Henry Rollins: Education is the End of Disaster Capitalism | Big Think
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- Henry Rollins: Education is the End of Disaster Capitalism
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Henry Rollins says "let’s make college tuition either free or really low and if you have a country full of whip-crack smart people you have a country the rest of the world will fear."
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HENRY ROLLINS:
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian,publisher, actor, and radio DJ. After performing for the short-lived Washington D.C.-based band State of Alert in 1980, Rollins fronted the California hardcore punk band Black Flag from August 1981 until mid-1986. Following the band's breakup, Rollins soon established the record label and publishing company 2.13.61 to release his spoken word albums, as well as forming the Rollins Band, which toured with a number of lineups from 1987 until 2003, and during 2006. Since Black Flag, Rollins has embarked on projects covering a variety of media. He has hosted numerous radio shows, such as Harmony in My Head on Indie 103, and television shows such as The Henry Rollins Show, MTV's 120 Minutes, and Jackass. He had a recurring dramatic role in the second season of Sons of Anarchy and has also had roles in several films. Rollins has also campaigned for various political causes in the United States, including promoting LGBT rights, World Hunger Relief, and an end to war in particular, and tours overseas with the United Service Organizations to entertain American troops.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Henry Rollins: The biggest cause of debt in this country besides mortgages, student debt because there are no jobs out there for these people who trusted their country to be there for them. They basically did that exercise where you fall backwards and you workmates catch you. They jumped out of the 40th floor window with that student loan and America went that looks like that hurt. Suck it up Caroline. Get a job. Don’t be a leech. So would I advise a young person looking at their senior year in high school to become a freshman in college the year after? That is a damn good question. How long will it be until America fiscally turns itself around to where the risk of the investment on that student loan to get a person through four years of college? Will that person get a job where paying off that loan and getting a house and affording a family, will that be a possibility? In the present America it doesn’t look like it is.
When will that turnaround? When will that get better? When will be okay for someone to go I'm going to college? I don’t know. I don’t get to push those rocks around, but as it is now there are a lot of really qualified people who are doing jobs fathoms below their ability level. We are wasting people’s time who put considerable amounts of energy, time and their youth into hitting those books when they wanted to go off doing every else as a young person **** want to do. They hit the books. They did what they were told. They paid and paid and they’re parents paid and they’re not getting the promise of America because those jobs went away and the people who could be in charge of the jobs that went away went away. So people who could be in upper management there is an upper manager, but he is in Beijing. He is in Phnom Penh. He is in Bangkok. Those jobs went away to please stockholders and so it does not matter how you shift the tax burden around that much. There are no jobs in this country. There is just until major industries come back you got what you got and so when you say get a job okay, to get a job your way I'll have to get three of them. I'll work at the hamburger place until evening.
There is a great story. I'm sure it’s kind of a folktale. Some guy told it to me. A guy goes into his building ever day and he sees the custodian, morning, morning, same guy in the green suit with a broom. He sees him on the way out. One night the guy stays late and he is working late, big deadline. He leaves at like one in the morning. He sees the same guy in the security officer’s outfit, the janitor guy, some building, different uniform. So he goes what do you have a new job. He goes no, this is my other job. The guy goes down to the locker, gets a dinner break, puts on the other uniform and walks through the rooms he was sweeping five hours before and that’s where a lot of Americans are at...
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Big Think shut the fuck up
Rollins for pres
What makes you think that we need a president?
He'd destroy the other runners
@@MaddesG1 PLEASE say you're kidding..... please.
He couldn’t do worse than what we’ve got now…
"… you have a country that's undercutting itself … they're after the cheap, quick high … they're after the grift."
Bullseye, Henry.
Many conflicting theories here... Tesla wanted to build a blaster that would end all wars - make war useless. Colt, before him, wanted to grant freedom to everyone. Then a British man, who invented first rotating barrel machine gun said the same against WW1, then the man who invented the nuclear bomb said the same thing... In 2022, let's look at China, or even Russia, anyone interested spending their life in this commie regime? Go ahead! ... Now, speaking about other "values". Truth is, the amount of people running away from slavery from the exact countries does mess up organic economy and culture of the receiving countries. You know, who receives? A slut. Does China care about anything? Think about it, Henry.
I'm STILL paying off my graduate degree, and I'm in my 40's! I work part-time as a substitute teacher when my children are in school to be able to be home when they are home, and to keep up on my household duties. My job basically pays my loan fees each month. I believe family is more important than driving a fancier car.
I do agree that higher education doesn't take the average bear to a fantastic job and to wonderful advantages like it did in the 1960's. Although, the skills have changed. You can't be a Liberal Studies major anymore and jump into teaching or upper management. If you go to school to aquire the specific skills that you need for the particular job, then you have a better chance in being prosperous. Times change. We all have to assimilate to those changes or you don't survive as you wish to.
"Suck it up, Caroline!"
I dropped out of high school and haven't been to college.
Instead, I dove under the hood of every broken down car I could find and figured out real quick that I thrive there. Some people discover new particles, some people run Fortune 500 companies, some people sell real estate. I swing a wrench.
I'm a self-taught mechanic. When something breaks, I figure out how to fix it myself and I'm smart enough to know how to get paid for it.
I've got friends I'd call "educated"; college degrees, some of em' paid big for it. They hit the books, did their time and got the promise of a great future. They know jack-nothing about their cars but hey, at least they got that little piece of paper that supposedly entitles them to 20% more cash in their pockets. Most of them are still working the same shit jobs they worked to get through college and they're still getting paid the same shit wage. And they're miserable. Educated and miserable. They can't afford a house because of the crushing weight of the debt the accumulated in school.
I may not be "educated" but I'm skilled, I have experience and more importantly than that, I'm happy.
A lot of people might look at my background and say I'm one of the failures, one of the kids who couldn't hack it in school. They don't realize I found my American Dream. I work for myself. I don't have a crushing debt, but I do have a roof over my head, food in my fridge, running water and working lights.
Anyone can make it in America if you're tenacious enough, if you're willing to work outside the "traditional" route if need be and if you're willing to put in the time working shit jobs if you have to. Not everyone will make it however, that's important to realize. We can't all be winners but goddamn it at least try, try and if you have to, try a thousand more times. Keep fighting until you fall down and go boom.
Psychonauticus6 good thing you didn't become a pretentious dick... Oh wait. Nevermind
Psychonauticus6 100 percent right I have no degree I make high end furniture I earn 70k , sleep under paid for roof every night.
@uglycasanova79
There seems to be two types of people, right now:
1. 'Pretentious dicks' who don't fear losing and so win win win.
2. 'Humble', whiny, depressed losers who never do anything to win, ever.
Fuck the perma-poor. I've hard my share of hardships, but I got out of it because I didn't accept defeat. You become perma-poor when you accept defeat. I have no pity for them. Self-inflicted wounds.
Agreed I got a grade 9 got into oil and gas now earn 100k a year. Did some shit work over the years but got a sweet gig now.
@John Brighton
Repeatability and scalability are both important. Repeating minimum wage is useless, but averaging 3% ROI a week is very useful.
I would vote for Henry in a heartbeat, the man has ethics and morals, works hard expects nothing for free.
Nay now he thinks education should be free and it should.
He's literally a socialist.
the problem with this video is it assumes that going to college makes you smart. That is not the case. Smart people are smart. Smart people who go to college are educated. Dumb people who go to college are still dumb. Most of the folks that got degrees and can't get jobs most likely A) picked a rather worthless degree (I can't tell you how many people I know with a degree in liberal arts or philosophy) and/or B) didn't do all that well in college. Remember having a degree doesn't mean you got A's or really understood the material. It doesn't mean you are a self starter. It doesn't mean you have solid people skills or amazing problem solving abilities. It just means you put in the time and paid the bill. Go find me some out of work engineering majors or computer science majors who did well in college. Go on, I'll wait.
No, but it shows that you're willing to commit to something and to finish it. Additionally, many large companies won't even look at you without a degree. I'm not saying that this is always the case but for nontechnical jobs at fortune 500 companies, it is pretty close.
Not everyone is an engineer or has the ability (and luck) to make a successful startup. For the other 99%, a degree is still essential. How long that will remain the case I don't know.
Maybe I should have watched the video before commenting. You're 100% right. Lol.
In the UK university has become a way for new adults to carry on living like a teenager for a few more years instead of getting a job. I say this as someone who did this myself and I did pretty bad with my degree. Then again I was fairly disengaged with all the material on my course, which combined with a student loan, a new city full of places to drink and being single led to 3 years of partying. I'm amazed I left with a 2.2 if I'm honest.
Doesn't help that schools are judged on how many people go on to further education/good universities and therefore want every tom dick and harry to go there. If schools were assessed via a mandatory survey sent out to all students 10 years after they leave asking what tax bracket they are earning in they would soon be telling students to drop the camera and pick up a tool box instead.
People in the real world don't care what a piece of paper says, what they care about is your work ethic and ability to lean/do the job in question.
I live in Australia so the situation might be a little different, but I graduated with a radiography degree. There'll always be a need for radiographers in the health industry, they're an essential part of modern medicine. I graduated with distinction, having achieved a GPA in the top 10th percentile of my cohort, I attended multiple clinical placements, after each of which I received pretty stellar reviews, so my practical ability and people skills are certainly up to par. I graduated at the end of 2012, and I still haven't secured a job.
My degree wasn't worthless, I did well, I understood the source material. I tick pretty much every box you just listed. the health employment system is fairly nepotic here, but aside from that, why is it I don't have a job? The answer is quite simple: there aren't enough of them.
Fletchersaurus Same here, although I did not achieve quite the same merit as you!
I'm an engineer. Moved to Europe. There are engineering jobs in Australia, but not in my field of specialisation. Not as a graduate. Everyone wants experience there, but no one is willing to pay up and provide it. The market is choking itself...
Henry knows his stuff. It's not that we need more Henrys, we have loads of them. It's that more people need to hear him, and them. I listen to this guy, who isn't educated or has any credentials professionally or academically and yet when I hear him speak it sounds like Naomi Klein, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, etc. I'm always impressed at this guys insight. That's why I'm here. :)
This video is so true. Education is really important, but for so many people (including myself) it just isn't an affordable option.
Working with you hands is not a bad thing. Go get a job as a helper with a carpenter, plumber or electrician. You get paid to learn. And if you have a modicum of intelligence and are able to not abuse substances, you can end up owning your own business. One thing Henry does not mention is that European countries test the bejesus out of their students and those without college potential are directed towards technical or vocational schools. No sense in beating you in the head with Algebra if you are never going to understand it or use it.
edit: your
This reminds me of what I'm SICK of. "Don't waste your time with [this job], go and work [list usual blue collar job here] if you want to be somebody!". I have utmost respects for carpenters, plumbers, and electricians but if that's what everyone else did in the "perfect world", then what about the other jobs outside of the blue collar realm that STILL need to get done? I'm tired of people devaluing other jobs just because they aren't on the Republican Appreciation list.
Or go take an English class or two and learn to compose a correct sentence.
Pr3ct Look who's talking Mr. Run-On Sentence.
Mandilore That was not a run-on sentence, but a sentence that was only arguably missing a comma, said this guy 4 months later. Also, what's with the superfluous capitalization?
I don't know this man but I can feel he is talking from the bottom of his heart .
Education and Experience go hand in hand in creating a well rounded individual!
The education system should always have an internship program to give educated people the experience they need!
Live the American dream! I have a degree and never helped me get a job. I now work for myself.
My degrees are completely worthless too. Almost all of them are. The whole thing is a joke.
This is so great! Henry Rollins is amazing. We did some videos with him on our channel! (check out Prison Profiteers)
Brave New Films Yes it is. Only too many Wall Street trolls littering the communication.
Henry Rollins, I love you man! I really hope to meet you someday
I think Mr. Rollins is partially right with what he's saying here but I also believe a very large portion of the problem is with the education system. We tell high school students you must go to a university to be successful which has never been true and when they get there they meet with an adviser and sit through an orientation were they are told it doesn't matter what you study as long as you get a degree and the more of them you get the more successful you will be and the students come out of school with a ridiculous amount of debt and a masters degree in pottery or gender studies or marine biology and can't find a job. Our education system has lost it's focus.
I think all music should be free and concerts should be free. Imagine what a great world it would be!
Something tells me Rollins wouldn't be for free concerts.
Free college? Is basic education "free?" No, people who make a lot of money pay for it via this thing called "taxes." How successful is this free thing called "basic education?" Not very good, comparing America to other countries. Which is odd since USA spends more money on education (via taxes) than most all of the world. People in congress send their kids to private schools. Geeze, I wonder why?
Making college free will drive its value through the floor. American colleges already practice a great degree of grade inflation (I know this first hand, having had a dean order me to pass students that were failing) so if it was free, there would be even more. Further, a college degree isn't the best thing for every student now, as those with technical skills often make much, much more and don't have to resort to min wage jobs when there isn't a job market for a liberal arts degree.
Rollins was an interesting singer, although his songs were never that popular. His socialist ideas are even less so.
+Todd Starbuck Please explain how it is a "straw man" argument.
+Todd Starbuck I made a comparison that I feel is legit. I think you want free things, not understanding how dangerous that is for the nation, for liberty, and for your own future.
I think you are wrong in your counter argument but thanks for being civil about it.
+PotatoGunsRule Your feelings as an appeal to your own emotion. Free education is never, ever in any way dangerous. I have never lost anything by reading free information online, I've never lost out by the fact I can store libraries into a hand held drive that I would never be able to finish without devoting a decade to reading it through.
Canada and Australia both have aspects of socialist ideas, free info and free healthcare- based on subsidies so the doctors still get paid and everyone can get treated, works. You can still always go private, nothing is preventing that. So if quality is a specific concern you can do that instead.
Most of the people with degrees in my country, got them for free.
Totally. For. Free. Not subsidized, or supported or based on income, it was just out and out free. It was not 'driven through the floor' until they *changed* that. NOW everyone is piling onto the debt inducers and that is creating a flood of overqualified macdonalds workers.
Technical skills are important, but you know another place that does an overemphasis on technical skills in a non free education market? Singapore, one of the least free nations on earth. No counter culture, ultra restrictive and mostly fucked up in all the ways that a nation with sterile progress can consider itself.
As for liberty, free things makes it accessible, there are some very simple freedoms based on free access to free things.
Besides, the way you put it. People are paying *twice*, once for tax, then for the fee. That is not liberty. That is *plutocracy.*
As for spending being equated with effective use of that money, that's just stupid. Plenty of places make excellent education and economy without spending a 9th of the cash the US pays toward failed infrastructure.
People in congress would send their kids to private schools, seeing as they know what they keep from the public sector anyway. The people with the money make the rules and the rules screw the people without money.
Plenty of people are doing good stuff for freedom in the world via inventing. That is one half of it. Eben Moglen and his initiative to make privacy entrenched internet that doesn't let the ISP keep all your info is a great start.
It's all very much like an internet connection. You pay your (small) fee/or put in effort if you know how to do your server from scratch. Pick your use and take what you can from it. Some people spend it on cat videos, some take every damn moment to study the hell out of C++ and get programming savvy.
That is FREE. Free as far as being *allowed*, free as far as you pay your *contribution* (which is the cost of all freedom) and then you have the access. But not everyone uses it. Then you get people who put themselves into a position via nepotism or inheritance, who didn't earn their way there but retain the structure, and they get to make choices that, unfortunately effect more than they have any right to.
All music was done for free once by the way. Artists will perform.
Rollins said about this exact topic in fact *"I tell them I would rather be heard than paid"* So there's your answer. Holy shit! People giving things away because they can afford some of that surplus effort is not "socialism" It's called *sharing* you inalienable human right hating fuck.
+PotatoGunsRule You sound like a pissed off college professor who wants to hold on desperately to his mansion.
Skullkan6
If I had mansion or some stupid luxury car I would burn it to the ground. Just because. Okay that's a lie, I'd sell it then use the money for things that are good and matter. People got to stop buying shit with money they don't have for reasons they just regret. Debt isn't a responsibility but people sure do act like it is the only way to prove they can be responsible don't they?
I think henry rollins might be my hero
When is Henry Rollins going to run for President?
I got a student loan back in the 90s, but back then you could walk out your front door and get a job anywhere and it usually paid well. Even before I transferred to a university, I was able to cook at a restaurant, afford a one bedroom apartment, car, etc and go to community college. After the 90s, everything went downhill quickly and those opportunities for younger people disappeared. I'm gen x and feel that my generation and younger def got screwed while the boomers whined and complained and were handed everything on a silver platter..and they still are total screw ups.
Yes now we are like Ancient Rome and will fall so bad we die
the problem is the cost of college skyrocketed since the government got involved guaranteeing everyone a loan . colleges can basically name there price and they do
It’s aggravating how accurate this all is.
I like this video, ignorance is our biggest threat.
did my University education in Germany - cost me about $ 250 per year in administrative fees, that's it. Taxes are a bit higher once you get a job after. But you have a chance to get your education without being in debt for the next 20 years
I graduated with a BS degree when this video was published and went unemployed for a year and now just started working for a little above minimum wage while I'm still attempting to get a good paying job. (I work security)
I like Henry, but totally disagree with him here. The end result of a job after college has never been promised to anyone. The mistakes that have been made, are in the attitudes that everyone is special, and gets a trophy simply for trying. High school guidance counselors have spent decades telling EVERY kid that crosses their path, that they'll be a shit loser without a degree, even if it's in such an employment rich industry that has a huge market for someone with a liberal arts or gender studies degree. Instead of doing their jobs and evaluating and steering some kids towards the trades, where they can make good money, have a marketable skill set, and never spend a day on the unemployment line. Part of the reason those historically abundant jobs have dried up, is because the competition for such jobs skyrocketed as the sheer numbers of college participants grew larger and larger.
You can back to Feudalism since you are so complicit to live as a peasant. Let someone else be a doctor or at least make a enough to not live paycheck to paycheck. You have fun working at Best Buy since you feel that having goals is too PC for you.
Typical......That's just what I'm talking about. In your eyes, learning a trade equates to working at Best Buy. Me being a Mechanical Building Engineer for 70K a year is the same as running a cash register or stocking shelves at an electronics store. Plumbers, Electricians, HVAC Technicians, Auto Mechanics etc. are all admirable careers, that can provide a lifetime of security and compensation. People can comfortably support a family, have nice things, and sock away some money for retirement. They also don't require a degree and 20 years worth of debt to attain. Steering some kids into the trades is doing them a favor, and there's still plenty of "goals" to be had. It's attitudes like yours, dipshit, that make people feel as though they should be ashamed of their profession if it's didn't come with a sheepskin and a mountain of debt.....until you need someone to fix your car, wire up your new home addition, or get your AC cranking again in the heat of summer, then they're your best buddies.
What H.W. is probably trying to say is, that all this hard work ethic of for example, selling yourself, marketing your products and trying to make the best out of your profits isn't really looking long-term, like Henry Rollins was pointing out. The problem today isn't, that we lack engineers, technology experts, plumbers and so on, but rather, that we cannot put their skill to just and noble use. It isn't just about fixing your car, building homes and inventing new devices that seemingly make our everyday life easier. These are just a set of basic prepositions, that merely make human existence tolerable. And just that. The people of today must put these devices into a context: WHY do we think they are useful? HOW can they make life easier for EVERYONE? Lets be honest, there is a lot of unjust and corrupt use of technology today, from investing into military weaponry, to just recklessly using technology all over the place, examples being iphones and smartphones, propelling is into an ideological field of media, news and all in all, trivial information (this however, can be relative). Of course, we need engineers. We need people with practical, technical skill. But what we need even more is a way, so that their inventions actually make life easier for all of us in the long run. Like building technology that can work instead of people, so that they can have time and resources to educate themselves in really different fields of human thinking, not just ''practically'' oriented ones. This is where it also becomes apparent, that the mass inequality and unhealthy competition of today's society aren't really adding much good to what was mentioned.
And also, being a humanities student, I can't agree that our market is exactly flourishing. Quite on the opposite, arts and humanities students are the ones that usually can't get a job very soon after finishing their degree and usually end up being employed only part-time. They aren't in an exactly stable position, so to speak. Because their degrees are ''useless''? Or because, nobody today has time to reflect upon what they are saying and continue to exist under the law of injustice and exploitation? To each his own, I guess.
It's so interesting to read the comments here. Seems to me that many are missing his point. Education is important; college is important because it helps create thinkers. The problem is that our country prioritizes cheap labor and outsourcing. College is expensive and it shouldn't be. Of course, you don't need college to be a great thinker but academia is a fantastic platform for engaging intellectual pursuits. Some people in the comments talk about how useless the liberal arts are... useless why? Because you can't monetize it? Rollins is speaking, primarily, of the problem of disaster capitalism.
Unless you're doing a STEM degree then you are WASTING your money. Get a trade - they pay amazingly well, much better than most college degrees. Find something you love and become self-employed. Live a simpler life. Forget materialism and focus on the spiritual.
No to free education because most people will be wasting tax dollars on degrees in shit like Elizabethan poetry. If you want to study it, bully for you, but not on my dime.
And while you have to love Hank's optimism, it's unrealistic. Most people that are smart enough to do STEM degrees do them. But America and most Americans are too focused on shallow and material things. And that's how the system works. Remember after 9/11 when Dubya came on TV and told everyone to go shopping? Without conspicuous consumption America is over.
not necessarily. My brother got 2 trade degrees from a business school. He finished and they said he needs "Experience" over and over.
Trade, dumbski! Carpenter, Electrician, Plumber, et al. those are all considered trades.
yes he was Hvac and electrical. TRADES you learn at a BUSINESS school
You go to a Trades school for a trade you fucking moron. Jesus, how fucking stupid are you?
What's wrong with funding the study of poetry?
To get my AA I started at Mat 151 which means I had to do Trig, Calc, and Theoretical just to get my degree, while graduating with people who are doing Mat 108 Pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Algebraic concepts, AND GET THE SAME AA.
Sure online colleges are convenient for people short on time or truly can't make the commute but these courses can be 6 times the cost of a community college course. When employers are looking at a perspective employees education they aren't going to be impressed by someone who hasn't had any real experience or physical contact with a subject. This is the problem many new nurses are facing.
Capitalism rewards education, as it gives you more power to compete in the marketplace, versus socialism. In socialism you have more taxes, regulations, etc. to compete with, and it makes it harder for new competitors to enter the market. A skilled laborer in a Free Market can invent a new technological break to increase their wealth by a selling their product to those who want it, and the wealth of the general population, as their technology makes products cheaper, more available, and more efficient as those who bought the product, can produce it easier.
The problem in America, is we subsidize the part of education that has little to no economic value, which is why college student cannot payback their student loans in many cases. A PhD in philosophy has less demand, then a specialized worker who works in making the technology and services people want to pay for, such as smartphones, computers, laptops, gasoline, medical technology, medicine, etc.
KevZen2000 Education rewards capitalism more than the other way around. An educated populace makes it easier for the rick to profit and use that populace to evade taxation. There are entire firms filled with smart people with Ph.D's that think about how to screw the public out of the taxes the rich companies and executives make.
Ann Boylen I know that if you have the right connections, have enough money, having the right tax professional, and intelligence you can bypass taxes without a lot of work. I have worked as a consultant for years, and believe me taxes can be avoided, such as writing off the various "business" expenses, car repairs and maintenance, insurance, mileage, tools, clothing, etc.
This is a reason why I try to get a 1099 when seeking employment with an employer. It is more profitable to pay for the taxes yourself, then to have an employer to do it. Believe it gets me more jobs, and it saves me 100s to 1000s in taxes every year. The beauty is even poor people can do this, and it does not require a lot of money, time, etc. to do it. Whatever you cannot do yourself, you can hire a person for a reasonable rate. The goal is to pay as little taxes a possible without being audited by the Government. Believe me you do not need a PhD to figure this stuff out, just an average intelligence, and the ability to research the available tax cuts.
With Capitalism those who can provide the best service, at the best price they will become successful, unless there are limited to entering the market, such as regulations, licensing cost, certification requirements, patents, taxation, etc. Education is one of the biggest factors in success with Capitalism. Remember America is by far no way a free market, it has many limitations on the market, which enables a fewer group of people to gain most of the wealth.
KevZen2000 Like I said
Ok. I like the video. However, I think it is necessary to discuss this. I was thinking about this fact: models change. For some reason people think that models are absolute; some are but some are not. For example, the model of gravity doesn't change. However, consider the model of how penicillin works. It worked well for decades, however, when resistant bugs came around things changed.
Things have changed in the job market and the corresponding model has changed too. In the past US, most people who received a classical education learned allot, especially how to think but things changed. I won't even get on the fact that college education has changed in the last 20 years. But times have changed, and the model for success has too in some ways. The fact is that there are still industries that are open wide for jobs and some are very lucrative. It is just you have to be willing to do those jobs, and work in a high demand field. I would think it is better to learn to do a job, as opposed to get a degree, unless that degree taught you to do a job.
The US currently still has high paying jobs such as the tech industry (Engineering, and Computer Programming), nursing (LPN, and RN), skilled laborers (welding, auto mechanics).
However, if you are going to go to college to party and walk out with a piece of paper then I really would think about it.
Further, the issue is we have elected people to office who can't see past the next election or their re-election. It is hurting the US badly. People have become so complacent that they really don't care. They continue to believe all the political propaganda out there and vote for the same people, so nothing changes.
Umm....no. I disagree with this guy on the free education. In the video, he mentions doctors. Most people don't know that most people who are taking loans for degree in things like communications and drama, could basically pay for 2 years of medical school. As well, there are a host of monies out there if you are going to get an education in something in high demand like medical.
For a minute, I almost forgot Rollins is a socialist. Figures, he slipped his propaganda line into story.
Also, for the US to be like Europe? Are you kidding me? I almost liked the video until you said this. Yep, Europe is educated but it is also in horrible shape! This fact is always quickly passed by every progressive who screams about free education; let's not kid ourselves. Besides, Rollins is so out of touch that he believes that education is free.
a better education, a better productive societty
also we need to teach practical domain as main class in school like practical psychology, economies and finance and politic.
I might be dreaming about politic, but we need our voters to be qualified to vote
Mathematics is the key. The jobs are where the math is.
thanks because I dropped math. it was torment.
Why is so many people can NOT understand Maths, like is there some kind of blockade wall that keeps you puzzled to death or what
It's the way that it's tought. without being applied to anything.
however that is generally not the students fault. They were taught so long that their supposed to do this and their supposed to do that, that they never think for themselves and they don't have individuality or a real since of purpose outside of doing what their parents/society/peer/friends/community tells them. People go to college for the sake of college and never ask the simple question "why?"
@stephen lowering taxes wouldn't improve the quality of education. The options people face today are basically community college, state college, or online college. Online colleges are getting more and more popular and more and more expensive. That doesn't imply they are of higher quality than community colleges or even preparing people for real careers. Online colleges are more profitable for investors and that's why they are springing up everywhere.
It's fascinating to me that people can look at an indifferent government that doesn't care about its constituents, and assume that creating more of that government will create a better world.
It's fairly self destructive.
The simplistic ideology of American style right-libertarians falls to pieces when you point out that 'government' is not some monolithic, neatly quantifiable thing. Wanting better schools does not mean you must also want more prisons and more military spending.
I would agree with this.. But as I am finding...is that many of the top tech companies who own massive amounts of capital and destroying basic parts of life outside of Silicon Valley (retail, communication, schools to name a few) are deeply invested in AI. That means the machines who have access to the most data (amazon, facebook, google) will have the best machines. The proposition of inequality will seems certain. College students should not invest in college, they should invest in these companies in the future. I am sure it will be okay for the next 4-6 years.. but this whole Neoliberal game is great until It destroys the very thing we love, freedom and capitalism. Just do more research, much love.
like corporations will look after us.
Actually the countries that have the highest success rate of college and are considered the most intelligent are left leaning Democratic Socialist type countries. The difference is their government works for the people and reallocated their taxes back to their constituents for things like low cost/free college and universal healthcare. Unfortunately in America our politicians do the bidding of big corporations. They're becoming useless as the free market capitalism increases and people's live incrementally becomes worse
Government is only indifferent when it doesn't represent the people like it's supposed to. That happens when big business exerts too much control over it. That's only possible when government regulation is so weak that it's easy for it to be controlled by corporations.
You don't want a powerful few ruling over you? Great. Government is the only way you can protect yourself from that. But they've managed to convince you that if you disempower the only institution that can protect you, you'll somehow be free.
The only difference between a corporate monopoly and a government is that governments let you vote.
That makes a nice soundbite mate (and I don't doubt it) but I don't understand the relevance to my post. What I was saying was that education should be viewed as more than just 'job training' but as a medium of teaching people how to think and giving them the means to express their creativity - creativity, I might add is regarded as one of America's greatest strengths and one of the drivers behind your economic wealth.
I think what he means by "Disaster Capitalism" is what he says at the end "The War Profiteers, the ones who make money off of discontent" But I do agree with you statement
446 politicians disliked this
Jeff Jones wrote:
"Henry, when will you start investing in our college students? Why don't you donate your income to help some needy students? You are worth millions, Henry. Those college students could really use it! Have you started any scholarships? You sold your house for $1 million. I'm sure you helped a few people attend college for free with all that money. After all, it's for our future! What? You didn't? I thought you were thinking 500 years ahead? Of course not. You talk a lot, but you don't do it."
You leech! Henry does donate part of his income to help needy people; it's called paying taxes. He pays more money in taxes than you do so he is contributing more than you to helping the needy. Then there is also the money he may donate to charity.
What makes you feel that you're entitled to the money Henry Rollins worked so hard to earn? He doesn't even have a college degree but you want him to buy you one. What is so exceptional about you that you feel you entitled to receiving tens of thousands of dollars from Henry Rollins as a gift? He may very well donate some of his income to charity but you don't know if he does or not because it's none of your business! You should be glad that he cares enough about young people that he's making videos to inspire them. That's a major contribution he's made to young people. What have you contributed to young people and needy students?
U ok hun
why should he? he's worked for it. he's giving advice. moron
@@ubik_3786 What dysfunctional system are you referring to? Rollins doesn't have a college degree but he should have to pay for someone he doesn't even know to go to college?
Laser!!! I am ready!! Let's do it!!
+Joseph Claytor lol
College tuitions will continue to rise until the government gets out of the student loan business. A free market would correct this problem and prices would fall to where supply and demand determined. The truth is college isn't for everyone. If you keep pushing socialized higher education, you will end up with mediocre students blaming indifferent teachers for their lack luster education. It will cost more and impede those who are willing to put in hard work and make sacrifices to better themselves.
The biggest problem here is that going to college doesn't make a person smart. Making it free for anyone to get a useless degree doesn't really help things. We need production in this country. We need incentive, or at least less red tape, for you and I to make/grow a product, or provide services to each other. Taxes, regulations, protections, only make these things worse. At this point we can't offer services to each other or produce things without a lawyer's help.
Some of what he's saying is good, but overall he's economically ignorant.
+Andy Caldwell so fucking true.
Shane D, no you're fucking brainwashed. Why do you think the education system sucks? It's because the government doesn't want smart, educated people who can think for themselves. If the kids were taught to be critical thinkers, we wouldn't have a government, because anyone with two brain cells understands that government isn't the answer to anything, well, unless you want to be a slave.
Germany rations it's education. Not everyone graduates high school.
It's weird. Everywhere I go, I see signs "now hiring". The problem is that those signs are all over fast food places and gas stations. It sucks, but I spent 10 years in food service and 6 in retail. Too many people want a job where little work is put in for a huge return, and not enough people are studying math and science. From what I understand, there are a lot of jobs for scientists and engineers, but not so much for interior designers and shitty artists.
Good point...America's so worried about being in control of every other country's affairs. As Bruce Lee said, "I wouldn't be afraid of the man who practiced 10,000 different kicks, but of the man who practiced one kick 10,000 times.
I think what our society needs to accept is the philosophy that everyone deserves a higher education, and some people should go to college. If you're a smart individual with a talent for math and science, go to university and become an engineer. If you hate schoolwork or barely understand it, go learn a trade or a 2-year degree, and avoid the debt of a traditional university.
This talk is very misleading ,Education is not the complete answer in any respect.
If you over educate a person of average intelligence , you will still have an average person of average intelligence , there is such a thing as educated stupidity, Every country needs intelligent people , it's intelligence not education ,of course if you educate an intelligent person your on to a winner . But, and it is a big but, you will probably not have a patriotic nerd like this bloke wants , simply because an intelligent educated person will see nationalism for what it is.
I'd like to double up on that and mention the loans. If you can get in on a scholar ship or a grant or something, then there's no issue. It's when you're in debt.
A lot (though not all) of that cheap quick high that disaster capitalism chases can be traced back to the principle of shareholder primacy which is the notion that the primary (increasingly only) purpose of a corporation is to increase shareholder value (aka make the stock go up). As a stockholder (though admittedly not a very big one) I have come to believe that the principle of shareholder primacy was a huge mistake. If I own stock in your company I am A stakeholder not THE stakeholder. We as corporate managers also have a responsibility to our employees, to our customers, to pay our taxes, to not pollute the river from which we draw our drinking water etc. I have no interest in having a great stock portfolio but an unemployed neighbour and a body full of "forever chemicals". Unfortunately, this one insidious notion has led millions of really really clever individuals to put one number (stock price) above all else and thus horribly skew the capitalist system in a way that it need not be.
I was all with this guy, until he started spewing nonsense about how educated people will build a laser that will kill our enemies in their sleep.....wow.
The rub is that study,curricula,social,and even scheduling protocols mitigate against creativity,invention,and innovation,especially on the undergraduate level.Universities should change,all knowledge is good and interesting to somebody,but focus on what is necessary for jobs and professions,and in doing that create time for what individuals find interesting and esthetic.Courses are sometimes given only for the benefit of faculty and to make money.
Well, when i went to college it costed me $500 a semester, for 6 years that means $6000 in the 1990s. Granted no ivy league, but still a major university, in state tuition. I worked on summers and parents helped me make ends met, I was frugal and didn't go into debt, now if you told me that same school would cost $1500 per semester I 'd say no thanks see you later don't have time to waste that kind of money nor willing to go into debt.
The idea of America is not European at all in nature. I like Rollins for the most part but he has paid too much attention to the rhetoric rather than the reality.
how?
How is it not European in nature? You mean other than it was specifically designed to not be European in nature? In his book Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville coined the term "American Exceptionalism". What he wrote that made America exceptional is instead of like England where men of rank were gone to, and unlike France where the government was gone to, when Americans wanted something done in their society they went to their neighbors. In this manner society flourished creating roads, inns, churches, hospitals; anything a government created in Europe Americans created with their neighbors.
It has only been since the early 20th century that euro-centrism has taken hold and it is not a coincidence that the government since has been the most corrupt in the world. Grafting collectivist beliefs on to an individualist society can lead to nothing but corruption.
What do you mean when you say, Where of rank were gone to .? What does gone to represent?
Men of rank, Lords, Kings ect.
Sounds like Henry is gonna vote Bernie Sanders 2016 (:
Good thing Bernie was cheated out of running for President by his own party.
He sure was and many of his supporters still voted for Hillary, can you say, stupid?
@NMEofNWO Well let me help you out: one carried out the act, the other one was the wife of someone who carried out the act. I'm not a democrat (I'm anarchist), I just think this is a double standard of epic proportions. If conservatives are going to get pissed off about Bill, they have to get pissed off about Donnie Boy.
Henry is one of the few people who has been able to "get" the national security component to the student debt crisis. And it is a crisis that isn't going away anytime soon.
Being an entrepreneur is a big part of collage. Intellectual capital is key. Sometimes you must create opportunity.
If you want to see insight, watch Jordan B Peterson. He's an actual genius.
You are joking, right? lol
I do not see how they relate. However, yeah peterson is a good way to start.
Peterson says nobody is really an atheist. And he's an academic, in psychology.
He figured out a way to make money about something he lied about.
And he is never really clear on his thoughts even though he preaches this
He also says Raskolnikov is the perfect atheist, misremembers the book despite supposedly liking Dostoevsky.
Meh, find better heroes
He was embarrassing when he spoke about religion with Matt Dillahunty
Oh yeah let's be like Europe, because Italy, Greece and Spain are in such great shape. Capitalism is the answer. Jobs are the answer. Big government is the problem.
Not like that, but when he says like europe, he means giving kids excellent quality education, and not a school where you can show up and pass automatically.
Blair Holmgren says the ignorant little boy who has zero fucking life experience
Because Europe = Italy, Greece and Spain. American ignorance at work.
Jeroen I'm american so I must automatically be ignorant to you then as well huh smh
Jeffrey Von Stetten
Pompous fuck, how do you know what experiences he has?
If a Roman Legionary refuses to take a few stabs at the enemy, that's fine, but he sure as hell better keep in line, holding his shield, else the whole century will be strained and/or destroyed.
this vid exactly describes my college experience in 1972. except i attended a tuition free four year college and got my BA. but American business wasn't there for me. all i could get was dead-end low level jobs.
No, an economy that works well is one that can effectively provide and produce goods for the population. This in a sense means that there is a minimum amount of wealth that people deserve dependent on the total amount, but not necessarily equality. For instance, an economy that as a whole is very productive fails if a large amount of its population still ends up dying from starvation. This should be obvious that the evaluation of an economy means nothing when it cannot adequately provide goods.
It's not the job of your country to provide you with a job worth spending money on your education. The point of getting an education* is to be more productive, i.e. to be able to provide services that are more urgently required by other people**. If nobody actually needs the services you can provide, that's your responsibility. Just like any other investment you don't have a right to a return if nobody wants what it produces. If I buy a tractor that doesn't mean people have to pay me to plough fields. If I buy a taxi that doesn't mean people are obliged to take trips with me.
* other than the obvious advantage of love of learning.
** directly or through the medium of firms that provide value to customers and requires services to do so.
Amen Henry. America used to look out for our own. Now ppl are just numbers that loan companies can charge interest. For the record, I am that security guard. I'll be working the next 20-25 days straight to pay for my worthless student loans. God bless America.
Go to an in-state community college for the first 2 years and apply for grants so you get free tuition. Get to university and continue to get grants and/or work while going to school to pay for any tuition that isn't covered. If you must go to an out of state $40k/year university then don't be shocked by your student loan debt at the end of it all.
I get that we are not a manufacturing society anymore, unfortunately, we did nothing to fill that void other than to please the "board". If America ever wants to improve the live's of its citizens it needs to focus on paying educators which in turn will boost the three most important industries of the next hundred years. Which is tech, healthcare, and infrastructure. Unfortunately, greed is putting that on hold for now.
why can't there be more people like him in the world?
Because, there is a whole community of folks called conservatives who have made it their mission statement to sink this man's idea of what could help America. This was from 10 years ago...and things have somewhat worsened. Now in present day 2023, add in "college kids are a threat to our nation", political pundits calling this kind of advice "Radical leftist" and conservative cowboy guy doing his podcast soapbox from inside his truck for likes and shares, and what Henry Rollins is talking about has now become the "enemy ", not just something we call can disagree on.
I will tell you this as a 48 year with an Art degree who now owns his own photography company and is a small business person, Education is important as a whole for a nation. Tucker Carlton might say otherwise, but then again, he gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to say how stupid we are cause we have degrees.
Trades need to be focused on and placed higher on the economical pedestal. I'm a 25 year old carpenter instead of going to university which I had the grades and funding to accomplish I put on a tool belt. America was built on hard work of which I'm afraid America finds no value in.
At what point does an advanced education become basic education? The argument you're making is simply making a barrier between college and primary education when there isn't one there in the first place. Schooling used to include very little beyond remedial level math, science, reading, and writing. The things we're taught now are what we would've considered college level at that point in time, but were inevitably included later simply due to the increase in Raw Data we've discovered.
Let's say every student loan was paid off. That still doesn't erase the interest placed on every dollar in your economy. Even if you paid the debt off completely, today, you will still be racking up new debt. It's just how the world banks have made it. For every dollar you use, of the banks, the bank expects you to pay that dollar back plus interest. You will never get out of debt so long as there is interest on your dollar. It's also not only a problem for the US, it's a problem for many countries. Any country that doesn't produce it's own currency is flawed.
best video i have seen on the big think so far! kudos!
If high school grad students looked at what jobs were in high demand and long term profitable, before going to University, then there would be no epidemic. And that's what people largely did back before the Government got involved "to help people" with post education
My Mother did it while raising two boys, my wife has done it, my brother has done it, yes student loans are ridiculous. Taking out a student loan is a big risk that should not be taken lightly. Borrowing any amount of money is a risk that should not be taken lightly. Paying off student loans is next to impossible. But smart kids with good parents don't take out these loans for stupid worthless degrees. Smart people look to were there is a need in the job market that they can fill. They find a way to utilize their skillset to make meaningful contributions to society that are lucrative financially and personally.
the only person i was 'ridiculing' was Henry Rollins for his rambling point of view. Rollins chose an 'alternative' path to earn a living, making it big, enjoying success et. in music and acting. Good for him...no-one provided that for him, he took the risk, worked hard i'm sure, and made it work for him. So why did he choose to talk about 'getting a degree / getting a job' when it isn't the path he chose? When i tune into 'Big Think' i expect to hear insight, not opinion.
4:29 rollins for president. not just the laser that was awesome hes a hella smart dude
Skilled trade jobs have huge shortage of applicants. Too many people don't want to work hard
Regulations need to exist, the 'free' market doesn't protect the rights of workers so companies can and should be forced to keep their own workers safe. Minimum wage is also a good thing that should be employed, prices aren't going to go down by magic because companies can pay their workers 1-2 dollars an hour as opposed to 7-8. Union mooching and corporate welfare are things that everyone can agree are bad.
Just about any large corporation in our nation ships it's labor off to other countries. We are no longer an industrial nation, and the country is no longer thriving with jobs. People say go to college and get a job. Education and degrees don't equal jobs anymore, the existence of companies that have jobs to spare are what create employment. Next time you tell someone to get a job, think about whether your work is hiring or not, if it is, help the stranger out, rather than ridicule them.
Same crap in Australia....................We send our jobs overseas, and then complain about people being unemployed........
Henry talking about free University in the US while that's a reality for many countries around the world; the US really felt behind. His POV is well explained and positively real. 10 years since this video have gone by. Has anything changed? Nothing at all.
Here's an idea: Go to community college for 2 years then transfer to a 4 year school. Students may have to work a job while they go to school, BUT this helps reduce their loan burden.
Or, they can go to an expensive, far left "prestigious" school and think like Henry does.
Who cares about facts, when you can just tell "folk tales" in order to prove your points!
(FYI - In 2011 the US Navy tested a laser that can burn through up to 20 feet of steel in a second. Time for a new "folk tale?")
Not caring does not makes thing disappear.
It's crippling to have high student loan debt. If America wants to remain a superpower, we NEED educated citizens. My debt has eliminated the possibility for me to afford children - as I finished school in my late 30's and won't pay it off (over ~$2000/mo.) until I'm 50. This is INSANE. My income has definitely improved with my education, but if I weigh my choices, perhaps I would have been better off with a rewarding welfare check. I don't understand why Americans cannot deduct on their taxes not only their student loan interest, but all student loan debt. Again, if America wants to remain a superpower, we NEED educated citizens. Government officials, please make it easier for us to become productive American patriots!
Yeah that's called an apprenticeship. They're usually paid positions. Not too many people go to college to be plumbers.
Rollins for president 2020
Rollins is spot on. Sure, there are those that don't want to go to college. That's fine, for them. For those that do want to go it should be easy to do so.
We need more engineers and people comfortable with difficult material like mathematics, because at this point we are seriously lagging behind, and now cheap labor has gotten so cheap that it is no longer viable.
This guy is right.....I am paying myself...my dad in my life and died when I was 12and my mother is crazy, so I was stuck....a couple years ago I earned my GED. When I sat in class, d teacher asked what I needed 2 study up on.....and handed me a book and told me 2 study d hole thing, sat down and drank her coffee....I EARNED that diploma literally with d hope of a bright future.....2 college classes down, not counting how many more 2 go! I keep my head above water every day. SUPPORT POSSITIVITY
I have a suggestion. It won't suit everyone. See if you can do your degree in another country. Say you have double nationality for instance, because you were born to immigrant parents. Could you be admitted as a national in your 'other country'? If not, would it be cheaper to study in another country you may like? This happens a lot for degrees for which there is much competition, such as medicine - but for reasons other than cost. In Portugal, for instance, it used to be common for applicants to degrees in medicine to learn Spanish as an insurance policy. It was very hard to be admitted in Portugal but not so much in Spain. So if the first option didn't work they would apply in the neighbour country and pack their bags.
Take advantage of globalisation.
International experience matters. Speaking languages matters. Getting the best for your money matters too. There are universities providing education in English in non anglo-saxon countries. Every country has their cream of education providers which performs well at international level. If you speak a foreign language to a good standard then you could use that to your advantage. I find that an international experience is worth as much as a good degree. You could have both - if you choose well and if you are brave enough.
And yet there were plenty of living wage jobs back when we stuck to the Constitution. We had almost no national debt during peacetime, interest rates and inflation were much lower, housing, healthcare, and college were affordable, and we had living standards doubling every other generation for 200 years.
this man speaks 110% truth. especially the last part was THE truth.
that doesn't take away from the fact that taxation is theft. don't avoid the issue.
Well said Sir Henry Rollins. Education WILL in fact change the world for the best.
well, beiber to me is the manifestation of media. he is a symbol and I was trying to talk about all media, not a musician
It’s not just the USA sadly.
I went to post secondary the next year after I went to high school. That was in 2000. Fourteen years later, I'm still in massive debt and nothing to show for it. Not even the job I trained for because the school I went to set me up with a practicum sweeping warehouse floors.
I feel disappointed, I feel used, and I feel betrayed because of that. They can chase me til the day I die and they won't ever see a cent. I don't care if it screws up my credit because they screwed up my future.
Well we still pay much less of the education. And actually, the typical student doesn't even pay taxes so yeah it is free. In Denmark we even get paid to go. So we make a profit. But let's say I have a part time job and I pay taxes, which contributes to my education, I still pay a hell of a lot less than in the US because it's a team effort.