As Scott Galloway noted this morning on LinkedIn, the price of American college increased by a factor of 30 in the past five decades, faster than healthcare costs, which have increased well above inflation.
Too many universities are businesses which don’t provide their customers a good investment. Millions of students, in aggregate, hold about $1.7 Trillion in student debt. I don't need to lecture any of you here about how debt burdens people and removes options, including valuable risk-taking that benefits the individual and society.
There are alternatives. One of these may be apprenticeships.
Meanwhile, the executive branch of the United States federal government recently revoked an interesting executive order from the prior administration (EO 13801), which to me was an interesting effort to expand Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAP).
A paid apprenticeship could deliver the opposite result to college. Being paid to learn skills which advance your career and help an actual company vs. paying (and taking on debt) to maybe learn skills and maybe get a job post-graduation.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/going-college-substitute-learning-erik-van-mechelen/
Hey, what's up everybody. This is Erik. Glad you're here. Go ahead and check out everything we're doing, from my fiction, book reviews, book clubs, and of course, some writing courses as well for some of my friends, maybe we'll see—anyway, join the conversation and look out for upcoming events. I'll talk to you soon. Invite your friends (if you want to), because it makes it better when there's more of us like-minded folks around. Okay. Talk to you soon. Take care. Welcome to Esoterik. Let's do this.
