Wow! Petey, you were right! We don't spend enough on Education...

[koalabear]

Obviously your degree allowed you to know everything about everything. My crappy BLA only let me retire in my early fifties.

MercMORON's cousin, no doubt.

 

[Frizzle_Fry]

Obviously your degree allowed you to know everything about everything. My crappy BLA only let me retire in my early fifties.

I retired at 24....kiss my ass.

 

[Adre]

MercMORON's cousin, no doubt.

The King of comebacks, no doubt.

 

[Adre]

I retired at 24....kiss my ass.

Retired what?

 

[Byron In Exile]

Obviously your degree allowed you to know everything about everything. My crappy BLA only let me retire in my early fifties.

Why don't we talk about the degrees Bill Gates has?

Not the "honorary" ones, but the real ones.

Zero.

Then we can talk about Steve Jobs and Paul Allen.

 

[Peregrinator]

An acquaintance of mine has a degree from an Evangelical Bible college with some kind of specialty in eradicating cults and evil spirits. He used it to get into the police academy and become a cop. Now he runs around the country giving trainings to law enforcement about cults.

There's no such thing as a useless degree.

Exactly. My dad was either VP or pres of one bank or another for most of my adult life until he retired a few years ago. Bachelor's degree in psychology from a college that doesn't exist any more. My sister has a BA in sociology and owns her own mortgage company as well as co-owning a yoga studio and practicing Chinese herbal medicine. Owns a huge house in an expensive suburb of Hartford, CT. Her partner, co-owner of the studio, has a degree in liberal arts and ran an IT dept the size of a small city before he retired in his fifties to do the yoga teacher/studio owner thing. Guy who posts here as Hungry Joe is a successful software engineer with no undergrad degree; if he had bothered to finish his degree, it would have been in English or Philosophy. Then there's the famous people like Steve Jobs...

Pretty much out there.

I think he lacks perspective.

I'm willing to bet department store managers are all rocking MBA's or at least and under grad in biz management.

You'd lose that bet. I think what you're missing is the notion of on the job training. My dad--see above for thumbnail--has always said that he preferred to hire lib arts majors to business majors. He can teach the job to a trainee who has learned how to think. The stuff business majors are taught is either learned on the job or irrelevant. He did as much un-teaching of errors with business majors.

 

[koalabear]

The King of comebacks, no doubt.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn233/koalabear_photo/king-248.gif

 

[Frizzle_Fry]

Retired what?

Military/investor/pot farmer...now I just go to school and collect my money....enjoy my hobbies.

Exactly. My dad was either VP or pres of one bank or another for most of my adult life until he retired a few years ago. Bachelor's degree in psychology from a college that doesn't exist any more. My sister has a BA in sociology and owns her own mortgage company as well as co-owning a yoga studio and practicing Chinese herbal medicine. Owns a huge house in an expensive suburb of Hartford, CT. Her partner, co-owner of the studio, has a degree in liberal arts and ran an IT dept the size of a small city before he retired in his fifties to do the yoga teacher/studio owner thing. Guy who posts here as Hungry Joe is a successful software engineer with no undergrad degree; if he had bothered to finish his degree, it would have been in English or Philosophy. Then there's the famous people like Steve Jobs...

I think he lacks perspective.


You'd lose that bet. I think what you're missing is the notion of on the job training. My dad--see above for thumbnail--has always said that he preferred to hire lib arts majors to business majors. He can teach the job to a trainee who has learned how to think. The stuff business majors are taught is either learned on the job or irrelevant. He did as much un-teaching of errors with business majors.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen....esp considering hiring within. I'm talking about a 22 y/o kid who is going to graduate here in the next week or two, with a BLA he/she is not going to get squat compared to someone with a more specialized degree.

The job market for a fresh grad today is not what it was 20, 10 or even 5 years ago.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

Why can't they be sold in the marketplace? What sort of evidence do you have?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...unemployment/2012/01/03/gIQAwpaXZP_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/01/04/Business/Graphics/w-majors-graphicstory.jpg

 

[JohnnySavage]

"Recent College Grads ages 22-26"

What's the unemployment rate for the 22-26 demographic without a college degree?

Not everyone has an aptitude for math or science, so not everyone can be a scientist, an engineer or a mathematician. Reading some of the uninformed responses in this thread, it's obvious who actually has a degree (in anything), and who doesn't.

Further, what will the job market be like in 20 years? There will be far fewer jobs in the US for engineering types because that work can mostly be farmed out to countries with cheaper labor rates. If you have an engineering degree, you're an engineer. Other degrees are more versatile, and all degrees are valuable.

 

[Peregrinator]

Military/investor/pot farmer...now I just go to school and collect my money....enjoy my hobbies.



I'm not saying it doesn't happen....esp considering hiring within. I'm talking about a 22 y/o kid who is going to graduate here in the next week or two, with a BLA he/she is not going to get squat compared to someone with a more specialized degree.

The job market for a fresh grad today is not what it was 20, 10 or even 5 years ago.

I think the mistake in the whole conversation is that we equate a "successful life" with "fiscal achievement." To me that's a poor yard stick. My dad did fine in his career, raised three of us, gave the family a good home, etc, etc, etc, all the Eisenhower Years stereotype earmarks of success. And he's always said that he wished he'd gotten a Ph.D in history and been a college professor instead.

I don't want to have a career, no matter how much dough I pull, if the whole time I'm doing it I'm bored and wishing I were doing something else.

 

[Peregrinator]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...unemployment/2012/01/03/gIQAwpaXZP_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/01/04/Business/Graphics/w-majors-graphicstory.jpg

Interesting graphic. I think "Arts" is probably skewed by people who graduate and spend a year or two trying to sell their art to galleries. Technically unemployed. I notice too, how narrow the range is, from 5.4% to 13.9%. Not a huge difference, that.

 

[koalabear]

Wooing young voters, President Barack Obama is on a blitz to keep the cost of college loans from soaring for millions of students, taking his message to three states strategically important to his re-election bid. By taking on student debt, Obama is speaking to middle-class America and targeting an enormous burden that threatens the economic recovery.

Before Obama got his road trip under way, Republican opponent Mitt Romney found a way to steal some thunder from the president's campaign argument: He agreed with it.



http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_n...takes-on-college-costs-eyes-young-voters?lite

 

[Adre]

Wooing young voters, President Barack Obama is on a blitz to keep the cost of college loans from soaring for millions of students, taking his message to three states strategically important to his re-election bid. By taking on student debt, Obama is speaking to middle-class America and targeting an enormous burden that threatens the economic recovery.

Before Obama got his road trip under way, Republican opponent Mitt Romney found a way to steal some thunder from the president's campaign argument: He agreed with it.



http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_n...takes-on-college-costs-eyes-young-voters?lite

Mittens changed his mind on something again? That's a surprise.

 

[Sean]

I think the mistake in the whole conversation is that we equate a "successful life" with "fiscal achievement." To me that's a poor yard stick.

I don't want to have a career, no matter how much dough I pull, if the whole time I'm doing it I'm bored and wishing I were doing something else.

This.

 

[Frizzle_Fry]

I think the mistake in the whole conversation is that we equate a "successful life" with "fiscal achievement." To me that's a poor yard stick. My dad did fine in his career, raised three of us, gave the family a good home, etc, etc, etc, all the Eisenhower Years stereotype earmarks of success. And he's always said that he wished he'd gotten a Ph.D in history and been a college professor instead.

I don't want to have a career, no matter how much dough I pull, if the whole time I'm doing it I'm bored and wishing I were doing something else.

Oh I'm not talking about getting rich as hell...l'm more than happy/content with my middle class life. No annual exotic vaycay's but I have comfy pad, a couple projects, the occasional night on the town and I'm not worried about "omg how am I going to eat this week??" .

I'm set up for that now which is why I'm going to school, because I wan't my PhD in Botany and or Marine Biology. Neither is a road to wealth but I love it. All thing's considered I actually feel quite privileged to be where I'm at in life.

I'm not saying a BLA can't do anything, or that it is no good...just saying for a new grad with one the current job market is still pretty bleak.

 

[Peregrinator]

Oh I'm not talking about getting rich as hell...l'm more than happy/content with my middle class life. No annual exotic vaycay's but I have comfy pad, a couple projects, the occasional night on the town and I'm not worried about "omg how am I going to eat this week??" .

I'm set up for that now which is why I'm going to school, because I wan't my PhD in Botany and or Marine Biology. Neither is a road to wealth but I love it. All thing's considered I actually feel quite privileged to be where I'm at in life.

I'm not saying a BLA can't do anything, or that it is no good...just saying for a new grad with one the current job market is still pretty bleak.

Have you posted with the guy who goes by Dribble on here? You should.

I'm thinking of studying biology myself in fact. I may have to go back to school yet again...

 

[Frizzle_Fry]

Have you posted with the guy who goes by Dribble on here? You should.

I'm thinking of studying biology myself in fact. I may have to go back to school yet again...

I've seen him around, haven't really talked to him much.

If you are considering a biology degree I would highly suggest you get through chem/O chem before you decide to go further into biology class's beyond intro stuff.

It's like getting a handle on algebra/calculus before digging into physics.

 

[Peregrinator]

I've seen him around, haven't really talked to him much.

If you are considering a biology degree I would highly suggest you get through chem/O chem before you decide to go further into biology class's beyond intro stuff.

It's like getting a handle on algebra/calculus before digging into physics.

You have mutual interests.

Already got 'em. I did those when I thought I was going to med school.

 

[Frizzle_Fry]

You have mutual interests.

Already got 'em. I did those when I thought I was going to med school.

Oh you are g2g man...it's all cool stuff after that.

As for dribb's I'll hit him up at some point when the thread suits it.

 

[Byron In Exile]

I think the mistake in the whole conversation is that we equate a "successful life" with "fiscal achievement." To me that's a poor yard stick.

Are you fucking kidding me? Think for a moment about what you just said.

My dad did fine in his career, raised three of us, gave the family a good home, etc, etc, etc, all the Eisenhower Years stereotype earmarks of success.

And how did "fiscal achievement" figure into that?

Was he able to put you where you are because he magically made rainbows appear in the sky, or was it because of his "fiscal achievement"?

And he's always said that he wished he'd gotten a Ph.D in history and been a college professor instead.

And if he'd done that, then you might be fiscally screwed right now.

 

[Peregrinator]

Are you fucking kidding me? Think for a moment about what you just said.

And how did "fiscal achievement" figure into that?

Was he able to put you where you are because he magically made rainbows appear in the sky, or was it because of his "fiscal achievement"?

And if he'd done that, then you might be fiscally screwed right now.

Get out of that box.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Get out of that box.

We're in the same box.

And there's no way out of it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I think the mistake in the whole conversation is that we equate a "successful life" with "fiscal achievement." To me that's a poor yard stick. My dad did fine in his career, raised three of us, gave the family a good home, etc, etc, etc, all the Eisenhower Years stereotype earmarks of success. And he's always said that he wished he'd gotten a Ph.D in history and been a college professor instead.

I don't want to have a career, no matter how much dough I pull, if the whole time I'm doing it I'm bored and wishing I were doing something else.

Thank God I'm retired. I feel for todays youngsters, cuz theyre screwed right outta the gate.

I worked about 50 years, and here's my take on employment: Whatever work requires lotsa technical training is doomed by the rapid evolution of technology. The military trained me to be a mechanic, but today computers do all the thinking about problems, and the grease monkey is reduced to a parts installer. Ditto for computer fixers and the rest. No one has fixed a tv in 30 years.

In my profession, psychology-rehab, no one manages patient care for paralyzed-head injured people anymore. Insurance companies give these people sacks of cash and cuts them loose. Ditto for workmens comp clients. I think this state terminated vocational rehab long ago. Its cheaper to settle and be rid of people. If a patient with cerebral palsy wants to kill themselves, no one gives a shit. They got their payday, so fuck them.

I tried to interest my grand-daughter in pharmacy, and she laughed at me. She cant look down the road and see that monkeys are gonna do the work she plans to do.

 

[cjh]

a person of great fiscal acheivment:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/11/opinion/10madoff.480.jpg

a person of modest fiscal achievement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8RtayjqqIw