Well, it isn’t really true that they dont mean much because you can’t really get a decent job without one anymore. While they used to mean you were educated, now its a way to get a job that allows you to pay your rent and car payment all in the same month!
A lot of places don’t even care what your degree is in, just that you have one. I asked the caseworker I had at the NH Dept. of Health and Human Services what education she needed for her job, and she said she just has to have a bachelors degree in something. Hers was in art history. Obviously irrelevant to the job, it just showed she was not a high school only loser. If you just go to high school, you can get a job at McDonalds, maybe a job as a laborer of some sort.
The days of old where Dad worked at the plant and Mom stayed home making pot roast in your modest house are gone it seems. Everything is in China (blame Zeppelin! He helps them!) and our society has gotten a little fucked up. So, bachelors degrees are important because theyre the difference between 15k and 45k for a lot of people.
You’re making what might be a false assumption, though, which is that most, or at least a lot more, liberal arts majors are even capable of hacking it in science/math. You have to have to have some skill to be allowed to continue in those majors; and it may be that the vast majority of people simply don’t have enough skill to keep up their grades enough not to get kicked out of the major. There’s also limited slots… and as said, foreigners are coming over here in droves and taking those spots.
I have a bachelor’s in the theatre arts. I have the most useless degree in the world. But I can honestly say that unlike most of my fellow students that I actually earned it. I honestly felt bad for my professor, and head of the department (community college, keep in mind.) Only about half the class did the final project for Intro to Dramatic Literature, and despite only spending a week on my thesis paper, I still scored far, far above what she’s seen in the last few years.
And yes, I’m still having trouble finding a job, in any profession.
What are you talking about? I would think most students could not earn a bachelors in mathematics or science, at a respectable university, because of the difficulty of the upper level classes. But there are dozens (hundreds?) of ‘easier’ majors geared for employment that will better prepare someone for a job than a liberal arts program, in my opinion.
Wait…are you the guy who said awhile back that science, math and language are the only majors that will get you a job?
I am saying that science and math is too difficult for most people.
There are “dozens” of practical majors that aren’t science/math? What the hell are they? I can see Education, but most states now have laws saying you ahve to get your Masters to stay certified, which is usually the path that those with generic liberal arts degrees take to get certified.
English and social science majors (history, poli sci, geography, etc) coupled with a teaching major are highly useful. Then again, that’s partly because you’re getting a second degree in teaching.
The various psych degrees are useful. I don’t think therapists generally require anything beyond undergrad.
But because of some state laws, both those with generic liberal arts degrees as well as those who get “initially” certified as undergrads have to get a Masters. The same thing the generic liberal arts guy would have to do. Initial certification could lead to a better job; but those with generic liberal arts degrees can easily become teachers doing the same thing that those with education undergrad degrees would have to do anyway.
It takes years of post-undergrad study to become a psychologist. My memory is a little hazy, but I recall a psychologist telling me ultimately its about 10 years before you can be certified as a psychologist including undergrad study. That falls under the category of “too challenging for general population”, as was pointed out about most science/math/language degrees.
In some states those initially certified have to get their Masters within a certain length of time to be able to keep teaching. Generally, a Bachelor’s degree in Education does not make you “permanently certified”.
That’s a good point about the therapists. I don’t necessarily doubt that these different degrees exist; I just want to know what they are. I’ve only gone to small liberal arts colleges up to this point, so that may be why I don’t know about them.
Ah. Well, teacher’s graduate work is an absolute joke. My father did that a few years ago. Fucking EASY. Also, the school districts/private schools will typically reimburse you for money spent getting that Masters. That’s a very different boat than the other graduate degrees out there.
It’s not stealing. Foreigners are generally hired for any type of physical labor, not just taco bell…high paying careers such as construction, painting, etc. because:
They will work for the minimum and not bitch about getting paid too little.
and
They will work.
Americans are lazy bastards that bitch and laze about on their job, for the most part. Foreigners know not to fuck around at work, for the most part.
All the high class communities around here have Mexicans and foreigners doing all the landscaping, maintenance, painting, construction, …and every time I drive by, they’re not texting on their cellphones or standing around talking amongst one another, like I see the white city construction workers doing, no, no, they’re actually working.
I’d hire them if I owned a business dealing with physical labor.
You can go to trade school and become a welder, plumber, electrician, carpenter ect… They aren’t glamorous, but you’ll make a good living and won’t be left thousands and dollars in debt with a useless major.
Sometimes it seems in the USA people go to university just to go to university. They float through and don’t realize that what they get out of college really depends on how much effort they put into it.
I’ve met people who flat out tell me that they hate their major and they won’t do anything with it after they graduate. Well don’t waste your time and money in a college, find something else you actually can see yourself doing.
There are definitely jobs you can get with a Bachelor’s, it just depends on what you studied. A psychology bachelors can get you a social work job, and you can get a good nursing degree and make 40-50k, which isn’t bad at all. You can be a nurse in less than 4 years, but a 4 year degree makes you REALLY attractive. It just depends if you’re studying somethign there is a demand for.
My roommate (some kind of sound/video engineer), his brother (pre-med), mom (Radiologist) and cousins all say that the curriculum at Lakeland Community College in Mentor is tougher than Kent State. I can’t say, since I only have a high school diploma (on which they mispelled the name of the town.)
Bachelor degree doesnt mean so much anymore because in this world we need skilled and experience worker …And more jobs require experienced rather than diploma
This is true. Some theorize that skilled blue-collar work may become high-paying because so many young don’t know how to do it. Who knows what the future holds?