When I talk to Liberal Arts and Philosophy majors....

[NYlakesider]

At the college where I got my BA and MA the art department was right next to the business department in separate buildings. Between classes the students from both would pour out onto the sidewalk and mingle as they made their way across campus. It was very amusing. The business majors in their suits and carrying brief cases along with the art majors in paint-stained sweat shirts carrying portfolio packages under their arms. Each convinced the other was nuts.[/

That could be a unique case of two wrongs making a right.

 

[CatSnipah]

At the college where I got my BA and MA the art department was right next to the business department in separate buildings. Between classes the students from both would pour out onto the sidewalk and mingle as they made their way across campus. It was very amusing. The business majors in their suits and carrying brief cases along with the art majors in paint-stained sweat shirts carrying portfolio packages under their arms. Each convinced the other was nuts.

They WERE both nuts. Because they weren't engineers.


Says the guy (me) who also has an MBA, lol.

 

[quinn]

Some truth there. I have a liberal arts degree and managed to make it to top corporate management level in a Fortune 500 fast food chain. So, I'm not offended by "fries with that". I'll let my S&Ws speak for themselves.

 

[wbraswell]

I admire all of you who got your degree, in whatever it was. I was a college flunkie. As the old saying goes, I couldn't see the forest for the trees. I was POed at having all the same required courses, like English, that I took in high school. It's like Seldom said, it's proving that you can study. I wasn't good at studying, I was pretty fair at partying, so my college days lasted 2 semesters, then I went to work. I am still at work, dammit. I still can't understand why someone would be an English professor.

 

[3dots]

I started working after I graduated high school and have been ever since. From a poor family, I never had the chance for higher education. I made damn sure I took every opportunity presented to me to learn and better myself and my career. I have been very successful in my life (so far, knock on wood, etc.) and it's only due to work ethic and a sense of urgency.

I have seen the bottom of the barrel with it comes to people. Some of these had every opportunity in the world to move forward but turned into scum instead. I have respect for ANYONE with a job that supports themselves and or their family, at least it shows forward motion.

Practical experience is still the best teacher but nowadays it's hard to get practical experience without having a degree, you simply won't be hired. Hat's off to those who work, go to school and even more to those who do both.

 

[Dennis The B]

I was fortunate, that when I started my "serious" business degree pursuit, I had already earned an associate's degree in accounting and data processing. Pre-1970, data processing included tab equipment, key punch machines, sorters, collators, and computers. So, my IT started at the very basic of levels. Instructors insisted on systemic, end-to-end thinking.

When I started my bachelor's education, I didn't bother with accounting. I went into finance/banking and economics, since it embraced both macro- and micro-economics. At the suggestion of an econ professor, I took some poli-sci classes to get an idea of how the political-economic models intertwined. I was hooked. It seemed to me, at the time, that there was no way one could isolate liberal arts from business, and vice-versa.

The last several years of my education were a real pleasure. The only downside was the absolute, willful ignorance of liberals in the social sciences department. I ended up having to take an urban sociology course, in which the instructor had real dislike of police officers and conservatives, on a visceral level. Along with four police officers, we did manage to eke out a 3.0 in her class. As a class assignment, I chose to do a couple of ride-alongs with my classmates, and got a very decent grade on the paper I wrote.

The administration of the University of Louisville in the 1970's, was very much oriented to the liberal arts side, and they didn't give a lot of attention to the B school. One of the shortfalls on the liberal arts side, was the ignorance of how the business world operated. Not so much in the large corporate level, but in the small business side of things. Even liberal arts majors need some basic finance and/or business classes, and especially an introduction to commercial law. I found that liberal arts majors were woefully ill-prepared for small business endeavors.

I've been a economics/political science "junky" since 1964, and I find the subject fascinating.

My favorite professor was a lady who was a dyed-in-the-wool Roosevelt New Dealer. However, she was the fairest of all my professors when it came to teaching. She made us think, and she wasn't shy about allowing contrarian views to liberalism into the class room. We had many discussions that ran into the wee hours, after class time.

Challenging the student to learn all there is, is the greatest legacy of any school setting.

 

[NYlakesider]

I started working after I graduated high school and have been ever since. From a poor family, I never had the chance for higher education. I made damn sure I took every opportunity presented to me to learn and better myself and my career. I have been very successful in my life (so far, knock on wood, etc.) and it's only due to work ethic and a sense of urgency.

I have seen the bottom of the barrel with it comes to people. Some of these had every opportunity in the world to move forward but turned into scum instead. I have respect for ANYONE with a job that supports themselves and or their family, at least it shows forward motion.

Practical experience is still the best teacher but nowadays it's hard to get practical experience without having a degree, you simply won't be hired. Hat's off to those who work, go to school and even more to those who do both.

That might be true for certain jobs, but it's getting harder and harder for college people without the right type of degrees to get gainful employment. That old rule about supply and demand which is apparent that many with degrees do not understand comes into play!

A degree in an engineering/medical subjects goes a heck of a lot farther than a degree in "desk jobs" I see many people working at jobs way below their educational level because they have what I call BS type degrees. See many like this peddling fast food or working at Wally world/home depot type places.

Plus contrary to all the hype that you need a degree to make something of your sell is false in many cases. You work at building/ installing/repairing things like piping, electrical/ mechanical you will make good steady money. Contrary to the BS people you work cannot be outsourced. Yes you will get your hands dirty but you will do OK. Things break and things need to be fixed or installed in a location.

I'm retired (quite comfortably) I might add. (Great pension, it's based on hours worked) Due to health circumstances as stated in another post I took early retirement. Been retired from my union since 2002

If I was still working I would be making $35 per hour in the envelope with another $20 or so in benefits per. + the potential of mucho overtime if wanted. That ant chicken feed folks!

In fact compared to many of the people I went to high school with I'm doing as good or in many cases better than many with college.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Attending GrayStone College has been no help at all.

Signed
Charles Manson






WuzzFuzz

 

[Grayfox]

College Degrees

A.S.: can't spell. Needs another "S"
B.S.: well we all know what that is.
M.S. : just More ...um...Dung.
PHD: same stuff, just Piled Higher and Deeper.

 

[LouisianaJoe]

I may be unusual since I have a double major in Math and Computer Science and have been employed using both.

I have been programming computers since the late 60's.

Of course what I learned then is obsolete but going to college should teach you how to learn for the rest of your life.

 

[Mike McLellan]

Ironically, my son got his GED, went through the apprenticeship program with the Operating Engineers, and now he's making more money than I ever did. He works hard, has a good attitude & sense of humor, and has a genuine humility that, quite frankly, college degrees tend to denigrate.

 

[BAM-BAM]

Any and all education and life experience is a good thing...... it helps shape you...

Me...... a BA with majors in History and Political Science and a minor in Economics....... Law Degree U of Pittsburgh......stable boy at a summer camp ages 14,15 &16, Rifle instructor at camps for 3 years, worked on a road crew for the last 2 years in college and 2 summers working construction in Alaska during Law School.


God it great, education is good and people are crazy!!!!

My worry is that with all I did I got out of School broke but no debt.....today "Kids" are looking at 5 to 6 figure debt to get where I got.....a hard hole to dig out of in the economy of the past 6-7 years...

 

[shouldazagged]

Wow, this joke touched a nerve with some.

Seems like someone told me once that those that can laugh at themselves tend to be the most secure, happiest and live the longest.

I laugh at myself quite a lot. Have to, every time I look in the mirror.

My point was that no education, formal or otherwise, is ever wasted. Anything we learn, even (or especially) if we learn it the hard way, is of value.

My son and son-in-law never went to college, and both are doing extremely well. I'm delighted for them and their families.

I only spent fourteen years of a 54-year work history directly using my degrees. I've been everything from an electrician's helper to a warehouse laborer to a prep cook to a radio announcer/engineer to a clergyman to a counselor to a masseur, and other things as well. Learned something from every job, and wouldn't take anything in the world for all that varied experience. Or for all the stuff I've continued to learn every day of my life, a lot of it by screwing up.

It may not all be useful, but it's all valuable to me. I feel pretty secure, and happy most of the time.

 

[Art Doc]

I dropped out short of my AS and spent 11 years working various "blue collar" jobs. Construction, truck driving, warehouse, then went back to school.

Certainly a college degree is no guarantee of financial success, but it helps. I want every advantage I can get. Unemployment rates for degree holding individuals is 1/4 that of the rest of the population.

Of course one can be successful without college. My brother in law has never seen the inside of a college classroom. He sells dog food and makes 3x what I do. Sometimes I feel like a schmuck.

PS: My doctorate at a private college cost me $45,000 in tuition and costs (which I paid for in full out of my own pocket with no taxpayer money or scholarships or even student loans). But I get a $5,000 a year bonus for having it. Just finished my 9th year meaning I just broke even. Starting this year I begin showing a profit.

 

[ChuckS1]

Political science major here. Never use it and only majored in it because I was on a 4 year ROTC scholarship and had to graduate. After retiring from the Army, I went to work for the world's largest defense contractor as a systems engineer and later in various program management jobs. Had I not had a job waiting for me, I would have opted for an engineering or finance degree.

 

[ladder13]

I have a degree in 14th Century French pottery.

 

[G-Mac]

Just out of curiosity, what compelled you (to) post that?

I was making a joke.

 

[Seldom]

For every PhD there is an equal and opposite PhD.

I know all about Einstein. I went to school and took up time and space.

My wife was one of the first in her university to earn a BS in Computer Science. She was hired by IBM right after graduating and spent the next thirty-two years with them.

 

[ladder13]

For every PhD there is an equal and opposite PhD.

I know all about Einstein. I went to school and took up time and space.

My wife was one of the first in her university to earn a BS in Computer Science. She was hired by IBM right after graduating and spent the next thirty-two years with them.

My wife worked in audit at IBM, corporate HQ's.

 

[G-Mac]

From, "That 70s Show"...

majoring in philosphy - YouTube