More American Men are Abandoning College, and Why This is Dangerous for Society.

[mect]

There are several reasons declining college attendance is dangerous for society, but I think one of the biggest is that it traps people even more into their local social circles. For many people, attending college is the first time they branch out, encounter people that aren't from their same walk of life, are exposed to new thoughts and new ideas, have opportunities to interact with different cultures. The last thing America needs right now is for its citizens to further isolate themselves. This is why it is so urgent to make higher education affordable again. There are many, many benefits to an educated population that extend beyond jobs.

 

[woolfe9998]

I think woolfe is onto something. The contempt for universities on the right has been around for awhile, but since the rise of Trumpism it's gotten even worse if talk radio is any indication (I check in on those clowns often). Arguments about pronoun use by strangers on a campus they've never been to are somehow vastly more important than mass shootings, attempted political kidnapping/executions, or full blown insurrections. I suspect Trump having to shut down his personal "university" may have lent a bit of personal grievance to an already favorite hot button fapping issue on the right. It's an easy step for those with a persecution complex. Look how furious they are about free thinkers on Florida campuses; Ron DeathSentence actually wants colleges to report everyone's political beliefs to Tallahassee so he can trim funding for places not conservative enough.

Denying yourself a college education to own the libs sounds about as smart as dying from covid19 to own the libs. The former doesn't sound so bad when you realize they've already been doing the latter.

I think it's pretty simple. Conservative media bashes higher education because they think people going through it are more likely to come out voting for democrats. They aren't wrong. It's the same with immigration - they think immigrants are more likely to vote for democrats, so they oppose immigration. And, again, it's the same thing with high voter turnouts...

 

[brycejones]

IIRC the labor shortages have emerged basically this year. The drop in male college enrollment started 5 years ago.

Five years ago is when the right suddenly became a lot more batshit. Also when college educated republicans and independents started voting dem, and white working class non-college starting shifting to republicans.

I have a friend who was an administrator at a community college for about 10 years in Colorado. One of her biggest areas of focus was building up training in the trades because boomers were aging out. The writing was on the wall even before 2008 and it has only gotten worse since then in regards to the number of people being trained in the trades and the demand.

 

[woolfe9998]

I have a friend who was an administrator at a community college for about 10 years in Colorado. One of her biggest areas of focus was building up training in the trades because boomers were aging out. The writing was on the wall even before 2008 and it has only gotten worse since then in regards to the number of people being trained in the trades and the demand.

Then you'd expect the phenomenon to have started in 2008 rather than in 2016. But male enrollment starting declining in 2016.

I'm not totally rejecting this as being a factor here, but the timing of it in reference to political shifts in the country is hard to ignore.

 

[brycejones]

Then you'd expect the phenomenon to have started in 2008 rather than in 2016. But male enrollment starting declining in 2016.

I'm not totally rejecting this as being a factor here, but the timing of it in reference to political shifts in the country is hard to ignore.

I was just providing some context on labor shortages in the trades. I don’t disagree with your overall point.

 

[vi edit]

Labor shortages aren't an overnight thing. It's a slow attrition until it's a problem. And then the ramp up to get more trained people back in takes a while. It's not the same as boats full of cargo containers sitting off the coast impacting supply chain and then instantly starting up again once the bottle neck is resolved.

I'm also not ignoring the political aspect to it. I'm sure it's one of many factors. One other being college costs. They continue to go batshit with very little done to control it. I just think we're in a weird generational turnover combined with some economic and social-demographic factors influencing as well.

 

[Juiblex]

My local college in my city is rumored to be roughly $50,000 a semester. Who the hell can afford that in Iowa?

I'm glad tuition is down. I hope they go bankrupt.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I blame it on the dot coms. Guys figured out they could sit in a chair a code and make three or four times (or more) what they could standing out in the heat swinging a hammer or laying brick.

 

[woolfe9998]

My local college in my city is rumored to be roughly $50,000 a semester. Who the hell can afford that in Iowa?

I'm glad tuition is down. I hope they go bankrupt.

You might check again to make sure that is accurate. Community colleges in my neck of the woods run about $30 per credit per semester, so maybe $450. Even if that is a university you are referring to, Harvard has an annual tuition of $60K for undergrads and that is one of the highest in the nation.

 

[fskimospy]

My local college in my city is rumored to be roughly $50,000 a semester. Who the hell can afford that in Iowa?

I'm glad tuition is down. I hope they go bankrupt.

If the idea is your local college is charging 50% more than NYU per semester in the middle of Iowa that seems…unlikely.

 

[vi edit]

My local college in my city is rumored to be roughly $50,000 a semester. Who the hell can afford that in Iowa?

I'm glad tuition is down. I hope they go bankrupt.

I don't know where you are, but Kirkwood is one of the larger CC's in Eastern Iowa. It's not even remotely close to that.

Tuition & Costs | Kirkwood Community College | Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Affordable college is within your reach! Learn about Kirkwood’s tuition rates and what you can expect to pay while attending college.

www.kirkwood.edu

Me thinks you are full of bull doo doo.

 

[Mai72]

There's major labor shortages in skilled trades. Those were positions held by aging boomers that retired, died, or recently died to Covid. My dad is 65 and a semi-retired mason. He is called weekly by construction firms to sling brick since they are desperate for people. I'm 42, I heard my entire life to "go to college, go to college, go to college". I'm college educated, my wife is a Dr. I'm fine if my son goes into skilled trade and skips college. It's an in demand field that is almost always in need that pays well and can't easily be outsourced to a call center or visa workers.

When I was going thru highschool we were told and encouraged to attend college. That careers in labor were for people who were uneducated. That YOU can do better than a plumber of a mechanic. Those type of jobs were for people who didn't take school seriously. That was over 20 years ago. IMO, this is what started the mindset that the only way to succeed was via college. Fast forward to 2021 and college debt has crippled a large segment of the middle class. Kids today are still told to attend college or else you'll be left behind. I've noticed so many young people whon should not be in college. The one advantage they have today is social media, especially YouTube. There are many videos on YouTube that talk about college debt, and the danger of taking on so much debt. And how it can negatively impact your life. I wish I had YouTube back when I was attending highshoool. I might had changed course and done sonetihing differently.

The one thing I've noticed in my area are the amount of hard working Mexicans. These guys are truly living the American dream. They do most of the hardwork that young people refuse to do today. Hard difficult jobs like roofing, lawn care and construction are being done by immigrants. Have you noticed the same thing? My uncle was a roofer and I know how difficult that job can be.

 

[shortylickens]

Still doesn't explain why the enrollment drop for men happened almost entirely just over the past 5 years. Everything you describe was even more true 30 years ago.

Maybe unskilled manual labor opened up 5 years ago. Guys going into the traditional mechanic, electrician, plumber, carpenter vocations. Or road work, or factory work.
We'd have to analyze the job market. frankly I dont know enough to do that.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Heavy Equipment pays well. Dozers, graders, diggers, earth pans, pavers, rollers.

Not sure if they need CDLs or not.

 

[Mai72]

Maybe unskilled manual labor opened up 5 years ago. Guys going into the traditional mechanic, electrician, plumber, carpenter vocations. Or road work, or factory work.
We'd have to analyze the job market. frankly I dont know enough to do that.

Or, how many have dropped out of the workforce? How many are employed in low skill positions (supermarkets, gas stations), etc.

Wannabe Twitch streamer? I guy on YouTube was making the case that we are headed towards socilism and the end game will be men and women who refuse to work and want to get that monthly government check. Its YouTube so take it with a grain of salt. But, I wonder. How many young people are there that don't want to work? Is it a lot of people. In my area we have people who work in the summer and collect unemployment in the winter. This is their entire life.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Gotta be honest three guys I went to High School with are in construction and all three appear to do very well.
For dudes who assumably have been doing it for decades they all are in decent condition
One dude who I think was a Union Safety dude at some point appears to have little to no back or joint problems
One dude who works for the State appears to have minor back problems this is kind of a guess
One dude who has done it on his own is a little more beat up than the other two but certainly not that bad.

 

[kage69]

I think it's pretty simple. Conservative media bashes higher education because they think people going through it are more likely to come out voting for democrats. They aren't wrong. It's the same with immigration - they think immigrants are more likely to vote for democrats, so they oppose immigration. And, again, it's the same thing with high voter turnouts...

Yeah but that was the case prior to 5 years ago.

I'm curious to what effect the last 5 years of right wing political prostitution by the 'family values, pro life' crowd has done to younger conservatives education plans. Is this trend evident for pseudo universities too like Liberty, or just for "liberal" schools? The pussy grabbing bigot and racist Trump, blackmailing the cuckhold Jerry Falwell Jr. over naked wife pics - that intersection of politics and education at the top of Mount Hypocrisy, it's got to add up to something, right?

 

[Zorba]

Right!?

I wasn't aware one needed to attend college in order to find a partner/spouse/mate.

The argument is that woman generally date horizontally and above, while men date horizontally and below.

Either that changes, or men are going to have a much harder time finding mates.

 

[Zorba]

The reason why enrollments in college are down. Money. The cost of a college education is cost prohibitive. Those who are employed in these institutions have only themselves to blame.

Doesn't explain the drop for men. But for the record, Scott Galloway speaks at length about the cost of college being too high and how it should be fixed and he does say that is a factor in this issue as well.

 

[Franz316]

I for one think there is still value in higher education, even if it is a two year community college with a trade specialization focus. The University system encompasses more than just a person's major and ultimate field of employment. It teaches perspective, how to think critically and process information, how to be creative, how to live independently, how to be socially active, it teaches how systems work, etc.That is why most people come out generally more liberal. There is much inherit value in being exposed to more people from different walks of life. The cost, like everything else in this country (aside of TVs) is out of control.

 

[Zorba]

Then you'd expect the phenomenon to have started in 2008 rather than in 2016. But male enrollment starting declining in 2016.

I'm not totally rejecting this as being a factor here, but the timing of it in reference to political shifts in the country is hard to ignore.

And if a shift to trades is what is causing the drop, there should be an increasing number of people in trade school. I have my doubts that's true, but I haven't looked it up.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I want to add a few young people have told me the pressure is way too high in college. Basically there are two types in college now.
1) Super intense about getting everything done perfectly
2) only there because Parents made them go and really don’t want to do anything

I can understand this. Cost of college is ridiculous and not something they can afford on their own unless they want a mountain of debt. If you are not willing to have a mountain of debt or waste your parents money because you don’t belong in group one I can totally see how your college life would suck. You would automatically group yourself in number two. They seem to need a group three that is filled with I want to learn something useful and I do not expect to be a CEO or Director of Marketing or VP of IT.

 

[brycejones]

My local college in my city is rumored to be roughly $50,000 a semester. Who the hell can afford that in Iowa?

I'm glad tuition is down. I hope they go bankrupt.

Link it up. Colleges publish that on their websites. “Rumor is” is a horse shit rhetorical device for lying.

 

[IronWing]

Link it up. Colleges publish that on their websites. “Rumor is” is a horse shit rhetorical device for lying.

It could be that the local college is private.

Edit: Drake University, Des Moines, IA => $22,867/semester tuition plus $89/ semester fees.

Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA => $58,156/year tuition plus $492/year fees

Edit again: In the case of Grinnell, an upper middle class student would qualify for a need based scholarship knocking the tuition down to ~$10k/year.

 

[nakedfrog]

It could be that the local college is private.

It could also be that it's fictional, given the source.