Your best friend's mom ...

[JohnH]

Conversely, there is also a lot of research as to why marriage rates are plummeting among the non college educated. It is a lot of the same reasons in reverse.

Perhaps they should study Amish a little more closely, since they remain un-college-educated yet their marriage rates are not plummeting.

[ken_sylvania]

So you're telling me that sending a child to college will actually do more for their chances of having a good marriage than will teaching them to be honest, kind, affectionate, diligent and clean? Is sending them to college really the best way to get them married?

You do realize that is a false dichotomy and those are not mutually exclusive things? You can do both.

And yes, if you do want to increase the chance that your children will get married and stay married, sending them to college is one way to increase the chances. There are a whole lot of reasons for that if you want to get into them. Some of it has to do with the increased social opportunities within college itself compared to the outside working world. And some of it has to do with the increased economic opportunities, income, and economic stability that college education confers. There are probably other reasons related to class as well.

You said sending them to college is the best way to help them get married and stay married. Can't be more than one best way. .

[Ken]

So you're telling me that sending a child to college will actually do more for their chances of having a good marriage than will teaching them to be honest, kind, affectionate, diligent and clean? Is sending them to college really the best way to get them married?

You do realize that is a false dichotomy and those are not mutually exclusive things? You can do both.

And yes, if you do want to increase the chance that your children will get married and stay married, sending them to college is one way to increase the chances. There are a whole lot of reasons for that if you want to get into them. Some of it has to do with the increased social opportunities within college itself compared to the outside working world. And some of it has to do with the increased economic opportunities, income, and economic stability that college education confers. There are probably other reasons related to class as well.

You said sending them to college is the best way to help them get married and stay married. Can't be more than one best way. .

Of course with any complex social institution there are many multiple and inter-related factors at play.

But yes, if you are in the vast majority of the population that is NOT part of some insular religious community like Amish, Hasidic Jewish or the like, then yes. I do believe that college education is the single biggest factor that you can control.

In say the 1950s when there were a plethora of stable good-paying non-college union jobs that could support a family then things were different. But we don't live in those times. I would fully support public policy measures to push us back in that direction. But that doesn't seem to be the direction that this country wants to go. So that leaves college education as your best bet. Are there other things you can do to try and duplicate some of the advantages that college confers? Sure. But none of them are as easy or effective.

[ohio jones]

... need I go on?

[PeterG]

I do believe that college education is the single biggest factor that you can control.

It may be more accurate to say that college education is the single biggest factor that can be easily measured. Many other factors, such as those mentioned by ken_sylvania, are much more important, even if they're harder to pin down (which might somehow be correlated to their importance, actually).

[Bootstrap]

... need I go on?

Sure! These are probably the most entertaining part of this thread so far.

[Soloist]

Being on Mennonet is the best indicator of argumentative people.

Divorce rates are higher on Mennonet than in most plain communities.

Being on Mennonet promotes irrationality among its users.

[JohnH]

So you're telling me that sending a child to college will actually do more for their chances of having a good marriage than will teaching them to be honest, kind, affectionate, diligent and clean? Is sending them to college really the best way to get them married?

It seems highly likely that people who have such values are also going to be more likely to graduate college. If you are dishonest, unkind, cold, lazy, and filthy, I am going to put forward that are less likely to become a "college graduate".

However, going to college does not make someone honest, kind, affectionate, diligent, or clean.

It is amazing how often the arrow of causality is backwards. (Perhaps they should teach more about this in colleges.)

[PeterG]

In say the 1950s when there were a plethora of stable good-paying non-college union jobs that could support a family then things were different. But we don't live in those times. I would fully support public policy measures to push us back in that direction. But that doesn't seem to be the direction that this country wants to go. So that leaves college education as your best bet. Are there other things you can do to try and duplicate some of the advantages that college confers? Sure. But none of them are as easy or effective.

I'm wary of this emphasis on middle-class economic stability, but even on those terms I think this is an oversimplification at best. Most paths to good jobs are about developing character, skills, and knowledge, in roughly that order. College is one way to do that. I myself have a college degree, and I may pursue a graduate degree in the next several years. I'm encouraging my own children to consider college. But other ways of developing skills, etc. are easier and more effective for many people. There are plenty of good jobs in the trades, for example. Lots of people chasing four-year degrees would be better off in technical training or certification programs (and if these are included in your definition of "college," my level of disagreement is diminished).

[Szdfan]

... need I go on?

Question...do you have a collection on your computer of causation and correlation cartoons for moments like these or do moments like these lead to you create a collection of causation and correlation cartoons?