to people majoring in something you presumably disagree with? And assuming they will all be condescending to a plumber or electrician for some reason?

Perhaps you don't have to look quite so far away if you're looking to reduce the amount of condescending happening in the room you're standing in?

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#353

Post by approxim8ion »

zz865 wrote: post #292

I did tech degrees, but its pretty amazing going to other parts of the campus where there are 2 or 3 or more women for every man in the building. Its also weird to see lots of well educated female friends finding it really hard to find someone to settle down with. Yeah they should probably lower their standards but honestly deep down most guys dont want an over educated achiever wife.

>honestly deep down most guys dont want an over educated achiever wife.

Why not?

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#354

Post by jensensbutton »

exporectomy wrote: post #306
happythen wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> foot through the door Yea, but we got no problem getting to that door. Minorities might get pulled over and get a knee on the neck. Women might get assaulted on their way. Being a white dude, I'll get a taxi there, no problem. So if I have to try harder to get the position, pretty understandable, since I got the head start. Not saying life is easy for anyone, saying it's so much easier being a white dude with a nic…

> a knee on the neck. Women might get assaulted You've been reading too much news. That doesn't happen to normal people in real life. Blacks have a huge disadvantage of poor upbringing by their own family and community and women have a huge "disadvantage" of not wanting to be a computer programmer.

> Blacks have a huge disadvantage of poor upbringing by their own family and community

The actual issue is they have to interview with people holding the same ignorant assumptions you do.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#355

Post by dr_dshiv »

john_fushi wrote: post #223
dr_dshiv wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but just man up and handle it. That's non-toxic.

Telling someone to "man up" is a telltale sign of toxic masculinity.

Why? Isn't it the opposite? Doesn't it refer to the best of what is masculine?

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#356

Post by Ensorceled »

Miner49er wrote: post #287
baron816 wrote: post #63

A lot of this is driven by narratives—A narrative that college isn’t worth it anymore. A narrative that (white) men are uniformly privileged and life is just easy for them. And a narrative that those men aren’t wanted by society any more. I’m not convinced that all those men need to go to college, but they clearly need something. They need to feel like they’re part of society. Nothing good can come of an entire gener…

> A narrative that (white) men are uniformly privileged and life is just easy for them. I doubt this has anything to do with it. What is the argument here? They hear this and believe it so they don't think they need school? I grew up in a white, working class community, and in my experience nobody paid attention to liberals on Twitter calling them privelaged. Certainly not enough to decide not to go to college over i…

It's weirder; the claim is that young white men hear that it's easier for young white men so they give up entirely.

Like the claim that all those people that joined the extreme right wing groups because the "libs said they were Nazis so why not".

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#357

Post by aleister_777 »

xphilter wrote: post #318
exporectomy wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I've converted myself to a member of the native ethnicity because my government has a policy of preferentially buying from native-owned businesses but failed to define nativeness using any immutable or objective characteristics. I just have to remember my new ethnicity on any future forms that ask for it. It may also entitle me to enhanced healthcare services.

I hope you’re kidding. What a terrible thing to do.

It's also terrible to consider that "enhanced health services" are only reserved for certain shades on the color wheel.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#358

Post by aklemm »

baron816 wrote: post #63

A lot of this is driven by narratives—A narrative that college isn’t worth it anymore. A narrative that (white) men are uniformly privileged and life is just easy for them. And a narrative that those men aren’t wanted by society any more. I’m not convinced that all those men need to go to college, but they clearly need something. They need to feel like they’re part of society. Nothing good can come of an entire gener…

Before any of that, I’d blame the disappearance of the sense of service. One’s general mindset should be on what one can contribute, and the rest will follow.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#359

Post by Aunche »

throwcommonsns wrote: post #50
Arete314159 wrote: post #42

One guy they profiled is making $20 an hour in Toledo, Ohio. If he's working full time, that's 40k a year. Zillow has a number of houses for sale in Toledo for under $40k. Like, they need some work, but a real house, under 40k. I think that guy is doing fine, he should just keep doing exactly what he's doing.

There's this unfortunately prevailing attitude that you aren't successful in America if you aren't living in New York or San Francisco. It's absolutely bonkers. There are many other great places in this country besides those two cities.

These days, it's not enough to live in a world-class city, you need to have your own kitchen, living room, and bathroom that barely get used. The people I know who complain about high cost of living refuse to live with other people.

Re: A generation of American men give up on college

#360

Post by whywhywhywhy »

Great news, the concept that you need college to succeed was one of the greatest lies told to my generation. Pleased the next generation is waking up.

End of the day if the loan can't be written off, if the loan is just handed out to 18 year olds and has almost no limit then the organization that asks for the loan will inevitably balloon out of all proportion and no longer be reflective at all of the value you get back for almost all cases.

I say that as someone who managed to actually pay off their student loan, dread to think how people who are late 30s, still renting and still with 5 figures of college debt feel.

Hope this trend continues, why throw away the down payment of a mortgage to an institution that has spent the past decade telling you they don't want you. If in 10 years I'm seeing headlines about colleges unable to stay open from low admissions I'll be smiling.

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