If you were an employer...

[gonzo914]

(I won't hire a H.S. dropout, no exceptions).

Not even if it's Cher?

I wonder why not. If you have a high school drop out with 20, 30, 40 years of good experience verses a brand new college grad with no experience, you pick the college grad?

Although there are, of course, exceptions, high school dropouts, rather than having 20, 30, 40 years of experience, tend to have 1 year of experience 20 or 30 or 40 times over.

[Jack]

(I won't hire a H.S. dropout, no exceptions).

Not even if it's Cher?

I wonder why not. If you have a high school drop out with 20, 30, 40 years of good experience verses a brand new college grad with no experience, you pick the college grad?

Although there are, of course, exceptions, high school dropouts, rather than having 20, 30, 40 years of experience, tend to have 1 year of experience 20 or 30 or 40 times over.

I know quite a few high school drop outs who have many many years of experience at one place. Maybe I know lots of the exceptions, then.

I also know high school drop outs with college degrees.

[KatieBell]

I think I only know one high school drop-out. A 40-something with severe dyslexia, undiagnosed at the time. She has had the hardest life and recently went back for her GED so she could do *something* with her life. She didn't care what *it* was, as she had been incapable of doing *anything* without a high school diploma.

[Aanvil]

Pretty much everyone has a HSD and at least a 4 year degree of some sort.

Get the degree.

Why put yourself at a disadvantage?

I'm with Tyler.

I won't hire a High School drop out.

Of course I did say " If you rock, you work".

Not to say there there is some "get the job done and blow my mind in the process but I'm too unruly and unfocused to finish high school" individual out there but I've yet to see it.


Not to sound harsh but if you are hanging around a lot high school drop outs find a new group of people to be friends with.


People may tell you different but its not "OK" to underachieve in my book.

There is too much out there just waiting for you.

Not having a good education will hold you back.

Get it while you can.

[missy]

A high school drop out that's in their 20s is totally different than a high school dropout in their 50s (I'm trying to span generations here).

My own father didn't even ATTEND high school (he'd be 90 if he was still alive). He was too poor and had to work so he and his brother could live with his mother. But he went to many a vocational class, worked in the CCC in the 30's, and availed himself of any and all ways to continue to educate himself his whole life.
My father in law stopped at 10th grade (he's 85), again because he had to work.

I'm sure there are still many in my generation that still quit high school because it was necessary to work, but by my generation, many high schools had started offering work/study options. I knew quite a lot of people in their senior year that only went to high school in the morning, then worked a full 8 hour day.

I think what Tyler and others are saying that TODAY, it's the very rare person that cannot finish high school because of financial or other "understandable" reasons. My step daughter is a "drop out" - she quit when she was 16 (we didn't find out for a whole year, however - that's a whole 'nother story....). She did get her GED, and she attends a college course or two, but she is still taking all the classes she should have taken in high school (having a GED doesn't mean one necessarily starts in 100 level classes in college - depends on the school and how they pre-test). I have NO idea what she plans to do with her life (again, long story), although she's made noise about wanting to be a psychologist. At this rate, she'll be 60 before she has a degree.

[mutepointe]

you beat me to the punch of older non-high school graduates missy. my mom was the first person in her family to get a high school diploma.

[Cynth]

I feel the way many people do here.

A BA from a liberal arts college (as opposed to a school that is training people for particular work) would rarely qualify you for a particular kind of work or if it did it would be work at a very beginning level that quite possibly anyone else with a similar amount of education would be able to do. It might prepare you to go on for more advanced studies in your major, but some people even go to graduate school in other areas.

A BA from a liberal arts college shows that you have a broad knowledge of the world and different areas of study but not yet a truly deep knowledge because you've been studying many different things. If you've done well, then you show that you can learn, and study, and think, and evaluate information, and stick with it. You will show that you have been exposed to many ideas, different outlooks, and that your world is now a bigger place than it once was. That is the beauty of a liberal arts education. There are people who are not familiar with this idea, so perhaps you may have to explain to them what the goal of your undergraduate schooling was.

There are religious studies professors where my husband works and they are not regarded as a sort of special category of religious people---they study and teach about different aspects of religions. I have no idea if they themselves are religious people. They are not the college chaplains.

I think you should study and major in what interests you most. You are more likely to really apply yourself when you are interested in something. You want to show that you can go a little deeper into a particular area, that you can build on the foundation your broader studies have created. And this is a chance you shouldn't pass by---to learn more about something that truly interests you from good teachers.

I think your current work and volunteering are very important as part of your employment record. You want to do a really, really superb job at those jobs because then those people will be able to write very good recommendations about your work. If the floor needs sweeping, get the broom. Don't wait to be asked---you know what I mean. At the entry level I think a wise employer will give more weight to people who can learn and work hard and work well with others rather than to specific experience.

[mutepointe]

so, what did you decide? did we help?

[BillChin]

Pretty much everyone has a HSD and at least a 4 year degree of some sort.

One-fifth to one-third of the population drops out of high school, depending on whose numbers a person believes. With a drop of rate exceeding 50% in inner city districts.
Source:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0621/p03s02-ussc.html

About 40% of those that start college never get their 4-year degree. A good many of the high school drop outs are either first generation immigrants or go to the other "university" [prison]. A good many that never complete their college degree are average middle class Americans.

The others have made excellent points about prior generations and how few had diplomas or degrees. My dad had a sixth grade education, my mom never went to school a day in her entire life. I'll take their wisdom over that I see from any number of those with college degrees or even PhDs.

That said, for certain types of companies, certain types of jobs, a diploma and a degree are necessary to enter through the front hiring door. A person with connections and an impressive body of work-related results and a valued skill set, can almost get into most companies through other means.

[Whistlin'Dixie]

Pretty much everyone has a HSD and at least a 4 year degree of some sort.

One-fifth to one-third of the population drops out of high school, depending on whose numbers a person believes. With a drop of rate exceeding 50% in inner city districts.
Source:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0621/p03s02-ussc.html

About 40% of those that start college never get their 4-year degree.

I would be interested in knowing, though, the percentage of high school graduates that go to college in the first place. That would lend more meaning to the above statement, for me anyway.

I think I remember one of my college algebra instructors saying that only about 10% of high school graduates go to college, making those with college degrees a small minority, and thus, more desirable in anyone's book, no matter what the degree is in..... They went, they stuck with it, they learned a few things, plus they grew up, in the interim.

M

* ....pretty much everyone has a HSD and at least a 4 year degree of some sort *

[djm]

If you have a high school drop out with 20, 30, 40 years of good experience verses a brand new college grad with no experience, you pick the college grad?

I am a highschool dropout. I have finally worked my way up to my own level of incompetence in a large corporation. I am of an age where the company would very much like to get rid of me. Why? Same reason as your HS dropout with 40 years experience - we cost more to keep.

This very much depends on the type of a particular job, of course, but someone coming straight out of college has a more up-to-date education. More important, they are so ubiquitous in the workforce that they will work for peanuts. They don't (usually) have families and mortgages and car loans to carry. They are fresh and just starting out and are more malleable to the corporation's ends. They make a better investment than hiring someone much older who may or may not be fossilized into old ways of thinking, poor work habits, and who demands much more respect due to their age and experience, whether they deserve it or not.

Kids really do have a lot to offer that employers value

djm

[sbfluter]

I have to respond to this question. As someone on the other end of the scale. I have a BA in Women's Studies. Yep, I read heaps of books by radical lesbian feminists and endlessly debated whether gender and race is a social construction or biological, etc. ad naseum. That kind of thing might get me in trouble employment-wise wouldn't you think?

Nope. It has not hurt me one bit.

In fact, what I'm asked on employment applications is do I have a BA and where did I get it (so they can call the school and verify). Not what was my major. Just if I have a B.A. My resume says B.A., University of California. It they want to know what specific major, they can ask. They rarely do.

So, if it's really religious studies you want, then go for it.

[BillChin]

I would be interested in knowing, though, the percentage of high school graduates that go to college in the first place. That would lend more meaning to the above statement, for me anyway.

The Census bureau reports 28% of the population with a bachelors degree or higher, so probably 50% to 60% of high school grads matriculate at a 4-year college, and a good percentage go to 2-year college or vocational school.

There may be social circles and neighborhoods where virtually everyone has a degree, and everyone's kid goes to college, however, that is 28% of the general population.

There are more interesting bits at the source article:
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www ... 04214.html

[jim stone]

The census data, from 2005, suggests a lot more people are
finishing high school. I haven't found a source for the
40 percent drop out rate from college.

From the census info Bill links to:

'According to new tables released on the Internet titled Educational Attainment in the United States: 2004, 85 percent of those age 25 or older reported they had completed at least high school and 28 percent had attained at least a bachelor’s degree — both record highs.'

[jim stone]

I have to respond to this question. As someone on the other end of the scale. I have a BA in Women's Studies. Yep, I read heaps of books by radical lesbian feminists and endlessly debated whether gender and race is a social construction or biological, etc. ad naseum. That kind of thing might get me in trouble employment-wise wouldn't you think?

Nope. It has not hurt me one bit.

In fact, what I'm asked on employment applications is do I have a BA and where did I get it (so they can call the school and verify). Not what was my major. Just if I have a B.A. My resume says B.A., University of California. It they want to know what specific major, they can ask. They rarely do.

So, if it's really religious studies you want, then go for it.

So, is gender socially constructed or biological?
Just in case Cranberry gets asked in an employment
interview.

As long as we're talking about arcane studies,
wish to assure people that bible thumping proselytizers
would have trouble finishing a major in religious studies
for much the same reason they would have trouble
finishing one in anthropology.