Are some Degree's overrated?

IrishEyes19

If your degree gets you where you want to be in 3/4 years time, fair play, its not a waste of time. People do degrees for all sorts of reasons, in my class when I started there was a woman who was almost seventy that year, who went back to study because the topic had always facinated her and she had never the money or the time in her youth to pursue it. I was so impressed with her I have to say.

My degree for instance requires me to do a postgrad after it to qualify for what I want to do, and therfore theres another year ahead of me at least before I will be finished with college. So my current degree now would be seen as useless in one sense as it doesnt technically qualify me, but is a means to getting to my postgrad. My point being here a lot of degrees lead to the final destination for some students. You don't always have a choice. Teaching being a main one. english/history in the arts degree??? Next step is usually always the Higher Diploma in Education to become a secondary teacher.

It's never a waste if it benefits you in some way. It's only a waste if you don't appreciate it in my opinion.

lividduck

Seanchai wrote: »

Degrees.

Grammer Nazi Alert

lividduck

Seanchai wrote: »

Or the one which teaches students the wrong place to locate a punctuation mark? A very important mark indeed when the poster in question is trying to look down on others for not being "educated". :rolleyes:

You shoud read the charter amd mod notes on what are descrbed as Grammer Nazis

lividduck

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Fair enough. Would agree with you that a considerable amount of Trinity students suffer from Rectal Cranial Inversion.

Totally agree with you, which is why if you read my post you will note the satire and the laughing face at the end.

lividduck

lividduck wrote: »

It depends, one supposes, on whether it has been conferred by a College of some repute , TCD for example , or a factory, UCD for example!:D

ffs The above was posted in humour!

holystungun9

Sindri wrote: »

How acute of you. :rolleyes:













Disclaimer:Zero degrees may not actually be an (acute) angle.

Hooked up with a GILF once. She had acute angina.

Sindri

holystungun9 wrote: »

Hooked up with a GILF once. She had acute angina.

That must of an attempt at the act of coitus difficult.

Steven81

I have a degree in engineering, i know that when i am looking for a job i have a good chance as i have the experience and that the degree counts, I know a lot of lads who just did the diploma but cant get the engineering jobs as they dont have the degree and will only ever be technicians.

That said it depends on how you sell yourself at the interviews. One of my mates has poor communication skills and cant get a job, would be a great lad for a company, i keep telling him he should try for the guards when they recruit!!!

Sonnenblumen

opinion guy wrote: »

What about the pursuit of knowledge for knowledges sake ?

Far too much research and higher education is tailored towards 5 years plans etc etc. Its bascially turning into engineering knowledge. The creativity is being sucked out of it. There are a subgroup of people who work better as free thinkers and come up with original creative stuff that may not be useful for a longtime - they are increasingly being squashed out of the system.

Learning hobbyists are well catered for with a vast range of evening classes. Creativity is the mother of opportunity, much better (not exclusively) to innovate to resolve specific needs as opposed to developing new ideas and looking for a problem to solve.

Cone heads will always be a minority lab group, the numbers will be those active in frontline activities.

mconigol

TPD wrote: »

Well, a degree subject in which the only directly related career is teaching said subject, I'd class as useless.

I'm not saying the colleges shouldn't teach these types of classes, just that they shouldn't be taxpayer funded. People passionate enough about the subject matter can work part time / for a few years after school and pay their way through the class, and will more than likely end up being a better teacher of the subject for having the passion.

Not to turn the thread recession-ey, but the more spent on putting people through college the less spent on healthcare etc. I think there's a balance to be reached between the money put in to colleges and the money put into the economy as a result of those courses - and by cutting government funding from some less employable degrees, we would get more out of the money put into colleges.

Of course the state should fund research in less mainstream fields. As I've said there is too much focus on the economic return and it's driving education more and more into the hands of capitalism.

Saying that, the state shouldn't waste money paying for college educations for wasters.

Everyone should be made take a student loan from the government with a percentage written off based on the results attained. If you average 90% then you get 90% off your loan, if you average 40% you have to fork 60% of the cost from your own pocket for example.

i.e. introduce a financial incentive.

thephantom1

mconigol wrote: »

Of course the state should fund research in less main stream fields. As I've said there is too much focus on the economic return and it's driving education more and more into the hands of capitalism.

Saying that, the state shouldn't waste money paying for college educations for wasters.

Everyone should be made take a student loan from the government with a percentage written off based on the results attained. If you average 90% then you get 90% off your loan, if you average 40% you have to fork 60% of the cost from your own pocket for example.

i.e. introduce a financial incentive.

Totally agree, think thats a really good idea. I think that would increase the quality of our graduates no end

mconigol

thephantom1 wrote: »

Totally agree, think thats a really good idea. I think that would increase the quality of our graduates no end

Obviously it couldn't work exactly like that but something along those lines would work wonders I think.

The money spent by government should be treated as an investment. Some of it would be an investment in producing skilled graduates to work in Irish industry and contribute to the economy, some of would be an investment in knowledge which would have a cultural return.

NiallFH

Far too many absurd degrees out there. Always find when I talk to someone I remember from school who was never too bright and they say they are in university now they are very often doing 'Media Studies' (And can never explain exactly what it is).

Also a lot of people who head to Liverpool where you can study basically anything in John Moores no matter what your A Levels/Leaving Cert.

Some pointless Degrees:
Woman's Studies
Religion
David Beckham Studies

What kind of job does one even look for after doing these degrees?
I myself really dont see the point going to University if you barely scraped by in education prior to that and can only get into a crap course in a crap university. (I do Computer Science in Queen's before anyone asks)

steddyeddy

randylonghorn wrote: »

I think you missed my point.

Ofc inventions and discoveries come from the minds of human beings, not from systems or from buildings or from the scent of the cherry trees on an Oxford spring day!

What I was referring to was the environment in which those human beings worked, environments where pure research was valued for its own sake, where people could explore avenues which would have been considered not worth the economic risk in a purely commercial environment.

And ofc some of those endeavours led to dead ends ... but others changed the world as it then was.

Mendel springs to mind here. A monk working alone in a monastary garden discovers the methods of inheritance.

Chuck Stone

steddyeddy wrote: »

Mendel springs to mind here. A monk working alone in a monastary garden discovers the methods of inheritance.

If he was a monk then it is god who should take the credit for that.

take everything

Are some degree's overrated what?

saa

Yes Art degrees, I nearly have mine and they definitely should go back to the apprenticeship model here for students who wish to learn about working as an artist and studio research, that would give other artists a wage, 5% or below is the rate at which art students go on to practice most of them want to go into different areas, it seems like most people I know want to be technicians, producers, community workers, photographers etc. but they are waiting to get their BA art to then go onto study more.

Eric Cartman

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Trinity bashing thread?

no, this thread is about which degrees are over-rated, not which colleges are full of cúnts

shootermacg

When i left uni I got a job in software development, when i started working I wrote programs which, funnily enough, is what i did a lot of during the course.
I would say the degree was worth it. I would imagine quite a few degrees are like that ^ ^. I would recommend computer science in UCC, good theory, good place and plenty of scope to follow your own interests.