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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?

#131
post #10

I guess they are paying $300k for the connections and access to the elites who go to these universities but whats the point of paying if the 'elite university experience' is not only virtual, but anyone can go and get a MS degree online for cheap access? (Obviously for some courses) Still the pandemic has made it glaringly obvious that depending on the course you study, in this case, history, media, drama and film st…

>I guess they are paying $300k for the connections and access to the elites who go to these universities

Can you expand on what you mean by "access to elites"

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

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting to know there was a term for that already. Slight anecdote, I gave a few geometry lessons to a teen. And witnessing his brain operate was quite staggering. Teen operate at high frequency low depth it seems. He didn't want to grasp the rule or symmetry but ran in many intuitions very rapidly (honestly my brain froze at his pace of change, so vibrant) only to feel defeated or confused. Made me think ad…

Love this story because this has been my experience as well when teaching youth. Children in a classroom scarcely need a teacher explaining things to them. Give them the materials and leave the room for an hour. I guarantee you they'll know what to do and how to to do it when you return. However, they won't have any particular depth of knowledge of the topic. And thats because they usually move onto their own ideas o…

As an adult with ADHD, these descriptions sound very similar to how I study and learn too, and perhaps explain the difficulties I've had.

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

#133
post #10

I guess they are paying $300k for the connections and access to the elites who go to these universities but whats the point of paying if the 'elite university experience' is not only virtual, but anyone can go and get a MS degree online for cheap access? (Obviously for some courses) Still the pandemic has made it glaringly obvious that depending on the course you study, in this case, history, media, drama and film st…

In the case of J-School, mentioned in the article, even back when journalism was not such a beleaguered profession, a lot of people were pretty skeptical that it was a better option than, you know, being a journalist.

I know a lot of working journalists and very few of them went to J-School. (Many worked on undergrad newspapers and some colleges have undergrad elective classes.)

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

#134
Recent OMSCS graduate here, and I was already working as a software engineer. I learned a lot, I'm very happy with the experience, the price is totally reasonable (around $7k) and it's a kind of education which suits and is oriented to adults. I totally recommend the program.

But, I totally understand the issue with a $50k Master's.

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

#135

One of the key issues I see is that we don’t place a high enough value on adult education. A philosophy professor of mine told me the word “andragogy”, which is the theory of adult education. It’s different from “pedagogy” which means the education of children. I always thought that learning is learning. It never occurred to me that there’s a difference between how and why children learn and that it could be differen…

> Most masters classes are simply just repackaged versions of undergraduate classes, maybe with a little more depth. Depends on the country. Masters degrees can be research which are the first year of a Ph.D. or they can be taught degrees. In the latter they are usually called "conversion" courses where there's intensive focus on filling in gaps in education for somebody moving to the field. E.g. moving from an Econo…

In the US, those gaps are usually noted and you fill them with upper division courses and if necessary, lower division. Actual graduate courses are quite different from undergraduate even covering the same subject matter.

  Lower division is problem sets.
  Upper division is problem sets + project.
  Graduate is project + research paper.

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

#136

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 did my MFA in poetry in the US. Tuition and living expenses were completely covered by fellowships and a TA position. I think this is the norm. While expensive on paper, no one really pays that. Most programs are not predatory like those described in article.

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

#137
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes, because tons of people have the capital to open business and hire employees. Reality is most people wanting to retrain are going to do it as a single person business as a plumber, hair dresser or similar.

Going and getting a degree isn't a good way of raising capital.

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

#138
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because tons of people have the capital to open business and hire employees. Reality is most people wanting to retrain are going to do it as a single person business as a plumber, hair dresser or similar.

Going and getting a degree isn't a good way of raising capital.

I never said it was. It's potentially good way of getting a well paid job though.

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

#139

One of the key issues I see is that we don’t place a high enough value on adult education. A philosophy professor of mine told me the word “andragogy”, which is the theory of adult education. It’s different from “pedagogy” which means the education of children. I always thought that learning is learning. It never occurred to me that there’s a difference between how and why children learn and that it could be differen…

> Most masters classes are simply just repackaged versions of undergraduate classes, maybe with a little more depth. Depends on the country. Masters degrees can be research which are the first year of a Ph.D. or they can be taught degrees. In the latter they are usually called "conversion" courses where there's intensive focus on filling in gaps in education for somebody moving to the field. E.g. moving from an Econo…

I did a hybrid masters in CS - half the year was taught and half the year was research. Of the 6 classes I was taught 2 of them were undergrad level (and they were 3rd/final year level at that), and the rest were definitely a level above undergrad. Most were actively learning about the state of the art in their areas, or very close to it. Of the 15 or so students, 5 of us had our names on papers from the research we did for the second period. My experience may be atypical, but I definitely believe there is a range available, and it's unfortunately up to a student to try to discern the two.

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

#140
post #91

One of the key issues I see is that we don’t place a high enough value on adult education. A philosophy professor of mine told me the word “andragogy”, which is the theory of adult education. It’s different from “pedagogy” which means the education of children. I always thought that learning is learning. It never occurred to me that there’s a difference between how and why children learn and that it could be differen…

I guess I don't really see it. As an adult, I don't really have much interest in a complete degree with a certification. (With the exception of very bounded industry-specific things.) So in that respect adult education certainly is different. I have known people who got PhDs as adults and I think they mostly didn't care for the experience. I know I have zero interest in getting another degree. Even a couple of decade…

Most of the people I know with PhD's did them because they wsnted to do a PhD, not because it would increase their earning potential.
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