I am certainly not advocating that everyone go to college and spend four years majoring in [name the major you hate the most.] All I am saying is that K-12 is not enough in our modern society, and that it is in society's interest to encourage kids to go further. I don't understand why that is an upsetting idea.
Rutgers among state universities with declining economic diversity
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Perhaps another post-HS route/option is to serve in the military for two years where acquisition of advanced training and/or some vocational or technical skill(s) can be the catalyst for a career pursuit. I think intangible lessons/traits such as discipline, confidence, sacrifice, leadership, etc are also positive attributes for many who go through military service.
Let me ask this. A kid who graduates from a HS in Monmouth County this month, skips even 2 year college or any kind of certification or training. Will he or she be able to live to the same standards as their parents?
Everyone needs some kind of training beyond a HS degree. Do you really think a high school diploma is a key to success in 2017? Would you want that for your own kids? You went to college and law school, right? You must understand then how crippled kids are with debt coming out of law school now, and how as a result we have less and less lawyers, law school entry standards declined, and in key, lower paying but highly needed fields (criminal, legal services, family law) the shortage will only get worse and deny Americans badly needed services? Medicine is another field with the same issue and I am sure there are others. This is hardly an art history major problem. With the cost of college, people in needed fields like engineering are just as crippled.
And even in the fields not requiring a degree that we need workers in- they need to be trained. You are not going to walk out of HS and the next day be a welder, a plumber, a cop, etc.
Still disagree about everyone needing training beyond a HS degree. Are you proposing Universal Post High School Education? Again, how do you define "success"?
There's a shortage of lawyers? My impression is we are still working through the glut of lawyers that grew up until about 10 years ago. We can hire attorneys who graduated law school between 2012-2014 with no meaningful experience at first year salaries.
I have friends who are heavy equipment operators, working as police officers, working in construction, and working as restaurant managers who have no post-HS education. They are happy, live in houses they appear to be happy with and have no complaints about life. I hear more complaining for lawyer colleagues.
FWIW, I don't believe post-secondary education should be mandatory for anyone. You are certainly right that there are those who succeed without it.. But I do believe that two years of public post-secondary education ought to be made free as a way of encouraging HS graduates to go further; so many jobs require more than a high school education.
I agree with you about lawyers. The reason students don't go to law school is that they perceive that there aren't many jobs and that many of those jobs are a grind. I'm not at all sure that it's the cost of legal education that's deterring them. And I would never propose that law school be free to all!
I am saying it should be free. In 2017, a HS diploma is not enough to exist, not in this part of the country. Construction workers usually have some training and in NJ police need at least a 2 year degree.
There is a shortage of certain kinds of lawyers. Criminal defense being the one, likely because of low pay and grueling hours.
The shortage of criminal defense lawyers is perpetual. Nothing having to do with tuition will solve that.
How about a grant for those who sign on to work in criminal defense for a set period? Not sure if they qualify for the 10 year forgiveness out there now for public service. And that could be in danger.
Sadly, it is basically the same as any other professional job which services the poor/disenfranchised. It is certainly an issue. The amount of education my sister in law had to receive in order to get a 35k job counseling poor children was absurd. The only possible way for her to be in that job, with the cost of the education, is because her wife is very highly paid.
Many criminal defense lawyers start out in a prosecutor's office: indeed one can do a lot of good for criminal defendants there through exercises of prosecutorial discretion. It would be hard to administer a program in which the graduates don't start out in criminal defense. And my guess is that someone who works in a Public Defender's office already gets at least partial forgiveness. Moreover, what do you do about white-collar criminal lawyers? I know of no shortage of them.
Right- it would have to be those working in the public defender office. There is a big issue in New Orleans right now where they are just totally overwhelmed. The Bronx is another problem area.
No easy solutions, but I think as Mooby states, it extends to other fields working with the disadvantaged that require advanced degrees.
