41–50 of 59 posts
I don't see anything wrong with educated mailman. And hey, if he can't find a job that suits him, maybe there is something wrong with the economy, not with him?
I'm still amazed at the cost of a college education in the US. My computer engineering degree in Australia cost $15k total, then a PhD was free (with many, including myself, getting a scholarship to pay for living expenses).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
However, it would have been at best very difficult for me to cut through the red tape to get the work I have without a college degree. The sorts of people who do hiring in this industry seem to really want to see that. Put yourself in the place of a hiring manager, or, better still, the person setting hiring policies for large companies. You have hundreds or thousands of people competing for jobs, sending you resumes…
If a degree is just intended to show that you're not an idiot, there could be cheaper and less time consuming ways to do that.
On a somewhat peripheral note I found this a bit disappointing: According to the Times, eight out of the ten job categories that will add the most employees during the next decade—including home-health aide, customer-service representative, and store clerk—can be performed by someone without a college degree. I was kind of hoping we'd be able to use advancing technology to reduce our need for people in the customer s…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Many subjects cannot really be learned from books. Regardless of how many history books you may read, for example, it will not shed the same insight as a profound discussion with a highly-experienced academic in the field. This is true for many aspects of the humanities. My undergrad humanities courses were 100+ students packed into a giant lecture hall listening to a professor talk. There was essentially no interac…
I've taken those courses also - they are still valuable. Take the same book home, or hell, take ten books home on that subject and you will still miss many salient points that only prolonged formal study of the subject will bring. That's the trick with the humanities - they are not hard sciences, there is no canonical body of knowledge to be passed on; This isn't a straight download. Many things are a matter of persp…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If a degree is just intended to show that you're not an idiot, there could be cheaper and less time consuming ways to do that.
See Griggs Vs Duke Power. The courts essentially made less expensive means, eg testing, illegal in an attempt at "fairness".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. I am a grad student teaching first-year calculus. 90% are getting a chance to party and maybe 10% are the idealists.
These numbers may be self-selecting by the schools both you go to...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If a degree is just intended to show that you're not an idiot, there could be cheaper and less time consuming ways to do that.
See Griggs Vs Duke Power. The courts essentially made less expensive means, eg testing, illegal in an attempt at "fairness".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am an engineer. Being five years removed from undergrad, the most valuable parts of college were not electives in mechanics or control theory. They were the professors I interacted with, the football games I attended in the student section, the liberal arts and writing classes I was required to take, and the friends I made.
Really? I never would have learned the math on my own, and liberal arts could cost you $1.50 in library fees. I grew up reading for fun though, perhaps that facet of education is harder for some people?