Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


1 posted on 01/23/2014 12:45:38 PM PST by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies ]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-22 next last
To: Borges

I had a job one time where our VP over Software Development was a BA in English Lit. Go figure. I was not there long enough to gauge her effectiveness.


2 posted on 01/23/2014 12:50:30 PM PST by Resolute Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

Only if you miss the WHOLE POINT of college... and also don’t understand the word VALUE.


3 posted on 01/23/2014 12:50:31 PM PST by TalonDJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

The statement of what a fluff major can make over the years might be true for a lot of them.

I teach at a medium size university that has traditionally focused on older, returning, lifetime learners. That is the key. Many of the students I see in courses who want an IT degree or business degree are former fluff majors.

Now, taking and learning from the English and history courses is still important for a well-rounded educated individual but those types of majors won’t in the long run be very satisfying for most students in the long run.


4 posted on 01/23/2014 12:52:19 PM PST by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

A lot of college majors are hobbies — Art History, Literature, theater, etc.


5 posted on 01/23/2014 12:52:39 PM PST by Londo Molari
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges
there is a 2 yr waiting period at our local colleges to get accepted into that "pre professional" degree program called nursing....the local colleges and universities will only look at you if you carry at least a 3.6gpa in all your prerequisites and then its still many rosaries away....

while it may be true that every one catches up to others, the only reason humanities etc make any money is that they go into teaching in college or completely change their job searches to something more practical....

6 posted on 01/23/2014 12:54:06 PM PST by cherry (.in the time of universal deceit, telling the truth is revolutionary.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

The only way to judge the effectiveness of a liberal arts education is to find out how well the student adheres to communist ideologies.

“Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.”— Joseph Stalin


8 posted on 01/23/2014 12:54:53 PM PST by thorvaldr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

Maybe in the 19th century when people went to college to be more rounded in their education, when most of the folks going were on the life path to “good” jobs before ever getting near college. But this is the 21st century, now we go to college to get jobs, and you need to gauge the cost of the degree to the wage it’ll get you.


9 posted on 01/23/2014 12:55:31 PM PST by discostu (I don't meme well.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges
"Money Is a Terrible Way to Measure the Value of a College Major"

Then take students free for what the program is worth.


10 posted on 01/23/2014 12:59:50 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

No, it’s not.


13 posted on 01/23/2014 1:03:55 PM PST by TheThirdRuffian (RINOS like Romney, McCain, Christie are sure losers. No more!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges
In that case, college should be ffFFRRrrEEeeEEEEEE!!!

Wheeeeee!!!

14 posted on 01/23/2014 1:05:29 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges
Colleges are business and there is nothing lofty in this day and age that differentiates it from other service industries. This is nothing more than a marketing piece.

Students have to demand a payback for that service or an honest disclosure from the University of what the real world gains or losses will be. Even professional majors are padded today to improve college business models, without providing any benefit to the postgraduate.

Education is a lifetime endeavor with or without college.
16 posted on 01/23/2014 1:05:47 PM PST by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the Occupation Media.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

Would you like fries with that would seem to be a follow up question.


18 posted on 01/23/2014 1:09:40 PM PST by Professional Engineer (I am not cynical. /s)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges
"Money Is a Terrible Way to Measure the Value of a College Major"

I'll happily agree with that premise, if universities will also agree that money is a terrible way to pay for a degree.

20 posted on 01/23/2014 1:10:11 PM PST by Oberon (John 12:5-6)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

Value is entirely subjective, on an individual basis. But if you look on a more macro scale, as the average return on that investment increases, so too does the average value. I know several people are happy working a job, paying their bills and buying the beer. They’re content with the status quo, and don’t mind if that’s how the rest of their lives go. An expensive engineering degree has little value to them, but the cheap humanities degree they have is well worth the position they’re in. But some people want to achieve more (or less) and for them, a higher-earning degree has more value, and a humanities one, none (or no degree has value if they don’t need it).


21 posted on 01/23/2014 1:12:14 PM PST by Svartalfiar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

Yes, while one is standing in line at the Church Pantry, after having been to the UIC office and by the County Services office to reapply for SNAP, etc., they can reflect on the real meaning and import of selected choices from The Canterbury Tales and relate that to current times of “Party in the USA.”


22 posted on 01/23/2014 1:14:39 PM PST by Gaffer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

One of the kids has a BS in Chem, a Masters in Biology and and Doctorate in Physiology and is working outside those fields with great satisfaction. Another kid as a BS in Chem and General Science, a minor in Physics and didn’t want to battle the reasearch bound guys in Masters programs so is teaching science.

Another family major started with a BA in History but also later got an MBA and spent a good career in Healthcare Management managing clinical people with clinical educations.

While formal education can be a qualifier, it doesn’t dictate where you end up. It sure didn’t with me.


28 posted on 01/23/2014 1:20:11 PM PST by KC Burke (Officially since Memorial Day they are the Gimmie-crat Party.ha)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges
How wonderful it would be if the humanities departments of colleges around the nation were mostly populated by the conservative sons and daughters of the wealthy.

Students who were going there primarily to get a truly universal education and whose goals were to learn from the great art and literature of the past and help preserve and advance it going forward.

It would be so great if the humanities were once again seen as a guilty pleasure rather than as some sort of humanizing program. A luxury that only the wealthy could afford to partake in full time.

Eliminate all of the psychobabble and sociobabble from the humanities and replace it with good research and well-considered analysis.

31 posted on 01/23/2014 1:28:09 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

Sure, just “Do What You Love” and soon Skittle-pooping Unicorns will be showering you with love. But not money.

Read his book:
http://www.npr.org/2013/10/21/236207605/scott-adams-explains-how-to-fail-at-almost-everything-except-dilbert


33 posted on 01/23/2014 1:31:00 PM PST by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

As individuals and society, we must perform a cost benefit analysis of 4 years of life and $50K to $200K of cost.
A religious or philosophical group can say the benefit is beyond measure. A college cannot, when there are many lower cost options and better uses of personal and collective (taxpayer) money.


38 posted on 01/23/2014 1:50:06 PM PST by tbw2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

To: Borges

Articles like this are analogous to throwing hunks of red meat to starving dogs. You see, many Freepers worship at the feet of the Great God, Engineering. And you don’t get a degree in said subject, you’re just a pathetic loser.

They concede that degrees in some other disciplines, all of which must be in the “hard sciences” category may be worthwhile. But that’s about it.


42 posted on 01/23/2014 2:46:07 PM PST by OldPossum ("It's" is the contraction of "it" and "is"; think about ITS implications.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-22 next last

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson