Education - How much, what kind, and by what time?

[Grace]

We've had threads on education, higher education, etc. already.

My opinion? Depends on the person.

I personally think technical schools are under-rated. I also think entering the workforce at an earlier age is under-rated. College degrees are often over-rated. We, as a society, have replaced common sense with college degrees. Think about that a little.

I have a son that quit school after 8th grade. He is not a scholar. He is a tradesman. He can fix anything. I gave him free reign over all my tools, as he does more around the house than I do.

I have a daughter who is an absolute genius. As our children now go to public school, she was recommended to attend a private school where she can take college courses starting in 9th grade. If any of my children go to college, it will be her.

Again, depends on the person.

Well said, especially the statement "as a society, we have replaced common sense with college degrees". Yes, I am grateful for the college education of doctors, scientists, teachers, etc. But on occasion I run across college educated people who seem unintellectual. The reason is, they lack common sense.

[steve-in-kville]

I wonder if the delay in maturity is because they aren't learning how to work at a young age. Perhaps if these young people worked a job instead of social media-ing, they would be better equipped emotionally to handle lifes responsibilities. I'd like to see child labor laws modified to be more accommodating.

In my experience exposure to physical labor definitely plays a roll in maturity. There's more to life than video games

[Neto]

FYI the video I linked to yesterday was a joke. I guess no one got it, except maybe Somebody did.

[MaxPC]

Well said, especially the statement "as a society, we have replaced common sense with college degrees". Yes, I am grateful for the college education of doctors, scientists, teachers, etc. But on occasion I run across college educated people who seem unintellectual. The reason is, they lack common sense.

I agree: and as a person with a PhD I can say that easily, especially of those who did not work for wages before getting their doctorates, but instead went from degree to degree without any real world experience. It creates an ivory tower mentality that thinks it knows everything but really doesn’t understand reality at all.

[PeterG]

FYI the video I linked to yesterday was a joke. I guess no one got it, except maybe Somebody did.

What gave it away for me was that there was nothing in the video about rotating the spark plugs. Uneven spark plug wear is commonly misdiagnosed as a case of bad piston return springs. I always try a spark plug rotation before doing a piston return spring replacement.

The great thing about rotating spark plugs is that you can actually do it.

[Bootstrap]

Some questions I've had is,
Why does the general populace generally agree that the amount of education a person can get in 13 years (k-12) is the right amount? Why this minimum? Why not 15 years worth or 11 years worth?

"Education" is a very broad category. Different kinds of education have very different goals. I would answer this question very differently for people who want to:

1. Get a stable job that pays well enough to support a family, or
2. Be able to read a newspaper or follow the news with enough understanding to know the difference between reliable information and propaganda, or
3. Read the Bible in Hebrew and Greek, or
4. Design a Sunday School curriculum, or
5. Provide leadership for a group of Bible translation teams, or
6. Serve as a doctor in a hospital or a medical missionary, or
7. Run a business or a farm (which is a kind of business, of course), or,
8. Understand the mathematical models used to understand pandemics, how sensitive they are to various assumptions, and how much or little confidence we can have in various parameters based on the data we have, or ...

For some of these things, formal education is necessary. They won't normally let you perform surgery without the right degrees. For some, most people have advanced degrees, but some do not. One person who leads a group of biblical Greek and Hebrew scholars has basically no formal education in theology, Greek, or Hebrew, even though the members all have at least one relevant Ph.D. For some, a formal degree is not really important. Many people without formal degrees are very educated. You learn by doing.

Both people with formal degrees and people without them can take initiative to learn regularly. Both people with formal degrees and people without them can resist working hard to learn new things and avoid settings where their current understanding is challenged - which means whatever education they started with fades with time.

A degree does not make you educated. A degree does not make you dumber. The degree is just a piece of paper, but a lot of people do acquire some education while getting that piece of paper. Others get the same amount of education without the piece of paper.

[steve-in-kville]

Don't forget experience as well. When the company I work for hires salesmen, they used to require a certain college degree. But if you have someone who's been in the industry the whole life, the degree isn't really required any more. I'm not saying this is the best way, but I see the wisdom in it.

[Bootstrap]

Don't forget experience as well. When the company I work for hires salesmen, they used to require a certain college degree. But if you have someone who's been in the industry the whole life, the degree isn't really required any more. I'm not saying this is the best way, but I see the wisdom in it.

Even for most jobs that require a college degree, they won't give you enormous responsibility until they can see what you have done successfully and see what skills and talents your accomplishments demonstrate.

[ohio jones]

FYI the video I linked to yesterday was a joke. I guess no one got it, except maybe Somebody did.

What gave it away for me was that there was nothing in the video about rotating the spark plugs. Uneven spark plug wear is commonly misdiagnosed as a case of bad piston return springs. I always try a spark plug rotation before doing a piston return spring replacement.

The great thing about rotating spark plugs is that you can actually do it.

Also don't forget rotating the idler pulley. That sometimes has to wait until the other repairs are completed, but it's essential to a properly functioning vehicle.

[RZehr]

Of course now-a-days you can learn a lot about different trades right on You's Tube....
Like auto mechanics - Replace your own Piston Return Springs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFX_Xq9WHTI

Didn't fool me. I saw the label at 2:10, and I seriously doubted that there were any piston return springs actually still made in the USA as it said.