February 27, 2006
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Major: Statistics 101, Sociology 101
Course: Trends in society
Assignment: Give an example in everyday life of how people misunderstand statistics, or, give an example of how your understanding of statistics helps you in some way.
Many people invest money in a college education, because statistics say that college graduates make more on average than non-college graduates. So, it would seem to make sense that by going to college, you assure yourself a high paying job upon graduation. The question is, does possessing a college degree cause people to make more money than people without a college degree?
The answer, to my understanding, is that it does not. The reason is that salary is dependent on the job taken, and there is a huge range of jobs and a huge range of salaries, such that a person with or without a college degree can find themselves doing jobs above or below what they ever thought they’d be doing, both in terms of the work itself and the salary. Someone who has earned a masters in education can make up to 6-figures as a gym teacher in suburban Long Island, or up to $60,000 or $70,000 teaching English or Social Studies in NYC. A lawyer can make 6-figures doing corporate law, or $35,000 doing criminal defense law. Someone with an MBA can make 7-figures in investment banking, or $40,000 trying to start a business. A high school drop-out can make $20,000 working in McDonald’s, $50,000 driving a subway car, or $80,000 moving up the corporate ladder at Starbucks, from the register, to store manager, to district manager, to regional manager. A hair dresser might make $7/hr, a truck driver over $20/hr.
So, the type of job one has is more important in determining how much money a person will make than whether or not they have earned a college degree.
Still, people might say, “statistics show that someone with a college degree is more likely to make more money than someone without a college degree.” Statistically, this would be true (i think). But, it would not be true to conclude that possessing the degree is the cause of this statistic, rather, we could only conclude that there is a high correlation between those who earn a college degree and those who earn a high salary. There could be many causes that we would have to look at, and ultimately speculate about. For example, it could be the case that the type of people who pursue college degrees, are the types of people who are driven to make a lot of money. Therefore, people who go on to work in high paying jobs tend to also have college degrees. This perhaps speaks more to these people’s drives to accomplish things, than to the fact that acquiring the degree was actually necessary for their higher earnings.
In fact, if the aim of someone going to college was to make a lot of money, it could be argued that going to college is actually detrimental to this. Unless you’re entering a field that absolutely requires a degree (law, medicine, teaching, psychology), the amount of money spent on a college education, compared to the potential savings from work and independent learning, could be a huge swing.
For example, compare a person who worked for 3 years after college, and spent 1 year travelling and doing independent learning. By age 22, they have saved up some money, have some money invested, and have a decent feel for the real world of work. They have real job skills, and may have already positioned themselves to move up from entry-level to higher paying jobs. Compare this to many of today’s recent college graduates, who are in debt, and are unlikely to find a job, or even a field that they like until their mid to late 20′s. The burden of college debt means many students are unable to begin putting away money for their retirement, to eventually buy a home, to start a business, or to start a family. The lack of real world skills may mean that college grads are not given meaningful work, or are unable to put their education to use.
Like all discussions, this one is not complete. I am not making an argument for people to not go to college, nor am I arguing that going to college is a financial mistake. I am trying to provoke discussion, to stimulate critical thought.
Final question: What are the jobs of the new economy, and exactly what are the skills that are needed??? We hear a lot that US jobs are being shipped overseas where labor is cheaper, and that we need a higher skilled workforce, especially in science (as Bush would say, for learning about things like intelligent design) and in math (remember a squared + b squared = c squared?) to make up for this gap. Obviously, these aren’t the job skills we’re talking about, or the subjects to be learned…so what are they?
Comments (4)
“For example, compare a person who worked for 3 years after college, and spent 1 year travelling and doing independent learning.”
I think you meant high school, not college. It doesn’t make sense otherwise.
I could argue that “there is more to life than money”. I could also point out that if the Fed would stop fighting inflation everything would level out again (jobs would come back, although every item sold or bought would cost a fortune). But I’m too lazy.
The jobs of the new economy are just like the jobs of the old economy: namely, whatever duties someone will pay you to perform. And there are always jobs that can never be outsourced. Will you ship your drycleaning overseas? Fill your car with gas using a hose that stretches to India? Have a pizza delivered from Uraguay? There are plenty of jobs available to the unskilled workers of America, but most Americans are reluctant to take those jobs. They have “needs” (cell phones, cable TV, etc) that offset their wages, and are unwilling to sacrifice those things until left with no other choice. Most Americans are also used to only one or two roommates, and therefore can only divide the rent/mortgage among two or three people. People whose culture has already aclimated them to living with upwards of a dozen people under one roof have the economic advantage when it comes time to pay the bills. Americans need to learn to live with less (…Kreg typed on his expensive computer that was hooked to a T1 line Internet connection).
Also, many of the needed highly skilled jobs have poor compensation and no acolades. Why be a prize-winning physicist when you can be a bread winning doctor?
explain your comment about inflation, i can’t say i understand very deeply how it works, at least as you’re talking about it???
let’s break the rest of this down a bit…there’s a spectrum of jobs
skilled & unskilled…..high paying & lower paying……high need & low need
These 3 chategories are very often unrelated to one another. I think I demonstrated this already. So what do we as a society need to understand about these 3 chategories of work as they apply to the “problem” American’s are facing.
The most important social issue that involves jobs seems to be the availability of high paying jobs. I think the availability of these types of jobs varies by region. For someone in Detroit or another industrial town, they are highly dependent on the success of those companies for high wages. The focus now seems to be on all these people who are losing their jobs to foreign workers. People focus on numbers like unemployment, but, there always seems to be a need for workers in so many sectors of society.
wow… where on earth can a high school teacher make 60-70 thousand a year?!? Wow… around here, most teachers make abour $25,000 a year, maxing out at about $45,000… aparently I need to get to NYC.
that is very true…