Comments on: Chart of the day, college-dropout edition

By: MrRFox

MrRFox — Wed, 23 May 2012 03:47:59 +0000

Just for the record, Gates and Z’berg and Steve Jobs all failed to complete u/g studies, but it hardly seems fair to lump them in with a crowd that “shouldn’t be in those classes in the first place”. Those guys got what they needed from school and were ready to move on to (much) better things long before their 4-year stretches were up.

Not like they couldn’t cut it in school.

By: TFF

TFF — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:19:12 +0000

I fear you are running up against the limitations of gross statistics here. As you note, the labor force participation rates are very different. The character of the employment is also likely different. And somebody who gets suckered by a for-profit school is more properly termed a “chump” than a “college dropout”. Definitely confuses the issue.

You don’t need a college degree to succeed. What you DO need is a plan. Plenty of people in the trades who never attended college and built decent lives (or apprenticed into a family business).

By: SteveHamlin

SteveHamlin — Tue, 22 May 2012 23:37:07 +0000

Felix – if your main point is related to employment participation rates among 3 categories, then don’t post a chart about unemployment rates among 2 and then explain at length why that chart is skewed and incomplete.

Just post a chart showing employment participation rates among the 3 categories.

For fun, add a chart showing those rates by age categories (replacing another paragraph of words). BTW, where’s the link to the underlying data?

By: k9quaint

k9quaint — Tue, 22 May 2012 22:25:51 +0000

Unless the college dropouts actually learned something during their time in college. After all, learning to correctly load a bong might serve better than a Bachelor of Arts in 17th century Tazmanian poetry (the former might not require 4 years of university to master). ;)