Your opinion of higher education

Nope - it was utterly worthless. Same for all those grads who are $150,000+ in hock for having taken student loans.

How I wish I could have back those 3 years and all that $ wasted in law school.

 

Was an Enrolled Agent which is a license to practice tax law. Since I wasn't hired by anyone like so many of my colleagues, it was no use in wasting more time and energy in taking the bar exam.

 

I well remembered a group called Unemployed MBAs - they used to march in local parades. The class action lawsuits at Michigan and other states were dropped because the courts held they were without legal merit. How convenient of these judges, huh?

 

I feel that both camps (OP's and Viet's) have merit.

I have a bachelor's degree in science, although I truly have no aptitude for science nor am I interested in it at all. The only reason I took it was because at that time my English was quite poor (I had just immigrated to Canada) and I felt that I would not be able to compete with native speakers if I chose to study something like literature or philosophy or English. Even though my true passion in life is languages (especially English). I don't know if I would have had greater career success if I had chosen the Humanities, but I am pretty sure I would have been happier and more satisfied.

Despite the fact I have a relatively technical degree like science, there are still few opportunities for me, I find. Unless one goes into a professional school like medicine or pharmacy, nowadays a bachelor's degree in science does one very little good. Although I think my view could be tainted by my own personal experience.

What are your thoughts?

 

That is awesome. My daughter qualified for scholarships and other grants. My grandson is a Junior in college and enrolled to become an aeronautical engineer. Changed his mind last year and is now going to be devoted to computer science. Says he expects to start around $160,000 per year. Knows just where he is headed. Spoke to me of Google.

 

From the guy who wants everybody else to pay for his needs

 

Well no, what he means is you ought to bust your hump working all the hours you can, sign up for college, buy books, study all night long, graduate and end up rewarded with the income of a street sweeper to prove you are not greedy.

 

I was a Nuke, and if you can stomach the regs and politics, it's a great way to get into the field, especially if you can go the full 15-20 years. You can get you military pension and be in the top selection of nuclear plants across the country. But yeah, it could also be a reall PIA, if you aren't of that type.

 

French and history sound like good majors for a job in the CIA. Read all those French newspapers to figure out what Macron is up to. But Russian would have been better.

I wish I had taken more history classes and cut back on the mathematics. Math was very helpful in my career, but I could have skipped the Differential Geometry.

Fortunately, history is one of those things you can really do with just a library card, although a more systematic approach would have helped.

I am reading a history of the Silk Road which has actually become a hot topic as the Chinese are aiming to open up a New Silk Road, increasing market share by finding markets other than the Pacific nations.

Remember that contretemps between China and India. New Silk Road stuff. And I think it is the real reason we have troops in a god-forsaken place like Afghanistan.

 

Me working to feed my family, and his

 

Two big drawbacks, at least back then: Firstly, if you washed out, they could send you anywhere they wanted and reassign you any way they wanted. There were no options like today. I hadn't really been tested yet academically and didn't know if I could cut it.

But more importantly, there were two mandatory six-month submarine tours. He was sure I would go out of my mind and he was probably right. I tend to get a little claustrophobic. That could be enough to get me ejected from the program.

The real fear was that I ended up washing out and stuck with six years of active duty doing god knows what, god knows where. It was tempting though. On my first day I would be a higher rank than most people are on their last day of a four year active duty program.

Something else, nuclear power in the US took a big dive about that time... not long after I almost joined. It would have been a horrible time to enter the field.

 

The basis of the lawsuits was deceptive trade practices: overstating the number of people who find employment after graduation.

 

Education, even to PhD level, is always worthless unless you sell yourself after graduation. The degree is a credential, along with an appealing appearance and personality. Would you hire someone just because he has a college degree? A lawyer just because he has a law degree?

 

Wow. You've made me feel better because this is my daughter's plan. She's a junior now, has been working at fast food like a slave since a sophmore (and still managing great grades. I "forced" her to quit for the summer), is working to get some classes from a tech school while a senior and plans to do two year in community college after she graduates. She is eligible for a scholarship to a four year college but she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life and feels she needs time..

 

She might be able to get scholarships at community college if she attends full time. The reality is community colleges are not the top choice for the higher end of the student body so if she is there, she will definitely be a prime candidate for a scholarship at the CC.

 

Could you define "back then"? Because it seems like we might be looking at two separate periods. I was in from '89 to '98. And while yes they could reassign you as needed, odds are always that you will be in the same rate anyway, since you do A school first. Very few flunk out at that level. IIRC, during my time, if you didn't make it to Power School, the 2 year extension didn't kick in. I wasn't offered the program uni after I had taken the ASVAB.

I find this very unlikely given the number of surface nuclear vessels and we have. Subs has always been a volunteer force, within the context of the Navy, and you were not guaranteed it. You had to qualify medically first. Fail that and you were a surface Nuke, instead of a sub Nuke. Didn't want subs, then you were automatically a surface Nuke.

 

You can go into a courtroom and argue a case on behalf of a client. If you lose, you can go to the court of appeals and take another shot. It's serious, and very few people are allowed to do that. So it's not worthless, though obviously you have to market yourself to earn a living.

Why can't you take the bar exam and hang a shingle? You can live cheaply, accept court appointments, and your spouse can pay the rent for a couple of years.

 

STEM.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math.

 

Nothing Higher about it at most University.Due entirely to the way
Liberals have tinkered around.Just ask those like Columbia graduates
David Horowitz or Dennis Prager. Take their word for it.They lived thru it
an know.Unless you think those like a Barack Obama are smart.
Smart in the arena of manipulation and art of freewheeling deception.

 

Because 9 times out of 10 an ambulance chasing attorney with that same
shingle hanging outside their office is gonna do TV commercials in order
to attract clients.Like Flies.
There are No More Atticus Finch or Perry Mason.
Deal with it.

 

Is that directed at me? I don't have to "deal with it." I have a successful law practice and I don't even take personal injury cases, never mind chase ambulances.

Anyway, there are even P.I. lawyers who do quite well without advertising. They have a base of clients built up over the years who come to them for wills, divorces, crimes, and personal injury.

Deal with it.

 

I have been meaning to call Dennis Prager (I've been on 3 or 4 times) and remind him that his complaints have foundation only as they relate to Liberal Arts colleges.

The business, architecture, nursing, science, agriculture, and engineering schools at American colleges don't engage in political indoctrination. He paints with too broad a brush.

 

A dream job is a bonus but what is the point if you don't get a job anyways?
It is important to look at placement rates and the compromise on pay vs enjoyment. Pay could be important for pursuits outside of work such as hobbies or a working toward self employment or family. Each person should prioritize based on their own needs and desires. I will state again that the primary thing to look at is placement rates.

 

Far too late in the day for me as I am now retired on social security. Don't have a spouse but am still looking for a wealthy wife.

 

I've noticed that people often get jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied in school. It's handy for getting a job, but maybe not so much for making one a more useful employee. A person with a chemistry degree may be useless as a chemist because they don't know how to apply their knowledge. They're just good at memorizing information.

A philosophy degree can be extremely useful if you know how to apply what you have learned. Philosophy teaches you how to think, which is an extremely rare quality to find in an employee, but, again, people have trouble applying what they have learned. If one likes philosophy, then one should study philosophy. If you're happy with your life, then you are a success.