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Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

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Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#81

Post by beebmam »

User23 wrote: post #67
lordnacho wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_high_school In Denmark and some neighboring countries there's this concept of a school you can go to just to learn stuff later in life, as an ongoing thing. There's a whole bunch of themes (sports, history, etc), and often you can book yourself in for whatever amount of time makes sense for you.

Many if not most universities in the USA have extension schools that serve this purpose.

I'd like to point out that Extension schools also allow minors to take full credit college courses. I basically had my math bachelor's degree complete by the time I was officially accepted to my university.

If you are a parent, let your children know about these extension college courses if they are interested!

Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#82

Post by hallway_monitor »

depressedpanda wrote: post #75
wffurr wrote: post #40

My masters degree in Computer Science was incredibly educating and opened many career doors for me. It filled in a lot of gaps that my undergraduate education left, and significantly raised my profile amongst recruiters. CS might be the exception to the rule about Masters degrees though.

Conversely, I don't even have a bachelor's degree in CS, and I haven't suffered at all because of it. I got a job offer before graduating, and decided my time was better spent earning money than learning stuff I would probably never have any use for. Rather than focusing on degrees, I think it's a lot more important to focus on learning, however you don't know what's important to learn until you actually start workin…

Funny how those of us who didn't spend more than a couple years in school think the rest of the years are probably a waste, and those that did spend a lot of time and money in school think it was useful.

Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#83

Post by UK-Al05 »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #54
CydeWeys wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your credential is only worth something because someone else doesn't have it. This is an unbelievably cynical take on the world. Society and the economy are not zero-sum, and having better education and better skills make someone better off without taking away an equal amount of opportunity from others.

Better skills are not zero sum, but credentials are. Having a doctorate is only impressive if everybody else doesn't also have one.then you would have to have two doctorates.

What? Doctorate implies you've learned some skills.

If everyone suddenly everyone got better at maths and critical thinking. Overall the economy would be more productive, and everyone would be better off.

There isn't a fixed amount wealth, to be divided up between people. If you increase skill levels, total level of wealth can increase.

Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#84

Post by tonfreed »

bonzini wrote: post #79
hallway_monitor wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, having government involved always creates inflation. It's no coincidence that the two areas with most government involvement, education and health care, are the things that have outpaced every other measure of inflation significantly.

Of course in both cases this is only true in the US.

My 4 year bachelor's degree in Australia still cost me $60000. I'm still not convinced it was worth it

Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#85

Post by tonfreed »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #36

I had a friend who was wanting to get a master's degree in poetry, and it cost about 45k a year, back in early 2000s. I strongly advised against it, my friend did not take well to my advice. Hope it all turned out well. I have no problem with people getting degrees in the arts. My spouse has a Master's in fine arts, from a university in Europe. But she didn't acquire any debt from that degree, while I did in the US w…

I think the debt problem is one of a predatory nature. I love music and history, but I came from a family that pretty much only got by because of welfare. I didn't have the time or money to waste getting a degree in something that had zero job prospects after school.

You show a $50k a year degree to an 18 year old from a more middle to upper middle class family, though, and they're not going to understand how much money that actually is. They're going to see one big party that they don't need to pay for until they're done.

I also remember when I was in high school, all the boomer teachers and parents were saying university is a gateway to easy money after. We were sold something that hasn't held true, and I think a lot of people are very bitter about that.

Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#86

Post by jeroenhd »

I can't comment on the American education system (which this article is about) but here and in other parts of Europe, the bachelors vs masters distinction is a quite recent addition (30-40 years ago, I think?) Before then, higher education took at least five, maybe six years versus the 4+2 or 3+2 system that has replaced it. An artifical split was added after three or four years (depending on the level of education) to align with the foreign bachelor/master system and make our degrees easier to use in foreign countries.

Nowadays, people consider the bachelor enough of an education to join the workforce. And power to them, if they can get their jobs done with only their bachelors', they have no need for more education.

However, it does imply that less knowledge has been transferred to those students than to the students who followed the old system. The vocational education has also shaped itself more to that form, at least here, which is detrimental for the quality of education those people receive.

Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#87

Post by eralps »

I've yet to see a useful master's degree. Especially in the US and in STEM it seems like master's has just been a gate to the next thing.

I have a master's and one of the biggest reasons behind my education was the opportunity in the US after the master's. Sole benefit of it has been the OPT (~3 years work visa). I learned small things here and there during my education but as an SWE I don't use them at all and I forgot the rest of my classes. I wrote a thesis but it was nowhere near a PhD level research.

Additionally higher entry level areas such as ML and AI often require PhD so getting a master's is not getting your foot in the door.

Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#89

Post by chrisseaton »

amelius wrote: post #80
lordnacho wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need a degree to open a business. And mostly it's for learning things for your own satisfaction, which I sense is what you mean?

Depends. If it's in a medical field, you might need a degree.

You don't need a degree to open a medical business. You need a degree to practice medicine.

Re: Master’s degrees are the second biggest scam in higher education?

#90

Post by chrisseaton »

UK-Al05 wrote: post #78
chrisseaton wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As in opening a business after passes these classes. Where do you need a degree to open a business?

Lots of professions and trades require a qualification or license to practice. So getting these qualifications are required for reskilling.

Right so the employees providing the actual services may need qualifications. The person opening the business doesn't. I've never seen anywhere where opening a business needs a degree or qualification.
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