this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2025

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How it feels (infosec.pub)

submitted 1 week ago by bytesonbike@discuss.online to c/comicstrips@lemmy.world

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[–] DeadMartyr@lemmy.zip 25 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

I mean I sold 4 years of my life to the military to not have to take loans out, so I get the gut reaction

The main cause of the student loan issue is the commodification of education. Everyone wanted to go to college and at first it was optional but then as more people did it it became a requirement, then they realized they can charge more and more for education that is worse and worse because a good chunk of people dont actually want to learn / be there. They're just there for the paper that'll let them get jobs and not be unemployed, or even just to say that they went.

I look around and people are playing damn Pokémon Showdown in class, there was that one scandal of an influencer girl who was the daughter of someone important that bought her admission to Stanford(?) and would stream literally about how she didn't care about education she just wanted the college experience.

Hot take: Not everyone should be going to college, High School should just prepare people better. Even if we forgive all loans right now it doesn't fix the issue. Instead of your problem it will just be your kids' problem

[–] PaintedSnail@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

While I agree in theory, I'm not really sure there's much that can be done in practice. The genie is out of the bottle here: jobs want the paper, so people get the paper, leading to jobs expecting people to have the paper. An employer is unlikely to deliberately "lower their standards" (in their view) if the pool of potential employees with a degree is large enough for their needs already. Since you can't legislate that employers are not allowed to require a degree, and you can't expect people to not get a degree and sacrifice their own potential future to break that cycle, we're kind of at an impasse.

That's why the only way forward that anyone's figured out so far is government funded higher education.

Edit:typos

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It also reinforces the class system. 'elite' employers won't even look at you if you don't come from an ivy or a top 5/10 school.

and there are fewer and fewer of these 'elite' jobs to go around, hence the paranoia among the upper middle classes that their children will have zero future if they don't get into an ivy.

[–] DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

There is a lot that can be done in practice. One, employers are asking for degrees because they can. If you lower the number of graduates and they can't get them without higher pay, they will stop. Two, you could put a price on the degree, e.g. higher minimum wage for positions requiring a degree to make employers pay for the extra education.

[–] Legianus@programming.dev 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

So the higher minimum wage is already a thing in some countries (e.g. Germany, where degrees are also mostly free) and there is still the trend of many more ppl. studying.

In general, our world is getting more complicated and we live longer. So i dont really see the problem of more education?

[–] DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

More education is a balance of costs and benefits. There is no harm in even a supermarket cashier having a collage degree. God knows our democracies could use more educated voters. But in many professions, it is not worth the cost. The same knowledge could be gained by a few months of on the job training. If employers are really willing to pay more for those degrees like in Germany than that is fine. But I am pretty sure in some places, people are asking for degrees not because they are needed (worth the cost), but because people with degrees are available cheaply.

After all, if the degrees were worth their price to employers, and the employers paid for them adequately, student loans wouldn't be an issue.

[–] DeadMartyr@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago

I agree, but there is things we can move towards, but some are more... radical solutions.

I think the Swiss do something where after a certain point in the education pipeline (Age 16?) they decide either university or vocational school.

I think the ratio is 20-80.

If the decision is made for you (via being evaluated by the institutions in charge of the students) it definitely would be filled with bribes and scandals where the rich try to subvert it.

But if that wasn't a problem I think it would definitely help university degrees "matter" again and it would be more feasible to make free for those who pursue it.

Again this requires a whole restructuring-- and would not see results for atleast a generation-- and red-lining would potentially have very visible effects on this depending on how its done.

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Trades are a good option, but how long before plumbing drones are crawling through the sewers?

[–] Emerald@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

how long before plumbing drones are crawling through the sewers

That would be lit

[–] harambe69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 days ago

What makes you think they aren't already?

[–] LaterRedditor@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Do we all think loan forgiveness is the cure for student loans?

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Not at all, but loan forgiveness wasn't mentioned in the comic. It's just putting a bandaid on a capitalized educational system that should not be for making money but rather a societal investment into our betterment. Id keep my loans I have left and vote for free education any day of the week if we had the option. (Of course I wouldn't say no to both) But I think some people were trying to use loan forgiveness to breach the doors of free education.

[–] Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world -1 points 6 days ago

If you follow the analogy, then you want everyone else to go through chemo to beat your cancer... Kinda weird.

[–] ComfortableRaspberry@feddit.org 220 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Was it also sponsored by the "I want my kids to have a better life than me" crew who then complains about kids having it too easy these days?

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 58 points 1 week ago (12 children)

I want them to have it better and easier. But an easier life, not just an easy childhood that doesn't prepare them for their inevitable crushing adulthood.

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[–] Screen_Shatter@lemmy.world 64 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (31 children)

The goverment paying off student loans is like bucketing water out of your boat and ignoring the hole. Like sure, its gonna keep some people afloat for a little longer but the issue hasn't really been addressed, the problem is still there and the cycle remains a perpetual shit storm. The cost of education is preposterous, the people taking these loans dont have jobs to support paying it back, and most of them are too young to have the experience informing them of what a monumental undertaking paying it back will be. If they tried to get the same loan for a house or business they would be denied. There are so many issues to tackle but paying off the loans rewards the groups who created the problem in the first place. It incentivizes them to continue the foul play and prey upon vulnerable youth. Without some systematic reform accompanying the loan payoffs to ensure this doesn't continue we will end up in the same situation over and over again.

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[–] HalfSalesman@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (4 children)

For me, I do kind of think that if someone paid and then forgiveness happened, they ought to be at least partially compensated if they have any history of being low income. They could have put their loan payments into something else but they didn't so they'd kind of end up screwed over by their slavishly responsible bill paying.

That said: its stupid to not want broad student loan forgiveness because the student loan crisis is literally damaging the economy. Its hurting everyone, even people who already paid their loans off.

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[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That mindset sure is a great way to make sure nothing ever gets better for anyone.

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