Do you think college/university degrees are necessary?

[Capt Caveman]

Then you should have studied something else.

Correct. Doesn't sound like the troll tried to challenge himself or learn anything new. Shows how smart he is.

edit - if I had the time and money back then, there were so many classes and subjects I wanted to take but didn't.

 

[Numenorean]

Then you should have studied something else.

Why? I'm good at what I do and I enjoy it. Why would I want something which would be even MORE useless because it wouldn't even be remotely related to my career?

 

[HAL9000]

All it really proves to employers is that you paid a shitload of money to a college in order to get a piece of paper that says you passed a bunch of worthless classes that mostly do not even apply to the working world.

As I said, it's only useful as a "look at me" type of thing. It did not increase my knowledge in any way.

So it is useful.

Also it doesn't prove to anyone that you paid a shit load for anything unless you are american

 

[HAL9000]

Why? I'm good at what I do and I enjoy it. Why would I want something which would be even MORE useless because it wouldn't even be remotely related to my career?

Study what you are interested in and good at, if you are studying something that's not interesting and you're not learning anything then you're doing it wrong.

 

[HAL9000]

Correct. Doesn't sound like the troll tried to challenge himself or learn anything new. Shows how smart he is.

Agreed. I've always had a passion for computing, I loved it as a child, I learnt a lot about it as the years progressed, I became very proficient. I then went a got a degree in Philosophy, because it interested me and I knew little about it.

 

[highland145]

Here we go again.

 

[Numenorean]

So beyond helping you get a job and helping you earn more money it isn't useful?

You class that as not being useful?

Useful to me would mean that it actually improved on my knowledge and taught things which were actually useful in the workforce. It did nothing to prepare me for working in the real world - high school was enough for that, beyond the things that you learn in the real world - which isn't taught anywhere.

 

[HAL9000]

Useful to me would mean that it actually improved on my knowledge and taught things which were actually useful in the workforce. It did nothing to prepare me for working in the real world - high school was enough for that, beyond the things that you learn in the real world - which isn't taught anywhere.

Useful to everyone else would mean it had a use. If that use was getting you a job and earning you more money then it was useful.

 

[Numenorean]

Study what you are interested in and good at, if you are studying something that's not interesting and you're not learning anything then you're doing it wrong.

I did study what I am interested in and good at - but there wasn't anything new taught about it in college. I've learned more doing my own projects and working out in the real world.

 

[HAL9000]

I did study what I am interested in and good at - but there wasn't anything new taught about it in college. I've learned more doing my own projects and working out in the real world.

So have most people, but you shouldn't have studied something without looking into what it would teach you, if you looked into it and found it would teach you nothing then you should have studied something that would teach you something.

 

[Farmer]

Useful to me would mean that it actually improved on my knowledge and taught things which were actually useful in the workforce. It did nothing to prepare me for working in the real world - high school was enough for that, beyond the things that you learn in the real world - which isn't taught anywhere.

So you appreciate learning things only for the sake of applying them in the most direct fashion to a job, ultimately to earn money?

Would you learn anything if it didn't directly pertain to your job? If not, then I agree, a college degree or any higher education is worthless to you.

 

[vi edit]

I know people that dropped out of high school, never went to college, and pull in close to 100k a year. They are either working offshore drilling rigs, or working land rigs. A lot of it is how well you apply yourself.

I have a couple relatives that are linesmen for electric companies and make crazy amounts of money when you toss in overtime. But it's brutal, dangerous work. All of these guys have multiple carpal tunnel repairs, have horror stories about coworkers being maimed/killed and just look much older than their real age would suggest. I'd guess that the oil rig guys and field guys are much the same.

All work comes with a price of admission and long term cost on your body/mind.

 

[Numenorean]

Useful to everyone else would mean it had a use. If that use was getting you a job and earning you more money then it was useful.

That use isn't really valid. The problem is that there is a feeling by HR and companies that you need to have a useless piece of paper in order to be useful. That isn't the case at all. For some, it may be useful. For me, it was not.

 

[Numenorean]

So have most people, but you shouldn't have studied something without looking into what it would teach you, if you looked into it and found it would teach you nothing then you should have studied something that would teach you something.

But that would be useless for my career. Yes some crap lib arts degree in philosophy or history certainly would have been interesting - however it would also have been an even more ridiculous waste of my time and money. I can read books on those subjects and learn just as much as I would sitting listening to some windbag drone on and adding bias to things.

 

[HAL9000]

That use isn't really valid. The problem is that there is a feeling by HR and companies that you need to have a useless piece of paper in order to be useful. That isn't the case at all. For some, it may be useful. For me, it was not.

So you regard something that increases your earning potential and your employability as useless because you see those benefits as invalid?

I see them as hugely valid benefits. But aside from that if you went to uni and learnt nothing then you did it wrong. If you did it just to get a degree because you wanted a degree for the sake of having one then you did it for the wrong reasons and of course it is useless to you in terms of gaining knowledge. Most of us go through education to learn, if you had done that it would be very useful.

 

[Rudee]

I work as an Engineer (PEng) and the only employees we have who do not have Degrees are those who work in reception or in the mail room. Even the seasonal summer staff we employ have to at least be working on their Degrees to be hired on a temp basis.

 

[SP33Demon]

Unless starting your own business, you better have a degree to get a decent job. Otherwise be prepared to do something noone else wants to do such as factory work.

 

[HAL9000]

But that would be useless for my career. Yes some crap lib arts degree in philosophy or history certainly would have been interesting - however it would also have been an even more ridiculous waste of my time and money. I can read books on those subjects and learn just as much as I would sitting listening to some windbag drone on and adding bias to things.

So just to recap, you think a degree is useless because it only advances your career without teaching you anything.

You think a degree that doesn't advance your career but teaches you something would also be useless?

 

[Numenorean]

So you appreciate learning things only for the sake of applying them in the most direct fashion to a job, ultimately to earn money?

Would you learn anything if it didn't directly pertain to your job? If not, then I agree, a college degree or any higher education is worthless to you.

I'm saying that for my career, a degree in a field which is related is better than a degree in history or some other crap.

If I want to learn other things, I can just as easily find several books on the subject and read. That wouldn't give me the magical piece of paper, yet I would learn. In getting the magical piece of paper that was the best fit for the industry in which I work, it required me to sit through a bunch of boring classes, most of which I could have taught myself.

I figured it wasn't going to be teaching me anything, but it was the best choice of degree for my career.

I appreciate all kinds of learning, but have no desire to pay money for something that isn't going to be applicable to my career. If I want to learn, I can teach myself whatever else I want to. There's no point in paying thousands of dollars for something which will be even more useless than the piece of paper that I do have. It would say hey I have a history degree.....ok....and that serves me how? It would do nothing for my career. Sure, I may learn new things, but why do I need to pay for a degree to do that?

 

[coloumb]

It's all supply and demand and scarcity. 25 years ago, no one had college degrees, so if you went to college you really stood out in the crowd. Nowadays you are nothing special for just having a college degree. Which is really sad, because you can be passed over on a job application only because of a piece of paper. It has little to do with your skills BECAUSE of the degree. It has to do with no one ELSE having a degree.

The problem is that this country does not place any value on trade schools, apprenticeships, or craftsman. You can work for 10 years in say, a machine shop, learning how to use every machine, learning the best ways of doing things, learning how to manage multiple projects, learning the technology, but guess what? Your company is probably not going to let you rise through the ranks and give you a job as project manager or financial manager because you didn't go to 4 years of drinking school. Instead they'll hire some ivy league grad because of his "connections."

Not necessarily true unless the HR department is terrible. I do know of one company which would rather hire someone with a degree rather than promote from within. The company I work for would rather promote from within than hire someone from the outside [huge cost savings to promote from within]. We have in place tools/classes to train anyone who wants to take on the role of a supervisor/manager [pending a job position is open]. Typically they are promoted to supervisors/managers of the area they worked in.

To the OP - my BSIT degree alone wouldn't be enough to get me a good paying job in IT. I would need specific hands on/work experience and certifications depending upon what the company "wants/needs".

 

[Numenorean]

So you regard something that increases your earning potential and your employability as useless because you see those benefits as invalid?

I see them as hugely valid benefits. But aside from that if you went to uni and learnt nothing then you did it wrong. If you did it just to get a degree because you wanted a degree for the sake of having one then you did it for the wrong reasons and of course it is useless to you in terms of gaining knowledge. Most of us go through education to learn, if you had done that it would be very useful.

Because I don't agree with the fact that I need to have the degree to increase my earning potential. That shouldn't matter. What should matter is my knowledge and experience doing what I do. I disagree with the fact that if you don't have that degree, a lot of HR departments won't even review your resume or qualifications or even bother to interview you.

I went to college to get a degree because that is what the working world wants to see. It's not my standard, so I didn't "do it wrong" - I did what was necessary. I went through my education and learned all the way through high school. Then things just became repetitive.

Getting a degree which would have taught me new things in a completely unrelated field wouldn't be useful at all. A physics degree probably would have taught me a ton, but how would that be any good for my career? It wouldn't apply to anything I do.

 

[Numenorean]

So just to recap, you think a degree is useless because it only advances your career without teaching you anything.

You think a degree that doesn't advance your career but teaches you something would also be useless?

Yes. It's useless because it shouldn't be required to advance your career, yet it is. How is something that doesn't teach you anything really useful? It's not.

A degree that doesn't advance my career but teaches me something would be a waste of thousands of dollars because I could easily just teach myself whatever that is. I don't need a degree to reassure myself that I know something.

This is part of the problem with the college level education system.

 

[HAL9000]

Because I don't agree with the fact that I need to have the degree to increase my earning potential. That shouldn't matter. What should matter is my knowledge and experience doing what I do. I disagree with the fact that if you don't have that degree, a lot of HR departments won't even review your resume or qualifications or even bother to interview you.

I went to college to get a degree because that is what the working world wants to see. It's not my standard, so I didn't "do it wrong" - I did what was necessary. I went through my education and learned all the way through high school. Then things just became repetitive.

Getting a degree which would have taught me new things in a completely unrelated field wouldn't be useful at all. A physics degree probably would have taught me a ton, but how would that be any good for my career? It wouldn't apply to anything I do.

Literally none of this, not a single word of it validates your point that degrees are useless. You don't like the fact that... you don't see why... you didn't do it wrong... blah blah blah none of that means that degrees are useless. You yourself have found it useful to advance your career! I have literally no idea why you are continuing to try and make this point without any validation for it.

 

[Numenorean]

Literally none of this, not a single word of it validates your point that degrees are useless. You don't like the fact that... you don't see why... you didn't do it wrong... blah blah blah none of that means that degrees are useless. You yourself have found it useful to advance your career! I have literally no idea why you are continuing to try and make this point without any validation for it.

The point is that the degree did NOTHING in itself to advance my career. My knowledge and experience did that. If I had the degree, but wasn't good at my job, it wouldn't matter that I had a degree, I'd be fired. I don't see why you can't see the issue here.

 

[HAL9000]

Yes. It's useless because it shouldn't be required to advance your career, yet it is. How is something that doesn't teach you anything really useful? It's not.

Because it "Shouldn't" != it isn't.

I'll tell you how something that doesn't teach you anything is useful, It advances your career, and your earning potential. Regardless of whether or not it should, it does.

A degree that doesn't advance my career but teaches me something would be a waste of thousands of dollars because I could easily just teach myself whatever that is. I don't need a degree to reassure myself that I know something.

This is part of the problem with the college level education system.

So because you can learn it else where a degree is without use? Because it isn't the single place in the universe that you can gain knowledge, gaining the knowledge in that manner is useless?