Four Decades of College Degrees in One Graph.

[Mai72]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014...are&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social

Pretty cool graph. Looks like education took a huge hit.

I wonder why? :hmm:

 

[T_Yamamoto]

You misspelled four.

 

[Mai72]

You misspelled four.

thanks.

 

[mistercrabby]

Interesting.

 

[IronWing]

No wonder there's so much bullshit in the world.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

lol @ physics being completely buried.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

lol @ physics being completely buried.

I hate physics.

 

[CPA]

Do we really need 100,000 new psychologists each year?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Pretty cool graph. Looks like education took a huge hit.

I wonder why? :hmm:

Communications and Journalism became the go-to "easy" major for people who like to read. Particularly for men who want to be seen as erudite and intellectual-sexy. (The only male teachers I had in HS were coaches or nerds.)

Business became the go-to major for people who think Reagan was Jesus and Wall Street was a documentary. We now have more middle men than actual men. God Bless the Rust Belt.

And healthcare is a growth industry because old people are afraid of death.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Do we really need 100,000 new psychologists each year?

Perhaps you'd like to schedule a session to discuss this?

 

[DrPizza]

Pretty cool graph. Looks like education took a huge hit.

I wonder why? :hmm:

Well, if you read the article you linked to, they explained why.

 

[rh71]

Teachers get tenure pretty easily... and around here they are paid a ridiculous amount thanks to unions (cops too). No reason they would leave except at retirement. Fewer openings, fewer prospects even bother.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Teachers get tenure pretty easily... and around here they are paid a ridiculous amount thanks to unions (cops too). No reason they would leave except at retirement. Fewer openings, fewer prospects even bother.

If you think teachers get paid a lot of money, you clearly don't belong in ATOT. We're all millionaires, after all.

$36k a year to start (typical) is below a lot of other fields with similar educational requirements. I finally got a "real" IT job (not helpdesk stuff) and make about double the average teacher starting pay in my state.

Meanwhile, tenure is harder to get than you think. Even if only because the job is harder than you think. Half of new teachers don't make it to the end of year 2.

And after that, what is tenure good for? Sure, there's always somebody dredging out the story about the guy who knew a guy who got paid to sit in a cubicle after he totally molested a kid (conveniently forgetting that if they could prove that, he'd be in jail) I worked in a public school district for six years as a help desk monkey and you know what? Teachers who fuck up get fired. Tenured teachers who fuck up get a chance to plead their case, and then get fired anyway. It's not a magic wand of job invulnerability.

You want a scam, follow the washed out teachers and find out what kinds of jobs they get. (Corporate training, charter schools, and educational software sales.)

 

[Demo24]

If you think teachers get paid a lot of money, you clearly don't belong in ATOT. We're all millionaires, after all.

$36k a year to start (typical) is below a lot of other fields with similar educational requirements. I finally got a "real" IT job (not helpdesk stuff) and make about double the average teacher starting pay in my state.

Meanwhile, tenure is harder to get than you think. Even if only because the job is harder than you think. Half of new teachers don't make it to the end of year 2.

And after that, what is tenure good for? Sure, there's always somebody dredging out the story about the guy who knew a guy who got paid to sit in a cubicle after he totally molested a kid (conveniently forgetting that if they could prove that, he'd be in jail) I worked in a public school district for six years as a help desk monkey and you know what? Teachers who fuck up get fired. Tenured teachers who fuck up get a chance to plead their case, and then get fired anyway. It's not a magic wand of job invulnerability.

You want a scam, follow the washed out teachers and find out what kinds of jobs they get. (Corporate training, charter schools, and educational software sales.)

This. Although 36k can be generous, especially for elementary school, those could easily start under 30k. Even where I am that's not very easy to live on unless you have spousal income as well.

 

[disappoint]

Do we really need 100,000 new psychologists each year?

How does that make you feel?

 

[Linflas]

lol @ physics being completely buried.

They have geology buried inside engineering.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Do we really need 100,000 new psychologists each year?

It is because it is an easy degree and I think people enrolling in it don't realize you make no money with a psychology degree without advanced degrees.

Communications and Journalism became the go-to "easy" major for people who like to read. Particularly for men who want to be seen as erudite and intellectual-sexy. (The only male teachers I had in HS were coaches or nerds.)

Communications majors tend to be athletes or hot girls who are pretty dumb. The reason? The degree is a joke. My last employer had a needlessly large Communications unit full of overpaid people who were idiots. One of the department heads (there were two departments within Communication) came to me with a press release once and I think I could've written a better press release when I was in junior high school, if not grade school.

And journalism majors? LOL, don't get me started on those guys. Another easy major with the same level of people as in Communications programs. The only reason to go into either degree program if you're intelligent, IMO, is if you want to pad your GPA for grad school.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

They have geology buried inside engineering.

That seems correct. Just ask Sheldon.

 

[AdamK47]

What I see interesting in the graph is that booms in the health profession match bad economic times while those in computer science match good economic times.

 

[IronWing]

They have geology buried inside engineering.

No, geology has it's own line. Move your mouse ever so slowly between Foreign Languages and Health Professions. :biggrin:

Also, studying at the cross-section it looks like there was a facies boundary in the Mississippian - Pennsylvanian. Maybe a delta complex to the west grading into a carbonate platform to the east.

 

[CPA]

How does that make you feel?

A little gassy.

 

[mmntech]

If you think teachers get paid a lot of money, you clearly don't belong in ATOT. We're all millionaires, after all.

It depends on where you live. Teachers here in Ontario get paid a lot as well. When I was in high school, starting pay was in the mid $40ks. That was over 10 years ago so it's gotta be pushing the fifties by now. Top tier was about $90k. Plus iron clad benefits and a gold plated pension. My uncle who was a principal makes more retired that I do working. You're also completely insulated from economic storms. Teachers rarely get laid off. The worst they might have to deal with is a year or two's pay freeze.

It's triggered a lot of kids to begin exploring the profession and going to teacher's college. Though even the government is beginning to admit there aren't enough spaces for all of them.

 

[Wreckem]

This. Although 36k can be generous, especially for elementary school, those could easily start under 30k. Even where I am that's not very easy to live on unless you have spousal income as well.

I am not sure why you are singling out elementary teachers. Their jobs certainly aren't easier than a high school teachers job. They teach every subject, not just one which means they have to prep for 4-5 or even 6 classes, as opposed to a high school teacher that normally has 1-2 preps.

Furthermore, their jobs are infinitely more important than a high school teachers as K-4 are the MOST important years when it comes to educational attainment. If a child isn't reading at grade level by 4, high school really won't do much.

Oh also, there is a growing shortage of elementary teachers in CA and TX. In fact. in Texas, its projected to be one of the fastest growing jobs over the next ~10 years(catch is ESL is almost already required and bilingual is likely to be in the future). Its supply and demand. In Dallas-Fort Worth, the market rate for new teachers(all levels) with 0 years experience is $50k. Which is more inline with their educational level(being a teacher requires 15-18 graduate hours on top of an undergrad degree). Principals start out at $90-110k and can make up to $150k. Assistant Principals start out in the $67-74k range.

 

[Wreckem]

It depends on where you live. Teachers here in Ontario get paid a lot as well. When I was in high school, starting pay was in the mid $40ks. That was over 10 years ago so it's gotta be pushing the fifties by now. Top tier was about $90k. Plus iron clad benefits and a gold plated pension. My uncle who was a principal makes more retired that I do working. You're also completely insulated from economic storms. Teachers rarely get laid off. The worst they might have to deal with is a year or two's pay freeze.

It's triggered a lot of kids to begin exploring the profession and going to teacher's college. Though even the government is beginning to admit there aren't enough spaces for all of them.

Depends where you live, but most teachers have SHITTY health benefits(but so will everyone else thanks to Obamacare, my wifes plan is very much like a Bronze plan), and their pensions might be nice. Some nicer than others, but one thing is they all require contributions, its not a freebie. Most states DO NOT have gold plated pensions/healthcare benefits like CA, NY, NJ, etc. Also most teachers are EXCLUDED from Social Security, unlike other public workers who get a pension + social security. If a teacher is eligible for social security they get smacked with a windfall tax and lose out on part of their money. Where as other public workers can double and triple dip pensions + get social security and not be subject to a windfall tax.


As for being insulated from economic problems. That is wholly inaccurate. A huge number of teachers across the country got laid off during the recession. It was the single biggest contributor to Texas shedding so many public sector jobs between 2009-2011. Texas(and other states) massively cut their education budgets during the recession/post recession. The FIRST thing Texas cuts when they have "budget issues" is education. Texas cut education funding by ~$5billion in 2011. They have yet to fully restore that funding all while Texas schools are busting at the seams because of massive growth. Those cuts have caused the number of people seeking certification to massively drop(by over 25%) which may(looks like it) cause a shortage at all levels.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

My brother-in-law is 37 and teaches gym/health at a small school system and is being paid on the order of $65K per year ($3K of that is for coaching). I was shocked when I heard that -- I looked at my old school system and one of the teachers who was a teacher in junior high when I was in junior high (in the mid 80s, so she is probably in her mid 50s now as she was new in 1983 or 1984) now only makes $58K, and she teaches a real subject (math). I don't understand the disparity -- both school systems are in rural Indiana, roughly the same size, and I'd say that both areas are probably around the same level of economic development.