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What's Your Degree Worth?
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jpvanderwerf2001



Joined: 02 Oct 2003
Posts: 1117
Location: New York
PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
Quote:
But I've had a lot of problems with these types of people being boastful and downright condescending towards me - with a degree in a pompous, useless, arty-farty, upper middle class subject like Philosophy and History yet I have less money, an inferior car etc to them. I should just accept it as inevitable and take it with a pinch of salt, but it's actually quite aggravating.

Perhaps this paragraph was a little unclear - I apologise for that.

I was saying that I have a degree in Philosophy and History - not the philistines I was attacking. I should've put 'useless, arty-farty' etc in inverted commas because it was meant as irony (I certainly don't regard my own degree as useless or arty-farty). Next time I make a point using a subtle nuance of English, I'll write some interpretation instructions next to it for the benefit of our dim trans-Atlantic readers.


Thanks for clarifying your "nuance". Dimly yours, jp.
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Gordon



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 1:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Spinoza wrote:
Quote:
But I've had a lot of problems with these types of people being boastful and downright condescending towards me - with a degree in a pompous, useless, arty-farty, upper middle class subject like Philosophy and History yet I have less money, an inferior car etc to them. I should just accept it as inevitable and take it with a pinch of salt, but it's actually quite aggravating.


Perhaps this paragraph was a little unclear - I apologise for that.

I was saying that I have a degree in Philosophy and History - not the philistines I was attacking. I should've put 'useless, arty-farty' etc in inverted commas because it was meant as irony (I certainly don't regard my own degree as useless or arty-farty). Next time I make a point using a subtle nuance of English, I'll write some interpretation instructions next to it for the benefit of our dim trans-Atlantic readers.


Perhaps if you learned to write clearly, you wouldn't be misunderstood so easily. Interesting how you admit the paragraph was unclear, yet you still insult. At least I learned you say "arty-farty".
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ContemporaryDog



Joined: 21 May 2003
Posts: 1477
Location: Wuhan, China
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hmm. I understood his meaning perfectly well - but then I am a Brit. It IS one thing I find, at times, quite frustrating when communicating with Americans on bulletin boards.

Why take everything so damned literally?
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Gordon



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
ContemporaryDog wrote:
Hmm. I understood his meaning perfectly well - but then I am a Brit. It IS one thing I find, at times, quite frustrating when communicating with Americans on bulletin boards.

Why take everything so damned literally?


I'm not American and sorry I cannot read minds. He even admitted himself he was unclear, but obviously was too proud to take back the insult. I have no problem when someone is unclear, it is easy to do when writing on a forum, but that is no excuse to be insulting.
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Spinoza



Joined: 17 Oct 2004
Posts: 194
Location: Saudi Arabia
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 6:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Laughing

Last edited by Spinoza on Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:53 am; edited 1 time in total
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Gordon



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 6:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Let's just leave it at that then.
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madmad



Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 10:27 am    Post subject: worthy degrees Reply with quote
Hi all,

it seems to me that the question on what a degree is worth, could probably be answered in a more differentiated manner.

So, a degree might have a dollar value in terms of earning potential.

It might also have an ideological value, in terms of the content it entails.

It could have deep personal values attached - the unfulfilled dreams of parents being realized in their offspring, research interests, curiosity, etc.

It might well have no value whatsoever to someone who has no need for it.

Then there is the question of "smart" versus educated. Sure, you can be any combination of these two, but I do have some bias towards the "school of life" people who will tell me that education is not so important. If you have the education and then dismiss it, well, I take that a bit more seriously.

Are there intrinsic differences between various fields, such as history vs. computer science? Maybe worlds of differences, and maybe not - there would be so many confounding variables in this, like personality, motivation, etc., that any such comparison would be more or less flawed.
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danielb



Joined: 08 Aug 2003
Posts: 490
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
BA not worth what it cost me.
LLB about $40 AUD per hour but $220 AUD per hour to my employer
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shmooj



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Gordon wrote:
ContemporaryDog wrote:
Hmm. I understood his meaning perfectly well - but then I am a Brit. It IS one thing I find, at times, quite frustrating when communicating with Americans on bulletin boards.

Why take everything so damned literally?


I'm not American and sorry I cannot read minds. He even admitted himself he was unclear, but obviously was too proud to take back the insult. I have no problem when someone is unclear, it is easy to do when writing on a forum, but that is no excuse to be insulting.

Gordon... you ARE American (though not USAnian) and it was a tad disengenuous to correct someone's English on an international board without first pausing for thought, arty farty or otherwise. I too sympathise with the Dog that people from North America usually jump down our throats at our 'wrong' English when all it is is different... drove me nuts in Japan...
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Rice Paddy Daddy



Joined: 11 Jul 2004
Posts: 425
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 2:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Shmooj,

Gordon is indeed from North America.

It seems Gordon likes getting into arguments with people on the internet.

It's not unusual for him to insult people he doesn't agree with.

Keep at it in your linguistics program, Godon. You'll eventually learn that there are other varieties of English around the world Very Happy
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Gordon



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 9:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
shmooj wrote:
Gordon wrote:
ContemporaryDog wrote:
Hmm. I understood his meaning perfectly well - but then I am a Brit. It IS one thing I find, at times, quite frustrating when communicating with Americans on bulletin boards.

Why take everything so damned literally?


I'm not American and sorry I cannot read minds. He even admitted himself he was unclear, but obviously was too proud to take back the insult. I have no problem when someone is unclear, it is easy to do when writing on a forum, but that is no excuse to be insulting.

Gordon... you ARE American (though not USAnian) and it was a tad disengenuous to correct someone's English on an international board without first pausing for thought, arty farty or otherwise. I too sympathise with the Dog that people from North America usually jump down our throats at our 'wrong' English when all it is is different... drove me nuts in Japan...


We're not starting that America/American debate again Rolling Eyes
Someone from the Americas is not an American. If it does, than you must be Irish and Scottish.

RPD, if you have anything constructive to add, go ahead, otherwise... You're also Canadian, so have you ever called yourself an American?
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