Useless college/university degrees

[Loobed]

What is the purpose of getting a bachelors degree from a university or college if it is completely useless. It takes 4 years of your time and thousands of dollars. I have several fellow students in my college classes that already have a degree, but they need to get another one so they can get a job, or try to get a job. One person has a 4 year degree in ballroom dancing. Another one has one in Argentinian midget poets of the 19th century. I understand that 50 years ago, some women only went to college to find a man who will be successful, and they toke useless classes, but today with the cost of tuition, it seems ridiculous.

 

[joaks]

When I was growing up all of us were treated as if we would go to college and most of my peers did. Maybe only half SHOULD go, however. This is partly a product of that.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Having just a 4-year degree these days, in most fields, doesn't give you a whole lot of advantage. You need a combination of a higher degree and experience to get you somewhere, but you've got to start somewhere. Nobody gains extensive education and experience overnight.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: Loobed
What is the purpose of getting a bachelors degree from a university or college if it is completely useless.



The purpose is to enrich the people handing out the useless degrees and financing them.

 

[javacontour]

I think what would weed out some of the useless degrees would be if the schools and not the government were on the hook to guarantee the student loans.

What risk does the school have? They arrange for you to borrow money from someone else who will guarantee the loan, and then you give them the money.

Put more of the guarantee burden on the schools, not the government and you will see many of the useless degrees go away. The schools are not going to risk their money on degree programs that don't pay off for their graduates.

But they are willing to let you risk other peoples money!

 

[bradepb]

"One person has a 4 year degree in ballroom dancing. Another one has one in Argentinian midget poets of the 19th century."

Seriously ? Only in Kalifornia I suppose.

It is true that a bachelors is kind of becoming the minimum for finding a decent career unless you have a very much in demand skilled trade.

 

[uc50ic4more]

There is more to "usefulness" than merely giving one an advantage to make more more more more more money.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: bradepb
"One person has a 4 year degree in ballroom dancing. Another one has one in Argentinian midget poets of the 19th century."

Seriously ? Only in Kalifornia I suppose.

It is true that a bachelors is kind of becoming the minimum for finding a decent career unless you have a very much in demand skilled trade.


No I dont think it is CA only. Ill bet that you can find many of the same degrees at any college or university, public or private, across the country.

The issue is that we do very little to separate based upon aptitude. So lots of kids go into schools, and the weaker programs especially will accept them... Then they cant cut it, switch a few times to easier and easier subjects, and get out with a slip of paper. While ballroom dancing and poetry are cerrtainly great topics to learn and enrich onesself over, the number of required people with a true skill in either is quite small. And therein lies the issue. If everyone wanted to take ballroom dancing, there would be a demand, and then there would be no basis to call it useless.

But the good stuff is all hard and time-consuming, which is why most cannot cut it, and then complain at the end.

Loans, if given, should be entirely based upon ROI evaluations for life choices.

 

[dparm]

I don't think a university degree is worthless. The "trick" is to not get a degree in something weird that limits you later. Sure, some jobs just want you to have a degree in anything, but don't go for an art history degree and then expect to be hired as a hedge fund manager.

There's a difference between a hobby/passing interest and a career. I don't think everyone understands that. I like astronomy, yes, but I know that as a career it would be incredibly difficult and probably not well-paid.

I had friends that went to strange schools and got strange degrees, then complained for years afterwards how they couldn't find work, were under-employed, etc. My question is always: "what did you think was going to happen?"

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
There is more to "usefulness" than merely giving one an advantage to make more more more more more money.


Agree. A good four year college will help weed out people who don't have the right work ethic, aptitude, or determination. It proves you can buckle down and work hard at something. That's how a lot of hiring managers/employers see it.

 

[PandaBear]

College education used to be a sorting system that pick the more educated, better up bringing people out of the bunch. When everyone has a useless college degree, it is no longer meaningful among these useless degree.

What about useful degree like science and engineering? They too will be come just "common sense" when everyone rush into taking it. They are already a minimum requirement for many jobs that don't need the skills (recruiters and project managers in these fields).

 

[mechtech2]

At the college level, we are past the babysitting [it really is the primary function] stage of grade school.

I can't imagine what goes through people's heads when they take these obscure and un- hireable degrees.

 

[Brons2]

Master's degrees are the new college degrees. A bachelor's is just the basic requirement for entry into many careers.

 

[95busa]

^ yes

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
There is more to "usefulness" than merely giving one an advantage to make more more more more more money.


Agree. A good four year college will help weed out people who don't have the right work ethic, aptitude, or determination. It proves you can buckle down and work hard at something. That's how a lot of hiring managers/employers see it.


Thanks, dparm; but what I was getting at is that an education is a valuable thing to have *without thinking AT ALL about money, jobs, competing with others, etc.* Educating yourself is one of the most profoundly fulfilling, productive and healthy things you can do for yourself and it need not have anything to do with money.

 

[kb01]

I'm not sure if those are really degrees or not; they sound more like someone's specific concentration, within an actual department/program.

I'm also dubious as to whether any degree, from an accredited university, is necessarily useless -- A BA or [censored] should indicate a certain core curriculum and at the very least, have a certain baseline knowledge, ability to write, communicate, research, etc.

In my field, a [censored] is good enough to get a job as a technician who takes soil or water samples but an MS is essentially a requirement to do any real analysis, report writing, or project management. I think a bigger problem today is that a high school diploma is essentially meaningless and employers must use a bachelor's degree as a screening requirement, even for entry-level jobs.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: Brons2
Master's degrees are the new college degrees. A bachelor's is just the basic requirement for entry into many careers.


That's been said for 20 years, but it depends on what you're applying it towards.

In the areas I've worked, someone with a Masters and no work experience is in the same boat as someone with an Associates degree.

I personally see no point in going above a Bachelor's unless you've got real world experience. Better yet, let your employer pay for your grad school.

Joel

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: Brons2
Master's degrees are the new college degrees. A bachelor's is just the basic requirement for entry into many careers.


That's been said for 20 years, but it depends on what you're applying it towards.

In the areas I've worked, someone with a Masters and no work experience is in the same boat as someone with an Associates degree.

I personally see no point in going above a Bachelor's unless you've got real world experience. Better yet, let your employer pay for your grad school.

Joel




It's quite rare these days for an employer to pay for your MBA or similar post-undergrad degree. The "best" graduate-level programs will often require 3-5 years of practical work experience anyways.

I do agree that a master's is becoming the new bachelor's. When I look at who is getting ahead in my company, it's the folks with grad degrees who get up to the executive levels.

 

[D189379]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
There is more to "usefulness" than merely giving one an advantage to make more more more more more money.


Agree. A good four year college will help weed out people who don't have the right work ethic, aptitude, or determination. It proves you can buckle down and work hard at something. That's how a lot of hiring managers/employers see it.


Agreed. Committing yourself to a 4 years of studying and hard work to reach a goal is something a lot of people can't do.

Maybe the degree is meaningless, but you end up with someone who is hard working, intelligent (usually), and committed at the end.

 

[yucca]

My wife has a couple of useless(for our area) masters degrees.