Worthless degrees

[The Giver]

I'd agree with this on the basis that while gender studies does have a certain degree of usefulness for those of us in academia (especially in interdisciplinary fields like cultural history, musicology or other humanities), it isn't by itself particularly useful. It's something that a lot of humanities scholars will dabble in but until recently it was relatively rare for somebody to make it their primary area of research.

Yeah, I think it is totally legitimate for an academic to focus on gender issues; lord knows that stuff is publishable.

My issue with Gender Studies, as a stand alone discipline, is that it ironically enough doesn't add anything to the scholarly discussion of gender. There are lots of very intelligent folks in fields as diverse as biology, ethics, sociology, literature, cultural history, anthropology, epistemology, neuroscience, and psychology all doing work on gender issues. And all of these folks in all these fields have their own specialization -- some unique, useful contribution to add -- while still being able to keep an eye on the broader discussion. Which, at the end of the day, is what good scholarship is all about.

Gender studies, by contrast, amounts to selectively reading a narrow slice of the literature in all these fields, mastering none of those fields, and thus not having the necessary expertise to contribute to the discussion in any meaningful way. I suppose the argument is that they study the "big picture" of gender, but I would hazard a guess that a cultural historian, or a philosopher, or a scientist who spends years of their life working on gender can see the big picture too. Which makes Gender Studies not just shitty from a pragmatic job-focused perspective, but also shitty from a purely academic one.

 

[John Titor]

Anything in art but in the sense that they are not magical tickets to success. Visual art is very lucrative but most employers would rather see your portfolio.

 

[RepQuest]

Too many people are getting undergraduate degrees and beyond for jobs that shouldn't even require a high school diploma.

Meanwhile the skilled trades are fucking desperate for people. The combination of all the old trades guys/journeymen retiring and every kid going to college after being told by everyone that a 4-year degree from SixPack State U would propel them right into the ivory towers and that trade jobs are for the plebs.

But I need to buy coffee regularly so I'm glad this country churns out so many college-educated Starbucks employees.

Many industries are desperate for machinists and tool & die makers, and those jobs pay quite handsomely in part due to little supply and high demand. But of course, people just want to go to a clean office and get paid while browsing the Internet for half of their time on the clock.

 

[Joan Nyan]

All of them. There's nothing you can learn in college that you can't learn elsewhere. I interned at a bank over this summer and had no trouble learning to do the same work as people with college degrees in business and finance, and I only just finished high school. Getting a degree is 4 years that would be much better spent getting job experience if it weren't for the fact that employers won't hire you without a degree.

 

[polonium]

I dunno my philosophy professor was a fucking vindictive idiot.

Probably because he was labouring under the misapprehension that he was smarter than everyone else around

 

[Pikimon]

All of them. There's nothing you can learn in college that you can't learn elsewhere. I interned at a bank over this summer and had no trouble learning to do the same work as people with college degrees in business and finance, and I only just finished high school. Getting a degree is 4 years that would be much better spent getting job experience if it weren't for the fact that employers won't hire you without a degree.

brb gonna go get experience in neurosurgery lol

 

[Oh Long Johnson]

Too many people are getting undergraduate degrees and beyond for jobs that shouldn't even require a high school diploma.
Many industries are desperate for machinists and tool & die makers, and those jobs pay quite handsomely in part due to little supply and high demand. But of course, people just want to go to a clean office and get paid while browsing the Internet for half of their time on the clock.

I know a guy who used to be a machinist. Worked in a basement cave below a bar that reached about 110 degrees in the summer. Came home every day covered in coolant.

I don't think a day goes by without him reflecting with joy on his MCSE freeing him from that plantation.

 

[Ravelord]

[...] pretty much every music degree [...]

Not really, you could end up working as a studio musician (for recording tracks, basically) or a sound technician maybe. But that's if you're willing to put some effort into it. So yeah, if you're lazy it's nearly useless (you could be a teacher at least). If you work your way up, it can be decent.

 

[Ruin]

Too many people are getting undergraduate degrees and beyond for jobs that shouldn't even require a high school diploma.

They're not just getting them for the hell of it. Most entry level white collar jobs require at least a BA now to even be considered for a position.

 

[Vorhtbame]

Yes, let's just ignore the pesky fact that the more exposed to philosophy people are, the more successful they are at math, expression, creativity, logic, comprehension, empathy, debate, language, critical thinking; and the more likely they are to outperform others both in scientific careers and life in general -- not to mention they are far less prone to fall prey to manipulation, tinfoil hat theories, scams and mind-viruses like social justice. One can even go as far as to say that teaching people philosophy reduces autistic tendencies and sociopathy, and forces people realize that they are not special snowflakes who deserve everything without work.

Oddly, most of the philosophy majors I know were and still are flaming SJWs and entitled snowflakes who believe they are smarter than everyone because they have a degree in philosophy. They also have some of the most crackpot beliefs that are impenetrable to logic because "I have a philosophy degree; I know what I'm talking about."

 

[Ebola]

Oddly, most of the philosophy majors I know were and still are flaming SJWs and entitled snowflakes who believe they are smarter than everyone because they have a degree in philosophy. They also have some of the most crackpot beliefs that are impenetrable to logic because "I have a philosophy degree; I know what I'm talking about."

Can anyone really name a field the snowflakes have not yet infested?

And don't say something like "physics" because there's a physics professor cow on this fucking website that will nullify your response.

 

[Gym Leader Elesa]

Can anyone really name a field the snowflakes have not yet infested?

And don't say something like "physics" because there's a physics professor cow on this fucking website that will nullify your response.

I have yet to hear of a single special snowflake engineer and I have never encountered any ROTC candidates with it that weren't weeded out (not that they aren't trying to destroy the military from the outside).

 

[Vorhtbame]

Can anyone really name a field the snowflakes have not yet infested?

And don't say something like "physics" because there's a physics professor cow on this fucking website that will nullify your response.

Say, philosopher, isn't there some logical fallacy that happens when you answer an accusation with another accusation of other people doing it too? I'm trying to remember, but I don't have a degree in philosophy to help me.

 

[feedtheoctopus]

Oddly, most of the philosophy majors I know were and still are flaming SJWs and entitled snowflakes who believe they are smarter than everyone because they have a degree in philosophy. They also have some of the most crackpot beliefs that are impenetrable to logic because "I have a philosophy degree; I know what I'm talking about."

Of course there is the possibility they just know more than you do, and you're actually the one who's full of shit.

That being said arrogance is to college students what water is to fish. So realistically you're both full of shit.

 

[Ebola]

Say, philosopher, isn't there some logical fallacy that happens when you answer an accusation with another accusation of other people doing it too? I'm trying to remember, but I don't have a degree in philosophy to help me.

Does it even matter when the accusation was anecdotal in the first place?

I did use an anecdotal story in an earlier post, but I intentionally pointed out it was anecdotal.

 

[Vorhtbame]

Does it even matter when the accusation was anecdotal in the first place?

I did use an anecdotal story in an earlier post, but I intentionally pointed out it was anecdotal.

On the other hand, bare assertions that philosophy majors are probably better at math, art, science, and logic than everyone else...

Well, evidence is for people who don't have philosophy degrees!

 

[RepQuest]

They're not just getting them for the hell of it. Most entry level white collar jobs require at least a BA now to even be considered for a position.

That became a problem because so many people were getting college degrees, so it just became expected of all applicants to have a degree.

 

[SU 390]

Pretty much any degree that isn't STEM related is practically worthless minus Education. I will say if you plan on majoring in the Humanities or the (fill in the blank) Studies you're better off being a teacher or college/university professor.

 

[feedtheoctopus]

Pretty much any degree that isn't STEM related is practically worthless minus Education. I will say if you plan on majoring in the Humanities or the (fill in the blank) Studies you're better off being a teacher or college/university professor.

Even STEM fields are by and large worthless. If you ask any high school guidance councilor what you should go to college for they'll tell you engineering or something more often than not. So people do that, graduate, and find out there's a massive surplus of engineers and most entry level jobs are hard to get and shitty to begin with.

Basic reality is our economy is built around the assumption that most of the population is uneducated and content with menial, low paying, bullshit. We don't know how to adapt to a society where it's almost expected that you have a degree. Not only that we're increasingly a service economy, not an intellectual or industrial one.

So have fun flipping burgers. On the plus side with that fancy physics degree you'll be able to do it more efficiently and with greater precision than anybody else.

 

[SU 390]

Even STEM fields are by and large worthless. If you ask any high school guidance councilor what you should go to college for they'll tell you engineering or something more often than not. So people do that, graduate, and find out there's a massive surplus of engineers and most entry level jobs are hard to get and shitty to begin with.

Basic reality is our economy is built around the assumption that most of the population is uneducated and content with menial, low paying, bullshit. We don't know how to adapt to a society where it's almost expected that you have a degree. Not only that we're increasingly a service economy, not an intellectual or industrial one.

So have fun flipping burgers. On the plus side with that fancy physics degree you'll be able to do it more efficiently and with greater precision than anybody else.

It makes me wonder where the fuck America has gone wrong with this? I understand for the most part outsourcing is a major reason but it can't last forever. It's bad enough I hate working retail. I just feel and fear for people, myself included that want to do more in life than flipping burger or ringing out ungrateful jackasses but can't because the standards of the workforce makes it harder for people to have some improvement in life.

Humans are meant for progress, not stagnation.