this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Issues such as the one faced by Marinette Marine have been widespread throughout the country, with shipyards turning to creative solutions such as offering training academies or partnering with technical colleges to get more workers the skills they need to build the Navy’s high-tech vessels.

I agree with this part so much. Instead of free college, we need free trade and technical schools. Good paying jobs, typically union with pensions and we have a huge shortage.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago (3 children)

To reach across the divide for a handshake:

This is something Biden and many progressives have been pushing for,

Free community college/trade schools: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/06/21/readout-of-white-house-meeting-on-expanding-access-to-free-community-college/

Advanced manufacturing training and jobs in the US: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/23/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-highlights-new-commitments-toward-equitable-workforce-development-in-advanced-manufacturing/

And even pushing paid apprenticeships: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/06/fact-sheet-president-biden-signs-executive-order-scaling-and-expanding-the-use-of-registered-apprenticeships-in-industries-and-the-federal-government-and-promoting-labor-management-forums/

And specifically in shipbuilding and getting the workforce where it needs, both in private ships and the military, the admin is moving in the right direction, opening new shipbuilding yards, getting people to train up, and putting in ship orders https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/29/fact-sheet-white-house-announces-new-private-sector-investments-in-american-maritime-industries-due-to-biden-harris-administration-efforts/

Getting more manufacturing back in the US, becoming more self sufficient, and having dignified employment are all my goals as a progressive too, and I'm really happy there's movement from the current administration in their areas (despite complaints in other areas)

(I used all Whitehouse links as a from-the-horses mouth source, but there are plenty of articles about each)

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (3 children)

What’s wrong with an educated population?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

An educated population is the only way we can compete on the world stage.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

You’re right, makes sense why conservatives don’t want that.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

They don't vote against their best interests.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Do you think high skill trades aren't an education? I don't think they are saying anything against a traditional university education, but more supporting skilled trades as well.


My mistake, they did say "instead of free college". I think we could probably support both if we raised the standards a bit.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I agree we could support both. My comment was addressing the idea of valuing one over the other.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Well we spent 30 years valuing college... How did that work out?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

We valued the idea of going to college, yes.

What we failed to do was value the accessibility of college.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Anyone who had a social security and blood pulse could go to college and that's what happened.

1/3 failed out,1/3 doing jobs which don't require a college degree.

1/3 benefited to varying degree.

Do you think we needed note millennials in college.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Even if the fractions you provided are accurate, they don’t speak to the qualitative benefit of educating a population. This seems to be a problem with conservatives, y’all are only concerned about quantitive measures.

What is the qualitative risk of an educated population?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I am not a conservative wtf... my body of work speaks for itself. What are you basing this clown take on?

they don’t speak to the qualitative benefit of educating a population.

This is benefit in the room with us right now?

All I see is increasingly improvised and indebted population, working longer hours, getting less benefits... people are not forming families. People can't afford rent.

Now show me this benefit you are talking about, dear!

What is the qualitative risk of an educated population?

Debt slavery which solid part of millennials is currently suffering.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

You may not be a conservative, but you are in their community and share a stance with them on this issue so pardon the generalization but it’s still true.

“This is benefit” is not grammatically correct. Even if it was I have no clue what you’re getting at. Do you not know what a qualitative benefit is?

“Increasingly improvised” also makes no sense. I agree people cannot afford things, so it makes no sense to paywall knowledge.

What benefit would you like to see?

I think you’re arguing against the status quo, which I am too. But I’m not sure if English is a second language for you or not which may be affecting the efficacy of our conversation.

My apologies, could you please clarify?

My point being that it is ridiculous to withhold knowledge from the population. Ignorance is a detriment to society. Just because one generation did not dramatically improve when it was less paywalled doesn’t mean knowledge isn’t worth our society investing in.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Not much of a response.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

All I see is increasingly improvised and indebted population, working longer hours, getting less benefits… people are not forming families. People can’t afford rent.

Not every job requires a college degree, but since we have made it available to anyone with a pulse, employers are pushing for them even when they provide no value. I have seen a stupid job posting for a master's degree for a 20-an-hour job. The degree isn't required for a license or some other practical reason.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

, but since we have made it available to anyone with a pulse

Who is this "we"? Are you owner of a company? Because I am not, I made not such decisions. Did you you?

Employers start pushing for this shit starting 40 years ago and people respond as manufacturing jobs go eroded. so THEY made it a requirement for secretary needing an English major... trying getting that job with out a BA lol

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

We, as in the collective America. We voted for the people who decided to make loans available to everyone.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Americans have marginal impact on any policy fed government pushes.

Colleges collude with industry to create debt slaves here though

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If we’re talking about altering society on a mass scale, you’re damned right I care about measurable outcomes.

I value freedom. I value economic consent. If you’re going to use centralized power to forcibly trade me something else for a loss of those two, the the other thing needs to be measurable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I wasn’t talking to you.

Who’s forcing you to be educated/uneducated?

You’re missing the part where the current system effectively forces the poor to remain uneducated.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You were characterizing what I value, as a conservative. I’m agreeing; I’m not interested in “qualitative benefits”, that are not also quantifiable. Use of government power to alter the world must be justified with measurable metrics.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

The problem with your viewpoint here is knowledge is inherently qualitative and therefore cannot be quantified.

Government successfully provides other qualitative services, knowledge is but one (or should be)

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That is the problem—too many unqualified people in the pipeline.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

The problem is that there are not enough well paying jobs to support this "educated" population esp with a ton of debt.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

China created a booming solar industry by subsidizing it heavily. We can do that too with other industries, and the subsidy can come in the form of trades education.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Obama subsidized solar too... What do we have to show for it?

Again, why should impoverished taxpayer subsidize the capex of property owner? In free entperise and private capitalist society why is we paying here?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago
[–] [email protected] -3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

No, we poured tons of government money into making college accessible. I went to college on loans designed for that purpose.

We valued college and we backed the notion with hard cash. Well, with forced loans.

It drove the price of college through the roof though. Just like housing, just like medicine, just like all the other things we provide government money to help people get.

It’s a consistent pattern. People don’t trust the free market, something is deemed too important to let the market handle, so we pump government money into purchasing assistance and, predictably to anyone who’s taken macroeconomics 101, the prices of those things skyrocket and the availability drops.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Sounds like forced loans were the problem, not the government funded education.

With proper funding, you shouldn’t have had to take out loans.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Why shouldn’t we have both?

[–] [email protected] -5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If we made college free, we would restrict college to only the best and brightest. That is how the rest of the world does it.

I prefer our current system where it is available to anyone.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You forgot the part where you have to have money first.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

There are student loans available to fund college or scholarships. The military also had the GI Bill. The National guard has the GI bill and variable program based on the state.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Many of those loans have interest attached, and can have a detrimental effect on credit score, and that’s if you even qualify.

Why should people put themselves into poverty to be educated when it benefits us as a country to have an educated population?

That’s not the answer you think it is. Clearly you’re just out of touch.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yes that is how a loan works. You have interesting attached to loans.

Everyone qualifies unless you fit certain disqualifying statuses such as drug dealing, didn't register for the draft, etc.

Taking the improper people and trying to educate them wastes time and money. That is how we ended up in this situation.

Even in countries that offer "free" education, students earn just as much as Americans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/upshot/an-international-final-four-which-country-handles-student-debt-best.html

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

My whole point is cost shouldn’t be a barrier to education. Loans only serve as a bridge to affording something otherwise unaffordable, but they don’t address the root cause.

Which people do you consider “improper”? Are you saying only “proper” people should be educated? How do you make the distinction, and what is the benefit of having an uneducated portion of the population? Are you suggesting educated drug dealers are responsible for the general unaffordability of education?

This sounds racially coded. I think you just outed yourself.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Test scores. That is how other countries do it that have cheap or free education. Only the best get to go. The other people just do trade school.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Hmmm, you’re still limiting the acquisition of knowledge to “proper” people.

It makes no sense for the ones who pass a test to be the ones deserving of more knowledge, rather than those who may need the education more.

Since education itself has no known negative side-effects, why limit access?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Personally I'd prefer if we didn't have to hyperfocus on one specific skill, where demand could suddenly dry up at any moment for any number of reasons, to have to support ourselves.

A huge factor in our stagnation is that we promise people stability if they do this one thing... then we have to cater to that one thing for the next fifty years because they now have no other way to support themselves. So we keep pandering to coal miners and corn growers and whatever else.

Education should not be tied this closely with economy. It should be about growing and expanding our horizons, our ability to better understand the world around us and the people around us. Not about how best to be stuck in the same career for the next 50+ years.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

While I am not a conservative, I may agree with you strongly on education. College degrees are massively overinflated in value and propped up by government-backed student debt. We need to get away from this idea that everyone needs to go to college to secure their best life because we critically need these trade skills in the economy, in conjunction with policies that support these workers with fair compensation for their high technical skill.

This system we have today cannot possibly be sustainable.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 6 months ago

I know people with master's degrees who work in construction. They could have saved a lot of time and money by entering construction from the start.

There is nothing wrong with a trade. Most of my family works in a trade.

I think the problem is people have focused on college degrees as being magical, and people rush to get them without thinking how they will benefit them or make them employable.

Plumbers, electricians, and carpenters all make good money.

If we every want to grow out middle class, that is how we do it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago

Union jobs are typically not good paying. They pay better than entry level fast food for sure. They on paper seem to pay than non-union jobs in the same industry, but that is often an illusion - often there is weird fine print and so your yearly take home pay is about the same either way. However the elephant in the room is there are many many jobs in Engineering, medicine and the like pay much better.

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