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[Graknorke]

The mix of audio can definitely make it hard to hear some things without others being unbearably loud. I'm partially deaf, and with certain films that are particularly badly mixed I'll have the volume up to the point that gunfire/explosions/dramatic music are shaking every pane of glass in my house before I can hear whatever the actors are mumbling about- and even then I'll probably miss some plot-critical line and have to rewind. Thank fuck for subtitles.

That reminds me, I really need to do something about creating a subtitle app for a mobile phone/tablet...

I think the mumbling is a very American thing. American actors are so, so bad for it. It's like it's just one big syllable ;_;

[Bauglir]

It's a really hot winter here too. Eighteen degrees yesterday. Was pretty darn hot.

...

I was going to get my parents to pay for this semester's course, but apparently it went through on my student loan without me doing anything. Now I have even more debt.

Why is bureaucracy efficient at all the wrong times

If you have them pay the loan immediately it shouldn't wind up making much difference financially. Pain in the ass though.

[Sergarr]

My WTF for today: fact that student's loans exist as a common financial strategy of Western universities.

I mean, how fucked up you have to be to even invent something like that, not to mention actually implementing it in reality?

[Rolan7]

Not sure which side you're approaching that from...  Is it weird that loans are given for such a dubious investment, or is it weird that students are charged for college?
Because we have free education, it's called high school, but it's shit now because everyone's parents want their special snowflakes to go to college.
So now we have a bunch of young people with crippling debt and incomplete or nigh-useless degrees, because of outdated ideas about success.

[Orange Wizard]

Actually, universities etc. in NZ are state-run. Means we get to borrow money from the government to pay the government.
Why they can't just stop lowering income taxes is beyond me.

[Yoink]

@Grak: Well, now that you mention it, I do tend to have more trouble understanding American actors than English/Australian/Kiwi ones, but I generally put that down to the less familiar accents.

[Calidovi]

I enable subtitles.

[Tawa]

That reminds me that I wish more YouTube videos had subtitles enabled. The words that thing comes up with are hilarious.

[Graknorke]

it's shit now because everyone's parents want their special snowflakes to go to college.
So now we have a bunch of young people with crippling debt and incomplete or nigh-useless degrees, because of outdated ideas about success.

This claim is just not true. As we progress as a society it is perfectly reasonable to expect the level of education to increase too. Just because a lot of people choose to invest that education into an area that doesn't help anyone doesn't mean that education as a whole is a bad thing.

[Sergarr]

, or is it weird that students are charged for college?

This one. Charging for education is stupid, the only possible result of that is lowering the total level of education among people, and there are no positive effects from that. It's shooting yourself in the foot in the long run.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The money's gotta come from somewhere, though that's not exactly true and it comes from nowhere. Welcome to modern financial practices, where you wager debt against other debt while taking on debt.

[Calidovi]

, or is it weird that students are charged for college?

This one. Charging for education is stupid, the only possible result of that is lowering the total level of education among people, and there are no positive effects from that. It's shooting yourself in the foot in the long run.

What value does a college degree grant to a worker if everyone that didn't drop out has one? How will the job system work when people can't discriminate based on education, when everyone is a viable contender for the same position?

[Flying Dice]

, or is it weird that students are charged for college?

This one. Charging for education is stupid, the only possible result of that is lowering the total level of education among people, and there are no positive effects from that. It's shooting yourself in the foot in the long run.

You're failing to understand the driving motivation of most of the people with meaningful power, though.

[Graknorke]

What value does a college degree grant to a worker if everyone that didn't drop out has one? How will the job system work when people can't discriminate based on education, when everyone is a viable contender for the same position?

Because the point of a university education is specialisation. Guess what, if you're running a garage then a mechanical engineering graduate is going to be more useful to you than an English literature one.

[Rolan7]

it's shit now because everyone's parents want their special snowflakes to go to college.
So now we have a bunch of young people with crippling debt and incomplete or nigh-useless degrees, because of outdated ideas about success.

This claim is just not true. As we progress as a society it is perfectly reasonable to expect the level of education to increase too. Just because a lot of people choose to invest that education into an area that doesn't help anyone doesn't mean that education as a whole is a bad thing.

Exactly, the level of general education should improve.  That means improving the education that everyone gets...  Not discounting it by expecting every kid to purchase a 4-year degree they might not be ready for.

What has happened is that 4-year degrees are the new high school diplomas, except the new generation is in massive debt over them.  *And* drop out rates have essentially increased.

Yes, colleges offer more specialization, so they are inherently different.  But that just makes it crappier that they're the new normal.  People should specialize once they have the life experience to make a meaningful choice.  High school (which does offer a degree of specialization too) used to be enough to prepare people for adulthood, and it ought to be again.  Instead companies get to pick from hordes of desperately indebted college graduates.