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stevieg4ever
Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Location: London, England
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 Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:02 am Post subject: Your arts / humanities degree (or major) and you |
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Im from the UK and have a joint bachelors degree in English and Philosophy. Some days I regret having made that choice.
Does anyone else regret their chosen subject for a major or degree (especially from an arts or humanities background)? Sometimes i do because, maybe its just London, but people with humanities degrees are like square pegs in round holes here. Everything is finance and business orientated (no surprise in this age of globalisation i guess): finance this finance that blah blah blah... The government is even thinking about putting a 'warning tag' on these types of courses in the future.
I can definitely say that people with these types of degrees aren�t doing as well peeps from a finance background hence I find I�m exploring the idea of returning to Korea after having studied the language and having got my TEFL certificate (I�m 25, currently with a middle of the road salary in a not too bad white collar job) while others are pursuing property, mortgages and marriages in their high flying jobs. I kind of feel like im in the twilight zone compared to some of these peeps lol
I realise that maybe this isn't the right board to post something like this up (even if it is an 'off topic' board in the forum) but I was just curious because there are peeps here from across the spectrum of western countries and was wondering if you face the same kind of problems or not as well as what other peeps from the UK think... also do you think there will be a future for these kinds of majors or do you think they will steadily fazed out as fewer and fewer candidates chose them and become 'luxury' degrees |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:48 am Post subject: |
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I got a computer science degree. Luckily, got some work during school and realized 3 years in sitting behind a computer wasn't for me. Still finished the degree though, and it is useful enough even outside computer science. I don't regret it at all. I would have loved to get a history degree, but luckily even back in high school I realized the futilitiy of that.
Humanity and arts degrees are very useful, but unfortunately they are giving out too many of them. Especially Australia. When I heard about Australia's funding for university, I thought that was great. Most people are able to go to uni (from what I can tell). Then I met a couple Australians and realized maybe it isn't such a good idea to allow anyone to get a degree  Just incase, most Australians I have met have been awesome, so don't get angry
As a branch off of this, one major problem back in Canada is sociology majors going into social services (social workers, etc) to pay off loans. Many new social workers never planned on doing it but just got the job. Compare these morons to older social workers (over 35) who still truly care about the system and children. I get angry just thinking of the new batch of social workers and their moronic NEW ideas and complete lack of dedication that you can see in most older social workers (who got into it for it, not because they were stupid and got a useless degree).
Sociology majors (not the ones who actually do major things with it) are destroying the entire fabric of society with their (usually untested beyond 5 or 10 years) theories about how society should work (or psychologists). Road rage is now a "disorder" that has gotten people out of trouble in courts  Sorry, rant over. I don't like most sociology majors I meet. Some are ok, including my sister (though she was a bit smarter getting a BEd with it)!!! |
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Yesanman
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Location: Chungnam
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| Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:52 am Post subject: |
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Hell man you're 25! You shouldn't be worrying about mortgages and stuff like that. 25. You should be off travelling the world because you're obviously not ready to settle down into a white-collar job.
Hit the road. Have fun. Worry about mortgages when you're married. I hit the road at 25 and I'm only now thinking of returning at 35. Now I'm ready for the more serious side of life. |
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stevieg4ever
Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Location: London, England
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| Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:06 am Post subject: |
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lol yeah you are probably right. Anyways I am travelling Europe for 7 weeks next year and then Korea for about 3 weeks before commencing teaching if I get on the EPIK programme. How's that for starters...
The future worries me desperately though but i like your style 'yesanman'
| Yesanman wrote: |
Hell man you're 25! You shouldn't be worrying about mortgages and stuff like that. 25. You should be off travelling the world because you're obviously not ready to settle down into a white-collar job.
Hit the road. Have fun. Worry about mortgages when you're married. I hit the road at 25 and I'm only now thinking of returning at 35. Now I'm ready for the more serious side of life. |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:09 am Post subject: |
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| stevieg4ever wrote: |
lol yeah you are probably right. Anyways I am travelling Europe for 7 weeks next year and then Korea for about 3 weeks before commencing teaching if I get on the EPIK programme. How's that for starters...
The future worries me desperately though but i like your style 'yesanman'
| Yesanman wrote: |
Hell man you're 25! You shouldn't be worrying about mortgages and stuff like that. 25. You should be off travelling the world because you're obviously not ready to settle down into a white-collar job.
Hit the road. Have fun. Worry about mortgages when you're married. I hit the road at 25 and I'm only now thinking of returning at 35. Now I'm ready for the more serious side of life. |
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Why does it worry you? Don't worry about what society thinks, it's still behind the times anyways. For one, we will most likely live quite long, and live healthier than before (as all through time). People get married at all ages now. And I swear the next few generations all seem as dumb as anything and probably won't put up much of a fight for jobs  Well, I wouldn't take that last comment to heart.
Do you know how many people have someone die early (like my uncle, 50 years old) and then go on and on about living life now. I would rather die at 50 knowing I actually LIVED life than live to 100 trudging to work I don't like everyday worrying about my future I think most people actually agree, even if they don't have the courage to do it. |
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rawiri
Joined: 01 Jun 2003
Location: Lovely day for a fire drill.
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| Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:34 am Post subject: |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
As a branch off of this, one major problem back in Canada is sociology majors going into social services (social workers, etc) to pay off loans. Many new social workers never planned on doing it but just got the job. Compare these morons to older social workers (over 35) who still truly care about the system and children. I get angry just thinking of the new batch of social workers and their moronic NEW ideas and complete lack of dedication that you can see in most older social workers (who got into it for it, not because they were stupid and got a useless degree).
Sociology majors (not the ones who actually do major things with it) are destroying the entire fabric of society with their (usually untested beyond 5 or 10 years) theories about how society should work (or psychologists). Road rage is now a "disorder" that has gotten people out of trouble in courts Sorry, rant over. I don't like most sociology majors I meet. Some are ok, including my sister (though she was a bit smarter getting a BEd with it)!!! |
[/quote]
I hear ya, one of my professors (i was a sociology major) ran a boys foster home in his own home with his wife and three daughters for over ten years. All up he took in nearly 200 boys from the ages of round 13-16.
His family were family friends of ours and i had known him for most of my life. Sociology was great in some ways because the ratio of guys to girls was about 10-1 in my favour, it was weird in other ways though seeing these pretty young 21 year olds about to graduate and go on to post graduate studies who (although may have encountered some hardships in their lives) didn't really know too much about what it takes to work in the social service field. I was talking to my professor about this one day and he agreed saying, "I don't know what some of these guys are going to do the first time a client tells them to f@#k off".
To the OP, chill man, youth is on your side so live it up while you can. |
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stevieg4ever
Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Location: London, England
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:54 am Post subject: |
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I hear ya laogaiguk. maybe im just needlessly fretting but i just tend to worry about the future in general.
than live to 100 trudging to work I don't like everyday worrying about my future - thats kinda what im worried about
but next year will be full of adventure 4 sure!
| laogaiguk wrote: |
| stevieg4ever wrote: |
lol yeah you are probably right. Anyways I am travelling Europe for 7 weeks next year and then Korea for about 3 weeks before commencing teaching if I get on the EPIK programme. How's that for starters...
The future worries me desperately though but i like your style 'yesanman'
| Yesanman wrote: |
Hell man you're 25! You shouldn't be worrying about mortgages and stuff like that. 25. You should be off travelling the world because you're obviously not ready to settle down into a white-collar job.
Hit the road. Have fun. Worry about mortgages when you're married. I hit the road at 25 and I'm only now thinking of returning at 35. Now I'm ready for the more serious side of life. |
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Why does it worry you? Don't worry about what society thinks, it's still behind the times anyways. For one, we will most likely live quite long, and live healthier than before (as all through time). People get married at all ages now. And I swear the next few generations all seem as dumb as anything and probably won't put up much of a fight for jobs Well, I wouldn't take that last comment to heart.
Do you know how many people have someone die early (like my uncle, 50 years old) and then go on and on about living life now. I would rather die at 50 knowing I actually LIVED life than live to 100 trudging to work I don't like everyday worrying about my future I think most people actually agree, even if they don't have the courage to do it. |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:01 am Post subject: |
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You're 25 and worried about your future security?? Hahaha.
Look...if you sweat and stress away your life like Asians do chasing after the perfect job, perfect career, millionaire status by the age of 50 etc...you won't enjoy life, nor will you do anything you really want.
i'm 32 and entirely proud that i opted out of the treadmill. My mates have been living in the same town and been paying a mortgage for the past 10 years. I've seen and done a LOT more than them, around the world, no regrets. |
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stevieg4ever
Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Location: London, England
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:33 am Post subject: |
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thanks. this thread has made me feel a lot better about myself. i like your avatar by the way
| Junior wrote: |
You're 25 and worried about your future security?? Hahaha.
Look...if you sweat and stress away your life like Asians do chasing after the perfect job, perfect career, millionaire status by the age of 50 etc...you won't enjoy life, nor will you do anything you really want.
i'm 32 and entirely proud that i opted out of the treadmill. My mates have been living in the same town and been paying a mortgage for the past 10 years. I've seen and done a LOT more than them, around the world, no regrets. |
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cosmicgirlie
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:11 am Post subject: |
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| rawiri wrote: |
| laogaiguk wrote: |
As a branch off of this, one major problem back in Canada is sociology majors going into social services (social workers, etc) to pay off loans. Many new social workers never planned on doing it but just got the job. Compare these morons to older social workers (over 35) who still truly care about the system and children. I get angry just thinking of the new batch of social workers and their moronic NEW ideas and complete lack of dedication that you can see in most older social workers (who got into it for it, not because they were stupid and got a useless degree).
Sociology majors (not the ones who actually do major things with it) are destroying the entire fabric of society with their (usually untested beyond 5 or 10 years) theories about how society should work (or psychologists). Road rage is now a "disorder" that has gotten people out of trouble in courts Sorry, rant over. I don't like most sociology majors I meet. Some are ok, including my sister (though she was a bit smarter getting a BEd with it)!!! |
I hear ya, one of my professors (i was a sociology major) ran a boys foster home in his own home with his wife and three daughters for over ten years. All up he took in nearly 200 boys from the ages of round 13-16.
His family were family friends of ours and i had known him for most of my life. Sociology was great in some ways because the ratio of guys to girls was about 10-1 in my favour, it was weird in other ways though seeing these pretty young 21 year olds about to graduate and go on to post graduate studies who (although may have encountered some hardships in their lives) didn't really know too much about what it takes to work in the social service field. I was talking to my professor about this one day and he agreed saying, "I don't know what some of these guys are going to do the first time a client tells them to f@#k off".
To the OP, chill man, youth is on your side so live it up while you can. |
[/quote]
My degree is in child and youth care and let me tell you that I found it amusing that some of my classmates had chose this field instead of something else. Some of them truly had no clue as to how to deal with the brats in our society. They are brats, misguided youts as I like to refer to them as. During our field placements we would get together as a class every month and discuss what was happening at their agency. I always took on some really difficult placements and I'd tell the story of the kids I was working with. Some of the faces of the "daddy's little girls" classmates would be priceless. I always wondered what they thought they'd run into. Ohhh a kid has been beat lets take them out. Not it's way worse than that for some of these kids. I worked with a girl who cost the Toronto CAS well over $750 000 a year in staffing and housing due to her extreme high needs.
To the original poster, travel you're young. No need to worry about the rat race. You can always go back to school part time later in life and change careers. I always find it amusing that once people have their degree's they think that's it for them career wise. I have no places to just be a child and youth care worker working in the social care field for the rest of my life. I have other plans that require returning back to school. Travel and live the nomadic life. No need to settle down until you're ready and most guys usually wait until their mid 30's to do that. |
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