In a message dated 10/22/02 7:00:16 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << Note its the _parents_ in your story who are groaning, not the kids.
OK, I'll admit that the "no idea" was based on what I know it was like when I was going to college in the 70s. However, it is still my impression after 13 years of teaching college that the vast majority of college students not only have never done a present value computation about their decision to go to school, but have never seriously considered the alternative of not going to school - - what they could do, how much they could make, what their lives would be like etc. >> I taught history at Iowa for a decade and used to conduct a discussion of changing notions of "equality" in American history. Inevitably we would discuss "equality of outcome" and I'd ask people if they agreed that a ditch-digger should earn the same income as a brain surgeon. Inevitably most of these liberal arts students would object to the idea, saying that the whole reason they came to college was so that they could earn a higher living. They also seemed fairly well aware of differentials between, say, history and economics. The history majors knew they'd make less with a history degree, on average, but placed a higher value on doing something they enjoyed then on having a higher income. Perhaps we could argue with their preferences, but I don't think I could fairly say they hadn't done some sort of comparison between college and no college or among college majors. David Levenstam
