Posted on 03/31/2009 6:41:34 AM PDT by reaganaut1
All depends on the program and the school. Degree in something like Math, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Accounting from a good school is very valuable. Basically degree that is easy to get is not worth getting, degree from a school that is hard to get in to and maintains high standards is very valuable.
All of the guys that I graduated with from Comp Sci have jobs, full time well payed jobs with excellent benefits etc. Some went on to do MSc and PhD some started business of their own.
You have quite a pool to draw from right now!
How much of this is due to the pampering of young adults until they reach 25 years and even then the pampering continues.
You are fine. A coming boom is robotics. Manufacturing will be returning to America and there will be many jobs fixing the production line. Repetitive jobs screwing on lug nuts though: not so safe.
“If I can do it then anyone can do it.”
Sucker. The idea that college, the liberal arts indoctrination camps they are, is a requirement for knowledge is just drinking the commie kool-aid. Plenty of people are leaders of business and science and politics without college.
It has been my experience that many people would have been better off if they had not gone to college and learned some really bad habits and personal philosophies, not to mention graduating with serious debt from student loans.
That’s a very good point; back in 1965 I was in a field of 100 interviewees that were were tested for just two openings at Lockheed. I lived in Burbank near the plant and the other successful hiree lived in La Tujunga.
It was a thorough test and we kept our jobs until Lockheed lost the bidding on the SST.
What I had in mind RE: homeschooling is the emphasis on mentoring and apprenticeships over and against lectures and classroom learning. Some amount of book-work is necessary for technical careers, but even in the high-tech arena there is no substitute for being able to work side-by-side with an experienced mentor. If we could ditch the college model for a mentor-based training model we could show the rest of the world once again what made America great in the first place. (Hint: It wasn’t MBA’s.)
The question isn’t can you but do you want to. Sure anybody can finish college, get yourself a nice little liberal arts degree, but what does it really prove? The most that piece of paper really proves is your willingness to stick it out, I’ve got a marriage license signed 17 years ago that proves the same thing.
What’s always funny to me when sitting around enjoying social lubricant with co-workers is how many of the ones with degrees have those degrees in completely unrelated areas. We’re a communication software company yet we have people with degrees in geology and Russian literature. Does that really make them qualified.
I did two years in college and left, I was aiming at the job not the degree. Have no intention of ever getting the degree. Don’t need it, I’m making more (about 50% more) than DOL says is the average for people my age with a 4 year degree. I’ve got the experience and places that demand degrees are usually stiff unpleasant places to work like IBM and Ratheon.
” In many states, 40 percent of high school students entering college need remediation in math, reading, or both,.....”
.....my is a college professor teaching freshman remedial English in writing....only they don’t call it “remedial”....the official title is “developmental English”....don’t want to hurt anybody’s self estem don’cha know.
.....anybody who can teach developmental English(or Math) will have a job for life....these kids can’t write a simple declarative sentence.....downside of the job is that many of them are angry insolent a**holes....just like they were in high school....black kids are the worst...my wife has been threatened and called a “white bitch”
“my wife is...”
I’ve been in the women’s studies program all of my life.
I’ve heard it said that we have gone from teaching Latin and Greek in our grammar schools 100 years ago to teaching basic remedial math and English in our universities today....
What's very hard to find, even in this recession is someone that shows up on time, doesn't drink, do drugs, litter, smoke inside, lie, cheat, or steal. Showing up on time seems to be a key trait of someone good. It's true: eighty percent of success is just showing up.
Michael Faraday was self-taught; as an apprentice to a bookbinder — his parents couldn’t afford to feed and clothe him — he read voraciously as he worked and developed an eye for detail and fed his rapacious mind to eventually go on to a position at the eminent Royal Society, alongside Sir Davy Humphrey and his ilk.
High schools and colleges (maybe society) pump up young kids to be executive management when they graduate. They teach them that manual labor is beneath them.
Learn a trade, then get a degree.
Not to pick nits-but it's "Sir Humphrey Davy", not vice versa.
You are correct. I am currently writing an article for our local HR association here in Houston on this very thing.
It's going to get worse in some areas as the candidate pool grows.
As for the topic of the thread, I've found that a combination of degree and experience are preferred, and if degree/no degree - experience is preferred. You can always get the degree later.
That's the way to go! I did just that, and what i learned in the field not only helped with the degree, it made me WAY more valuable than the 22 year olds i was competing against. Besides, i could afford (and buy) pizza and beer, too.
Never knew that about Faraday. Common theme among leaders is they read. I believe Alex Hamilton was this way - reading all the time, spending hours by candlelight pouring over books.
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