Just out of idle curiosity, was there any point to this other than to bust on people whe earn liberal arts degrees?

Yes, we hope to find the cure for cancer a little later on in the thread.

Quote from: J Arcane;375878We interrupt this unsurprising out break of anti-intellectualism to bring you some alternate view points.  

http://www.newsweek.com/id/229955

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/05/in-defense-of-the-liberal-arts.html

I LOVED the OP comedy bit. Its dead on target.

Too bad Newsweek can't say anything directly in the first paragraph of that article.

- Ed C.

Quote from: Cylonophile;376097Just out of idle curiosity, was there any point to this other than to bust on people whe earn liberal arts degrees?

Since your curiosity is merely idle, I will not tell you.

I thought it was fucking funny

Luckily I did my arts degree for education, not vocation. A genuine education is a good thing for you as a person, whether or not it leads to the job of your dreams. I am happier knowing and understanding the world a bit better than I did before the degree.

Quote from: WerekoalaThis is a direct result of the "You have to go to college to make it in life" mindset of the last 20 years. Literally, degrees are barely worth the parchment they are printed on, in many cases.

"Credential inflation" is a very real thing. Years ago I dated a woman who around 1990 had left high school without graduating, she was intelligent and very personable so walked into a bank teller job. After a couple of years they offered to put her on a fast-track management course/experience, she declined because she wanted to take a year off to travel. Seven years later at uni doing a science degree she wanted some summer work, she went to the bank looking for temporary positions.

She couldn't get even casual bank teller work, they wanted a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Exactly the same work, but where before you didn't even have to finish high school, now they wanted a degree - even over a couple of years' experience.

But I mean, if you get 100 applicants for a job and 50 of them have a degree, what else do you do but start by rejecting all those without one.

Credential inflation. Weird stuff.

Well said.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;376427She couldn't get even casual bank teller work, they wanted a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Exactly the same work, but where before you didn't even have to finish high school, now they wanted a degree - even over a couple of years' experience.

But I mean, if you get 100 applicants for a job and 50 of them have a degree, what else do you do but start by rejecting all those without one.

Credential inflation. Weird stuff.

Same thing happening in the states as well. What you used to be able to do with a high school diploma, you need an undergrad degree to do now. For work that used to require an undergrad, you now often need a graduate degree.