Take it from a criminal justice major who ended up going into student loan debt because I felt like I just downright “needed” to get it from a university. NOTE, I’m not saying don’t go to college, I’m saying unless you are majoring in one of the fields I named, you’d be better off enrolling at a JUCO or Community College. Now if you have a scholarship then that’s a different story. I was originally in a community college but ended up transferring because that school only offered associate degrees (my other excuse for leaving lol). College as a whole is way too fucking expensive to begin with but I feel as though it would be more worth it if you were in the majors I mentioned. I do realize that there are many graduates who have majored in other fields and feel content and that’s great.
Don’t go to school for STEM either. Same reasons.
Thing is, you learn a hell of a lot more than just science in those majors. Shit, i have a degree in biochem and i make a good salary in money and people management. And I definitely rely on the analytical/math/programming capabilities I developed in science.
I’m saying this as a STEM major who can’t find work, and most of my colleagues in my major (electrical engineering) can’t find work either. I guess it was a good idea whenever you went to school, but that ship has sailed.
Business Degree?
Lemmy users are almost 90% STEM people and the fact that accountings, taxation, production management…etc is an actual field of study might be surprising.
I went to school for clowning.
I graduated and toured a clown show.
I’ve won a bunch of awards and had a career in clowning.
I also learned a bunch of transferable skills and took a day job in marketing after successfully marketing a bunch of tours. Now I earn good money, am on the path to directorship and am well respected in the artistic and business communities.
Maybe one person’s experience is not universal and there is no right or wrong answer about how to approach education, training or certification.
I’ve won a bunch of awards and had a career in clowning.
I also learned a bunch of transferable skills
Did you become a Reddit moderator?
I wasn’t pathetic enough
Fairly common opinion. It is worth noting that it’s actually a way worse world to live in if the only people who should get to go to college are the people who expect to earn a lot of money. This is coming from someone who went to an expensive culinary school which is objectively a trash investment. Now I’m getting a scholarship for tech, but all I see is that people in this program are even less deserving
It’s a catch-22.
Go and get debt for a degree you’ll never actually use or don’t and people who did get jobs that don’t need a diploma over you because they have it.
The solution was expanding public education again. Used to be normal to stop going around sixth grade because you could get a career with just that, only white collar required a HS diploma. Then everything required HS and white collar needed Bachelor’s degree.
Some places do t require a degree, but still use it as deciding factor.
We need to just do at least 2 years of community along with Highschool, if not full on bachelor’s. Lots of other countries do it, hell, the school I went to in Hawaii was full of Nordic students because part of their free college included a semester abroad to learn about other cultures.
Really made sociology awkward tho when we kept talking about how shit America was and all our problems when the majority of the class came from countries who sorted it out long ago.
Agree except that uni is for networking. If you go to uni and don’t network and dont get a degree you listed then you could have accomplished the same without going to a uni.
Interesting. I think I would agree with you that going straight to a university is more expensive, than doing a CC first. It may add additional time to your schooling, but I think its worth it, depending on the costs for the university. I think I would still say even if going through the majors you mentioned, a CC is a better way to go as well unless you have a lot of money, whether from family, or grants, or scholarships.
I’d add economics with a heavy dose of math (econometrics) to your list of useful majors. Ditto accounting.
I would argue that there is intrinsic value in education and that you can’t measure it purely in terms of dollars in vs dollars out. Perhaps that means that education in a country where it is very expensive is a luxury. But I would also say that if you go to a four year college and feel like you got nothing out of it than a piece of paper, that’s on you.
Should cross post this under “boring dystopia”.
A better take in my opinion is university and college should be for the pursuit of knowledge and anything you’re doing to make money should be a trade school.
There is good reason for people should study all sorts of fields in university, it’s just been corrupted by capitalism/greed.
I agree with you to a certain point.
When somebody finishes high-school and becomes an adult, they should develop a useful skill that they can turn into a career. This might be going to college for STEM, it might be a trade-school, or it might be an apprenticeship as a skilled tradesman. I wouldn’t discount all liberal arts degrees either; a degree in graphic design can be well worth the time.
The important thing is that people entering the workforce can say “I’m a doctor,” “I’m a plumber,” “I’m an auto mechanic,” “I’m a software developer,” etc. Be able to say “I do something.”
Going to college for an undergraduate degree in art history? That’s something you should do after you’re already established in your career and you feel like you’d like to learn something more. Going to school to learn to be a chef, paint cars, build furniture, etc, they might not be STEM or law degrees, but they’re useful.
I guess in summary, kids should go to school to learn a useful skill. Adults should go to school for whatever they want.
The education is only a small part of the benefit. While you’re there probably the most important thing you can do is network. Make friends, make acquaintances. Let them know what you’re studying and what you want to do. Sooner or later someone will be hiring and hopefully through their connections they can get to you, and now you’ve got a cushy well paying job.
You don’t need college to meet new people. But condensing a large group of people who want to do something with their lives is a great place to be.
I graduated from an elite university in my country within the STEM field, being the second best in the year or so. I can’t find a job because I never networked or did internships. I studied for the exams (which was easy) and otherwise got drunk with students and people from absolutely not my field. It feels like I wasted 6 years of my life.
People, for real, network. No one cares for your grades once you look for a job. They care whether you have experience, and you get both experience and the chance to talk about it when you network.
