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| Which Degree is the Most Worthless? |
| Art History |
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9% |
[ 7 ] |
| Philosophy |
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25% |
[ 18 ] |
| American Studies |
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6% |
[ 5 ] |
| Music Therapy |
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8% |
[ 6 ] |
| Communications |
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5% |
[ 4 ] |
| Dance |
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8% |
[ 6 ] |
| English Lit |
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4% |
[ 3 ] |
| Latin |
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13% |
[ 10 ] |
| Film |
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5% |
[ 4 ] |
| Religion |
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12% |
[ 9 ] |
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| Total Votes : 72 |
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IncognitoHFX
Joined: 06 May 2007
Location: Yeongtong, Suwon
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 Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
Very wrong. One, a degree does NOT mean well educated. Two, at 40000 dollars a pop, society as it is now can not have a fully educated population. While it would be the best option, it is impossible. Something a lot of artsies also have no idea of is practicality.
And also, you are assuming someone without that piece of paper isn't well educated, fat and stupid. Another downfall of artsies. Their elitism. |
I implied that everyone should have the right to go to University, how is that elitist? Everyone, not just a select few. Universities should be open to everyone and sift out those who don't belong over time.
Surely degrees are a means to being well-educated, but only so insofar as the people are willing to work. I don't like labels and I don't believe every single person who attended University is well educated. There are enough BA/MA wearing dullards and High School drop-out geniuses around to disprove that theory pretty quickly.
I also agree, University is too expensive. But what about a system like in Germany or England, where University is cheap and affordable for those who wish to go? Saying that some people don't deserve to go to University, or that too many people go to University as it is, is elitism in itself. But saying that everyone should have the ability to go for a low price, if they want to, is better.
There are too many students wasting space at Universities and sadly, some of them graduate just to make the rest of us look bad. |
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Lukychrm42
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Cheonan
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:27 pm Post subject: |
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Well, in many ways it's a short leap from Latin to Italian, which was my BA major. I took tons of courses: sciences, other languages, poli sci, math, religion, psychology, etc, which I loved- the only course I loathed with a passion was accounting- it was the only honors course that had any spaces left. I love learning, but I decided that I loved Italian language and literature enough to do a major. There's not much IN Italian that you can do on a BA unless you have some serious connections with someone in Italy or an Italian community elsewhere. My Italian community was purely academic. My MA was in translation, but while at a great university, it put me off of translating for life. Nice waste of student loans, though. I think someday I might go back for my straight Italian MA and then eventually be teaching ESL in Italy.
We'll see how Asia pans out. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
| mindmetoo wrote: |
| I don't think there are any useless BAs. As long as you pick up SKILLS during or outside of university. |
No one BA is useless, as just the skills help. But the cost efficiency of training thousands of people in art history when we maybe need 3 or 4  do not make it worth it. Even if they all pick up skills, even not related to art history, the people become redundant, and therefore useless. They gained some skills, but in the end, it wasn't worth it. |
I look at a BA mostly as an obstacle course and one that we've not found a better solution for. If you can get through to the end it means you're not fully stupid. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Easter Clark wrote: |
| And one cannot become a teacher (a licensed one, anyway) simply because they have a degree in English lit, anymore than they could if they had a science degree, unless it is coupled with an education degree. |
Well, you're referring only to the US, I assume, in which case the above is false and it's completely false in the case of the UK, where the most common thing is to obtain a degree in X and then do a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). Can't comment on other countries. However, I suspect your claim to be false pretty much everywhere. Licencing requirements need to be much more flexible to satisfy the demand for teachers.
| Lukychrm42 wrote: |
| I think someday I might go back for my straight Italian MA and then eventually be teaching ESL in Italy. |
If you've an EU passport, that sounds great. If not, I'm sorry, but I've heard it's almost impossible. |
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Easter Clark
Joined: 18 Nov 2007
Location: Hiding from Yie Eun-woong
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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^
OK, maybe I didn't choose my words carefully enough...
Of course you can teach your major if you go through an alternative licensure program. But the point I was making is that you can not work in a public school unless you are (A) a licensed educator or (B) working on obtaining your license while you teach. Simply having a degree in English Lit (without any certification) is not enough. |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:46 pm Post subject: |
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| IncognitoHFX wrote: |
It's all in the context of finding a job. Doesn't anybody study purely out of interest anymore?
I never thought I'd be getting a job with my degree while I studied it (Philosophy with a minor in History). No one did. We studied it because we were interested in it and we had some great professors along the way who aided our understanding. Once I pay for this degree, then I'll go back and do another that is more career oriented... which will only take two years now that I've finished one already.
It wasn't useless for me. I could see myself being as happy without having the highest paying job on the block.
I agree, some degrees are completely useless. The prevalence of BAs in Psychology is absurd, as are BAs in Sociology and ID. There are a lot of majors that have been "made up" as time went on to increase enrolment. |
Study what you're interested in... unless you're some retard that likes Psychology or Sociology.  |
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IncognitoHFX
Joined: 06 May 2007
Location: Yeongtong, Suwon
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:15 am Post subject: |
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| Draz wrote: |
Study what you're interested in... unless you're some retard that likes Psychology or Sociology. |
A BSc. in Psychology is fine. The BA is made up for people not smart enough to do the BSc.  |
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Dharma_Blue
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
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Mandinga
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:24 am Post subject: |
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| I'm just glad to see Anthropology didn't make the list. |
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head-in-the-clouds
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Location: London for now
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:25 am Post subject: |
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| Mandinga wrote: |
| I'm just glad to see Anthropology didn't make the list. |
I vote for Anthroplogy |
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Mandinga
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| head-in-the-clouds wrote: |
| Mandinga wrote: |
| I'm just glad to see Anthropology didn't make the list. |
I vote for Anthroplogy |
BASTARDS!!!!!!! |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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if we're only looking at extrinsic rewards, and monetary ones at that
then the professional degrees are the only "useful" ones (Education, Criminology, Commerce, Nursing) 
but when I was at university I by no means admired those majors, gawd they were dense, most seeming like technical community college grads or trade school guys with their eye to plumbing, mechanics and carpentry as their lifelong goal of a job
that just seemed wrong to this then 21 year old
very few young people are griped by the passion of a career before the age 25, most simply doing as mamma and pappa would want, 40+somethings who have forgotten how it was to be a young adult
i truly felt sorry for accounting majors |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 3:09 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
if we're only looking at extrinsic rewards, and monetary ones at that
then the professional degrees are the only "useful" ones (Education, Criminology, Commerce, Nursing)
but when I was at university I by no means admired those majors, gawd they were dense, most seeming like technical community college grads or trade school guys with their eye to plumbing, mechanics and carpentry as their lifelong goal of a job
that just seemed wrong to this then 21 year old
very few young people are griped by the passion of a career before the age 25, most simply doing as mamma and pappa would want, 40+somethings who have forgotten how it was to be a young adult
i truly felt sorry for accounting majors |
There's that elitism again. Anyway, art is needed. English Lit is needed. Even philosophy is needed. We just don't need thousands of you guys using up valuable resouces because you can't do a degree that requires some intelligence. Let me clarify that though, because there are some very intelligent people in those fields. They get the good jobs though, which are few and far between. The rest are paying off student loans here I have yet to see an arts dropout transfer into engineering. It sure happens the opposite way often enough though.
You opinion is shit. This is what I was talking about. Some people love accounting. I loved programming (though the idea of a cubicle was horrible). Programming to me is like writing a story for an author. Heaven forbid people like different things.
What was your major by the way? Mine was computer science. |
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esetters21
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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I didn't read all of the previous posts and am sure that it has already been said, but aren't all of those choices BA's? I took quite a few elective couses in many of the choices listed in the poll. Although they were interesting, I mainly took them to pad my G.P.A.
Another question I have is how many of you actually worked in the field that you studied for and earned a degree in? |
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Jandar
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, I have a Business Management Degree.
I have worked as an Electronics Engineer, a Computer Networking Engineer, a Customer Service Engineer, a Sustaining Engineer, A Project Manager, an Electronics Technician, a Satellite Installation Engineer, an Automobile Salesman, and an English Teacher.
Though some of these jobs paid much better I find teaching English to be the most rewarding. |
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