Topic: What are some university degrees that shouldn't exist besides gender studies?
Anonymous A started this discussion 10 years ago #51,376
And why do people take these degrees knowing they'll get into debt with few jobs in that field?squeegee joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 9 minutes later[^] [v] #665,876
well, once, long ago college was for smart people. but then colleges got greedy and they wanted to figure out how to get stupid people to pay for it too. So colleges added a bunch of useless curriculum and then convinced high school guidance counselors that everyone needed to go to college, and look, there's even classes for stupid people too. So, instead of promoting trades as well as university level education schools dropped expensive classes like shop (that requires a large material investment) in favor of forcing everyone through the same square hole. So, now college is for everyone even though it seems to be mostly an extension of high school that you have to go into major debt over. but the curriculum is just as useless unless you choose to go into a professional field, such as law or accounting. but those are for the smart students.
but yeah, it's mostly because schools didn't want to keep paying for wood and metal for shop classes or buy and maintain all that expensive equipment. so now we all go to college on our own dime instead. pretty funny, huh?
but yeah, it's mostly because schools didn't want to keep paying for wood and metal for shop classes or buy and maintain all that expensive equipment. so now we all go to college on our own dime instead. pretty funny, huh?
(Edited 2 minutes later.)
Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 3 minutes later, 13 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #665,878
Non-STEM degrees usually don't result in people getting a job in that specific field FYI. That's not the purpose of a BA degree.
(Edited 23 seconds later.)
Metæ joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 21 minutes later, 34 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #665,888
@previous (Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU)
I've heard that liberal arts degrees are more about knowledge and horizon broadening but if you can't pay back your tuition in the form of higher wages than you would have gotten without the degree, then you have to be either rich enough not to care about the tuition or REALLY passionate about the subject.
I've heard that liberal arts degrees are more about knowledge and horizon broadening but if you can't pay back your tuition in the form of higher wages than you would have gotten without the degree, then you have to be either rich enough not to care about the tuition or REALLY passionate about the subject.
Anonymous E joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 14 minutes later, 49 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #665,892
@previous (Metæ)
College is a financially sound decision for most people. The real losers in the current system are poor students at for profit universities and uppity white kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
I feel a lot of sympathy for low income people that have been taken advantage of by predatory should. I feel no sympathy for solidly middle class white kids taking out six figure loans so they can go to NYU and exchange STIs with yellow girls.
College is a financially sound decision for most people. The real losers in the current system are poor students at for profit universities and uppity white kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
I feel a lot of sympathy for low income people that have been taken advantage of by predatory should. I feel no sympathy for solidly middle class white kids taking out six figure loans so they can go to NYU and exchange STIs with yellow girls.
Metæ replied with this 10 years ago, 22 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #665,909
@previous (E)
> uppity [ethnicity] kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
I just re-read that sentence mentally filling in different races and it sounds like Stormfront.
> uppity [ethnicity] kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
I just re-read that sentence mentally filling in different races and it sounds like Stormfront.
Anonymous E replied with this 10 years ago, 3 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #665,912
@previous (Metæ)
Uppity has a very different meaning when applied to white and black people in America, meta.
Uppity has a very different meaning when applied to white and black people in America, meta.
Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU replied with this 10 years ago, 6 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #665,914
@665,888 (Metæ)
Yeah if you take on 6 figures of debt to study Norwegian throat singing and you don't become the best Norwegian throat singer in the world, it was probably a bad decision. The average student takes on about $30k in loans, so if you get a degree in say English, and that enables you to get a job that pays $20k more than a job you could get with only a HS diploma it is definitely worth it. It's a cost-benefit analysis.
@665,909 (Metæ)
Even leaving aside the weird not-racism-racism, the people who take on this debt are 18 years old. They are barely adults. And for literally their entire life every single person they loved and trusted told them "You need to go to college and get a degree. Debt doesn't matter because you will earn so much more that you will pay it off no problem.". And so they follow that advice and some of them end up screwed. Most don't but some do. And then to see that and say "well I don't care about them because they're uppity" is such a heartless and pretty ignorant thing to say.
Yeah if you take on 6 figures of debt to study Norwegian throat singing and you don't become the best Norwegian throat singer in the world, it was probably a bad decision. The average student takes on about $30k in loans, so if you get a degree in say English, and that enables you to get a job that pays $20k more than a job you could get with only a HS diploma it is definitely worth it. It's a cost-benefit analysis.
@665,909 (Metæ)
Even leaving aside the weird not-racism-racism, the people who take on this debt are 18 years old. They are barely adults. And for literally their entire life every single person they loved and trusted told them "You need to go to college and get a degree. Debt doesn't matter because you will earn so much more that you will pay it off no problem.". And so they follow that advice and some of them end up screwed. Most don't but some do. And then to see that and say "well I don't care about them because they're uppity" is such a heartless and pretty ignorant thing to say.
chili dog !!81dzJNNYL joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 44 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #665,918
University in much of America was free until relatively recently. Now it's incredibly expensive, you're told every day of your life that you need to go to University to make something out of yourself and then get told you should have known that major won't get you anywhere
Lt. Judy Hopps joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 1 hour later, 3 hours after the original post[^] [v] #665,947
Metæ replied with this 10 years ago, 32 minutes later, 4 hours after the original post[^] [v] #665,973
@previous (Lt. Judy Hopps)
I wasn't quite that triggered but my jimmies were rustled.
@665,912 (E)
> uppity black kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
> uppity hispanic kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
> uppity white kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
> uppity asian kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
It's just racist. Thanks.
@665,914 (Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU)
> the people who take on this debt are 18 years old. They are barely adults. And for literally their entire life every single person they loved and trusted told them "You need to go to college and get a degree. Debt doesn't matter because you will earn so much more that you will pay it off no problem.". And so they follow that advice and some of them end up screwed. Most don't but some do. And then to see that and say "well I don't care about them because they're uppity" is such a heartless and pretty ignorant thing to say.
I couldn't agree more. You certainly can't blame the 18 year olds for acting on the advice given to them by parents and authority figures their whole lives. I fully understand why OWS is pissed. They get told all their lives that a degree (ANY degree, even a C- in bong studies) is a golden ticket to a good job. Instead they get crappy entry level service jobs and a mountain of debt they can't discharge in bankruptcy. I think federal loan guarantees are a huge part of the crisis. A degree is a risky investment and it's tremendously unfair for one party (the student) to shoulder all the risk in the loan. Federal loan guarantees need to be abolished and lenders need to exposed to risk. The guarantees have flooded the colleges with money which is why tuition keeps getting more expensive. If guarantees were cut off and lenders start feeling the pain and a few billion in bad debt gets written off, the silliness of 18 year olds getting offered tens of thousands of dollars will stop immediately. It will probably take a year or two for universities to adjust but tuition will fall sharply too (because nobody has the money anymore) and expenses will get cut (it sucks too that tuition is skyrocketing and more and more professors are adjunct faculty getting paid minimum wage with no tenure track).
I certainly don't hold the kids who sign loan docs responsible. I think their government failed them.
I wasn't quite that triggered but my jimmies were rustled.
@665,912 (E)
> uppity black kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
> uppity hispanic kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
> uppity white kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
> uppity asian kids who choose to go to private school despite not being intelligent enough to stand out or wealthy enough to fit in.
It's just racist. Thanks.
@665,914 (Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU)
> the people who take on this debt are 18 years old. They are barely adults. And for literally their entire life every single person they loved and trusted told them "You need to go to college and get a degree. Debt doesn't matter because you will earn so much more that you will pay it off no problem.". And so they follow that advice and some of them end up screwed. Most don't but some do. And then to see that and say "well I don't care about them because they're uppity" is such a heartless and pretty ignorant thing to say.
I couldn't agree more. You certainly can't blame the 18 year olds for acting on the advice given to them by parents and authority figures their whole lives. I fully understand why OWS is pissed. They get told all their lives that a degree (ANY degree, even a C- in bong studies) is a golden ticket to a good job. Instead they get crappy entry level service jobs and a mountain of debt they can't discharge in bankruptcy. I think federal loan guarantees are a huge part of the crisis. A degree is a risky investment and it's tremendously unfair for one party (the student) to shoulder all the risk in the loan. Federal loan guarantees need to be abolished and lenders need to exposed to risk. The guarantees have flooded the colleges with money which is why tuition keeps getting more expensive. If guarantees were cut off and lenders start feeling the pain and a few billion in bad debt gets written off, the silliness of 18 year olds getting offered tens of thousands of dollars will stop immediately. It will probably take a year or two for universities to adjust but tuition will fall sharply too (because nobody has the money anymore) and expenses will get cut (it sucks too that tuition is skyrocketing and more and more professors are adjunct faculty getting paid minimum wage with no tenure track).
I certainly don't hold the kids who sign loan docs responsible. I think their government failed them.
Anonymous H joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 20 seconds later, 4 hours after the original post[^] [v] #665,974
chili dog !!81dzJNNYL replied with this 10 years ago, 47 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #666,028
@previous (H)
Okay potentially overreaching statement
Tuition in the University of California system was free for residents until the 1970s
Okay potentially overreaching statement
Tuition in the University of California system was free for residents until the 1970s
Anonymous I joined in and replied with this 10 years ago, 3 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #666,033
Anonymous I double-posted this 10 years ago, 1 minute later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #666,035
Lt. Judy Hopps replied with this 10 years ago, 2 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #666,037
Fake anon !ZkUt8arUCU replied with this 10 years ago, 11 seconds later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #666,039
@666,028 (chili dog !!81dzJNNYL)
Yeah it wasn't really free, but it was affordable. A 4 year degree in 1980 would cost about $40k total maybe, and get you a $40k/year job (all in 1980 dollars). Today it costs sometimes $40k a YEAR and may not get you a job that pays more than $40k/year in 2015 dollars. The value is just stupidly worse than it used to be.
Yeah it wasn't really free, but it was affordable. A 4 year degree in 1980 would cost about $40k total maybe, and get you a $40k/year job (all in 1980 dollars). Today it costs sometimes $40k a YEAR and may not get you a job that pays more than $40k/year in 2015 dollars. The value is just stupidly worse than it used to be.
Anonymous H replied with this 10 years ago, 6 minutes later, 5 hours after the original post[^] [v] #666,049
@666,028 (chili dog !!81dzJNNYL)
I had to look that up. I never had a clue wot my costs were at UCLA because Hughes Research Labs picked up all costs. Looking at wot it cost them - LOL Not so much.
Now its about $16,000/yr or so depending on which campus of the UC system. About doubles for Grad students.
I am surrounded by surfers who attend UCSD - Most are Chem or Bio majors and EE's of course and all end up getting part time work at local companies who help pick up a large percentage of costs as they progress. Right now the local Bio biz is begging for people to fill positions. Probably not so much so legal but under the table bonus's for part time people.
I had to look that up. I never had a clue wot my costs were at UCLA because Hughes Research Labs picked up all costs. Looking at wot it cost them - LOL Not so much.
Now its about $16,000/yr or so depending on which campus of the UC system. About doubles for Grad students.
I am surrounded by surfers who attend UCSD - Most are Chem or Bio majors and EE's of course and all end up getting part time work at local companies who help pick up a large percentage of costs as they progress. Right now the local Bio biz is begging for people to fill positions. Probably not so much so legal but under the table bonus's for part time people.