An afterthought ([info]runthegamut) wrote,
@ 2008-08-27 10:11:00
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Current location:work
Current mood: cynical

My cynicism, let me show it to you
So, over here I made a comment about a political science degree being kind of worthless because it doesn't have much practical application. [info]thesamefire replied "most things you study in university don't have an immediate practical application. that's not the point." So, I got to wondering; what is the point?

I guess I'd like to say the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge sake is enough, but as I do that I will be burning my piles of student loan bills to warm my hands. That's a wee bit of an exageration, but [info]debapalooza and I have this conversation a lot, both of us having taken the same route with our education, ending up in the same place, and being dissatisfied.

I have a lot of thoughts on this subject, and I can tell I'm going to get sidetracked by them, so I'll start here:

  • If you want to teach a high school government class or a college-level political science course, you should get a degree in political science (and the requisite graduate degrees).
  • If you want to work in politics as a staffer, an aide, or on campaigns, a degree isn't going to do a whole lot for you. Politics is who you know, what you know, and a whole lot of gut instinct. The 'who' and 'what you know' is going to be earned actually working on campaigns or getting an entry-level position answering phones in a congressional office.
  • If you want to work as a foreign service officer or for the fbi or cia, you should be studying in the field you want to specialize in (also, good luck. Those jobs are insanely competitive).
  • If you want to go to law school, get a degree in something that interests you, particularly if you want to practice in a niche area. (Want to practice environmental law? Get a degree in environmental science. Want to be a patent attorney? Sorry, you need a B.S., not a B.A.)  But srsly, don't go to law school.
  • If you want to be informed citizen, know more about the political process, go ahead and take poli sci classes or go to the library and read a book.  Don't incur $40,000 in debt thinking you're going to walk out of college and be 'a political scientist.'
Side rant: Anymore, it's expected that people will graduate high school, go to a four-year college, and get a degree. How many people straight out of high school know who they are and what they want to do enough to incur the debt required to finance a college education? How many people work in their chosen field ten years out of college? Twenty? I think accessibility to higher education is a good thing. I think that feeling obligated to get a degree to work an entry-level position sucks. Not everyone is cut out for college. Not everyone wants to go to college. 

And an addendum: I think anyone who wants to get a degree in any subject should, but I think they should go into it with their eyes open.  
And to [info]artisticmuddle, who I know is going to make a D: face over this: I actually think a degree in cartooning for JKS is worth a lot more than a poli sci degree from your state college.  You'll learn the business, make connections, and hone your skill.

Okay, sorry about that.  :-/

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[info]enhendi
2008-08-27 04:58 pm UTC (link)
Oh man. This is exactly how I feel like about college right now. Nobody ever even asked me whether or not I wanted to go to college. (I didn't really then, for the record, and still don't want to do it now, but there isn't an alternative.) It seems to me that a better system would be to include some vocational training in the standard high school curriculum and have students work for a couple of years after high school: that way, if they don't want to go to college, they have job experience, and if they do, they have some money saved so they don't graduate with such overwhelming piles of debt.

Like you said, not everyone is cut out for college, and not everyone should go to college. If someone wants to be a secretary/administrative assistant of any kind, they don't need a college degree, for example. But yet, somehow everyone is expected to get at least four years of college, even if their job does not actually need those skills. It's really frustrating, and ends up cheapening the value of the college degree, because everyone has one.

(although, please don't be offended, but I think you used "anymore" incorrectly. You use "anymore" when you specify something that was once the case, and now is not, i.e. "Young people don't send snail mail anymore; they just write emails." You're talking about something that is different than it was, but without specifying what used to be the case, so you want a word like "now" or "today.") Sorry, pet peeve.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 07:22 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, it was never a question of whether I'd go to college. It was an expectation. And at 17, I didn't really have the skills to say 'no' to my parents about it. I know I asked my mom well after the fact, "What if I had decided I wanted to 'just' be a hairstylist?" and she said she would have objected because 'I'm too smart for that.' But then I said, "Well, what if I had wanted to be a big-name stylist to celebrities and made a million dollars a year doing it?" That she was okay with. Apparently not being a doctor or lawyer meant that I wasn't dreaming big enough and wouldn't be 'successful.' The point is, I could have been 'the best' at whatever I'd wanted to be, and that's all that should have mattered.

I completely agree about the vocational training. I was talking to my bff about this at lunch, and how all the auto mechanics who charge us $80 an hour laugh at our silly political science degrees. Go to community college, get a AAS in heating/cooling, and you'll make more straight out of school than I did with a fraction of the debt. :-/ Why didn't anyone explain this to me?

(LOL I'm not offended. I even sort of disclaim this in my profile; I actually make a living off of writing and editing, but I'm basically shit at paying attention when I write posts at LJ. I don't have a degree in English, and in fact only took a writing course my first semester of college and my first year of law school.)

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[info]enhendi
2008-08-28 03:59 am UTC (link)
Wow. Not all doctors and lawyers are successful though, and more importantly, not all of them are even remotely happy. I think it's more important to be contented with your life and relatively happy than super-rich and/or famous. (I'm always jealous of a guy I worked with last year who was a cook for a student dining hall - something your mom would probably consider a 'bad' job - but he was so at peace with his life: he had his friends, and his job, and his band on the side, and he didn't feel trapped or bored at all.) Just out of curiosity, what would you have been, if you could have chosen anything regardless of salary/parents/expectations?

Ahahaha, yes. Being an auto mechanic would not be a bad job at all. But it's funny: most people at or above some nebulous class line wouldn't even consider being a mechanic; they probably never explained it because they never even thought about it...nobody ever even mentioned that to me either, but it's a lot more practical than a degree in Classics :P

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-28 04:05 am UTC (link)
I can't say what I would have been at 17, but it's funny you mentioned a cook because a few years ago I got really interested in the culinary arts and started taking classes on a half-time basis and had a side business selling made-from-scratch cookies in... pretty much every flavor you can imagine. I think if I could go back now and do it all over again, I would have skipped college and gone to culinary school at a community college, gotten my degree in two years, and got to work. You?

Yeah, apparently blue color = bad, when they are charging more by the hour than I'll ever make. :|

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[info]enhendi
2008-08-28 06:04 pm UTC (link)
Cooking! Om nom nom...There's something so satisfying about cooking a meal. You create something tasty and nutritious out of a bunch of disparate ingredients and then people eat it and enjoy it and use the energy to do all kinds of things. I probably would have gone to technical school as some kind of instrumental technician or something...basically my dream job would be what Matt Cortez does. I still might try it...

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[info]alternatending
2008-08-27 05:09 pm UTC (link)
I totally followed a link to this post, and I think you're right. I'm a communications major, and I can guarantee that my degree won't mean shit unless I know someone that can GET me a job. There's no such thing as a "communicator", either.
I actually want to work in the record industry, doing artist representation, and starting next year, I'm working on the general "who you know" aspect of things.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 07:25 pm UTC (link)
Did you get here from [info]truefobinglove? Yeah, at least you're in a position where you can still change that. I know people who put their nose to the grindstone and worked on getting stellar grades rather than work experience or making connections and it didn't do shit for them because no one cares about your grades in college after you get the diploma. The old adage that it's not what you know, but who you kow still bears true... Go change your life before you end up with a degree that cost too much and working retail to make ends meet. :-/

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Yes. TFL is love.
[info]alternatending
2008-08-28 12:09 am UTC (link)
I also think that having general ed requirements hinder the actual major itself. I'm taking general ed right now, and i think a total of like, two classes actually are even REMOTELY directed at my major. It's retarded, and I'd rather get to the important stuff.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 08:21 pm UTC (link)
Uh... also? I just realized you're a dmb fan, and that's like the RAREST THING IN THE WORLD for me to see bandom and dmb colide. o____o I actually rp Dave Matthews, or have, and was a huge Davehead back a few years. I wrote about LeRoi's death last week, which... still is the most surreal thing to me. OMG and U2. I've been a U2 fan for 20 years now... I'm basically on a friending hiatus atm, but would you mind if I friended you? Cuz seriously now, I don't find many people who share my taste in music. And if you know of any good, active dmb comms, I would love to join one. *waves Warehous membership card she's had for nearly a decade*

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[info]alternatending
2008-08-28 12:08 am UTC (link)
I..Yeah. You can totally add me.

I'm in shock.

I haven't found a multiple bandom/fandom buddy in quite some time.

I think I love you. :P

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-28 03:58 am UTC (link)
LOL this is basically the same reaction I had when I looked at your profile. :D

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[info]alternatending
2008-08-28 12:10 am UTC (link)
Screw it, I'm adding you first. =D

Hi. I'm Nicole.

What else would you like to know? :P And kudos for RPing Dave. I'd like to RaPe Dave someday. HAHAHA. XD

U2 is the shit. I've only been a fan since ATYCLB, but I think for my age, that was a good album to jump onto.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-28 04:00 am UTC (link)
Hee!

Hi, Nicole. I'm Ann. Nice to meetcha.

LOL I'm gonna have to poke around your lj more. :D

And, uh, I got into U2 young >_> So... yeah. >_>

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[info]alternatending
2008-08-28 06:40 pm UTC (link)
It's all good. Have fun poking. Some of my older older entries are really teenaged and angst, seeing as I've had this LJ for a couple years, but they've gotten way better, both emotionally and intellectually. At least, I like to think they have. =]

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[info]elessar
2008-08-27 05:19 pm UTC (link)
One thing I've learned post-college is that liberal arts schools don't really teach you practical matters. They don't teach you skills that will help land your first job unless you're planning on going right to grad school and teaching or something designed with your major in mind. Liberal arts degrees are more for enjoying your education.

The only way you can get experience is if you do internships and I didn't so yeah...unless I go back to grad school I'm pretty stuck for jobs and will probably end up in an entry level office job.

Classics majors are supposedly well sought after though. It's too bad I didn't want to become a lawyer or an accountant :|

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 07:30 pm UTC (link)
You know, the courses I remember most from college had nothing to do with my major; ballet, music appreciation, humanities II, and women, men and society. I did enjoy parts of my education. The problem is, "Classical Political Philosophy" has done nothing for me.

This is really something that should be stressed more, and it's something I tell people who think they are interested in going to law school to do; go talk to practicing lawyers, go work in a law office, make sure it's what you really want to do. If it is, you know people who are in the field already. If it's not, you've saved yourself a heap of time and money.

I think it's different in Australia? You guys can get a law degree at university? Here you have to get a B.A. or B.S. degree and then do another three years of law school. The legal field is overcrowded to boot, and I know most of my peers are unhappy in it or can't get the jobs they want. :|

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[info]elessar
2008-08-27 07:44 pm UTC (link)
Dude my favorite course was medieval history in the movies and that certainly had nothing to do with my major! My classics courses were fun but really, heresy & conflict in the christian church has not helped me yet nor has age of augustan history.

This is very true. I work in a law firm right now because my dad owns it so it's my way of getting money but I'm glad that I had him as a connection because I at least know I will never go into law. Any field that requires you to go to school for longer than your bachelor - doctor, vet, law, etc. - you should shadow over someone, talk to them and network or wahtever. It sucks if you waste all that time and money going to med school and change your mind.

It might be. I'm not sure how it works but I think you can get a law degree but in order to be a practicing lawyer you still need to pass the bar exam. The legal field is definitely crowded and most law schools don't want to see pre-law anymore anyway.

What I want to do is screenwrite and that's kind of something like regular writing where you just have to cram your way into the field and meet people that can get you an in. You don't really need education if you don't want to, though I'm planning on taking some workshops so I know formatting and such.

But of course that's not going to cover the bills so I'm doing library science. Which I think will be really cool if it works out. It sucks that you have to get a masters in order to be a librarian though ;_;

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 08:02 pm UTC (link)
PLEASE tell me you watched Monty Python's The Quest for the Holy Grail in that course. :D I watched Roger & Me in my Sociology course my first semester of college and Michael Moore is literally the only thing I got out of that class...

So many people go to law school with a certain idea of what it's going to be like only to be sorely disappointed. Almost everyone I know in my generation who practices law is unhappy. Even if you enjoy your work, there is this expectation that you will work 80-hour weeks to make partner, and young people want a certain quality of life that that sort of work dedication doesn't allow.

Yeah, here you need a 4-year degree plus 3-years of law school and THEN you need to pass the bar exam. So seven years of training, plus a really big test, and it cost me just over $100,000 to do it all. o________o Was it worth it? No.

I think that pretty-much no matter WHAT you do in life, having an up-start personality will take you far. This is true whether you want to start a band (Pete Wentz) or be run a multi-billion dollar software empire (Bill Gates). It's a matter of dedication and peristence more than talent, I think. Ideally you have all three. Write a shit ton, put yourself out there, put yourself up for critique, shake hands, smile, lather, repeat...

Yeah, it seems insane that it takes graduate coursework to be a librarian. I undertand that it involved more than reshelving books, but one would think that a B.A. would be suffice to cover it?

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[info]robotscantcry
2008-08-27 05:36 pm UTC (link)
I feel very trapped by the horror that is college. I don't do well in situations that seem arbitrary to me and so much about it seems arbitrary--not to mention my attention deficit disorder. It's absolutely necessary and I understand that, but it doesn't mean that I like it.

I hate that I'm going to spend my whole life paying off college debts because I'm going to have to have ridiculously high amounts of education just to make enough to live off of by teaching. It's the lowest paying job out there that requires a degree as high as it does, or such is the case in Missouri at least.

The whole concept of college/uni is completely off from where it should be. And America needs to be offering government-funded universities soon or the poor are just going to get poorer and the rich get richer. But that's another conversation altogether.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 07:35 pm UTC (link)
I have no doubt you'll do fine in college. And really, all you need to do is graduate with the degree that will allow you to do what you want to do. You want to teach? Like high school? Grade school? College?

Our priorities are really messed up on this issue. We undervalue the people we entrust with our children. Teachers and child care workers make shit for a living. If you want to run numbers for an insurance company, though, you're golden. :|

I agree with this so hard. I've watched Ashley go through the student loan song and dance this summer and seriously. You can borrow like $5500/year as an undergrad? WTF? How many colleges cost that little per year? That leaves your state university, really. If you want more than that, your parents better be able to qualify for a PLUS loan and be willing to take one out for you, or you better have been able to establish enough credit to get a private loan. I can't imagine anyone straight out of high school is in a position to obtain the latter.

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[info]robotscantcry
2008-08-27 09:04 pm UTC (link)
I've actually had a credit card in the past, which was kept in great standing so I do have a little bit of good credit working in my favour.

And I agree with the teaching thing. Teachers are the only thing that keep America going, really, because no one learns anything if there's no one to teach them. And yet they barely make enough to keep teaching for their entire lives without having a husband or something, and I don't intend to get married or be financially dependent on anyone, ever.

But the nearest college to where I live, SEMO, is actually a good school if you want to go into teaching, so I have that going for me. But both my parents have shit credit so I don't know how I'm going to get the loans. ;_;

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 11:11 pm UTC (link)
That's a good thing. I'm not sure how much history they want for private student loans, but that doesn't hurt.

The argument against paying teachers more is always that they get summers off. Yeah, sure, but what are they supposed to do for those three months? Really, the only job you're going to get is at a summer camp, retail, or waiting tables, none of which pays terribly well. And it sucks that after going to college, you have to have a second job.

If your physical caregiver applies for a PLUS loan and gets turned down, your ability to borrow on the federal program increases from $5500/year to $9500/year. Depending on how bad your circumstances are, you could qualify for up to $5000/year in Pell grants. And there's the Perkins loan program too, but idk much about that.

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[info]bunnymuffin41
2008-08-27 05:58 pm UTC (link)
You think your system is fucked in the UK we're expected to know what we want to do at fucking 16.
I'm sorry your not an adult at 16 your just about their at 18 let alone 16.
I have sooooo many friends that did chose to do A-levels at college for two years and then realised that actualy they didint want to go to University and they've wasted two years of their lives.
I might not have the greatest career working away in a pet store but at least I knew my mind and I'm happy where as I know of some people who did college and they did Uni and now their in debt and in jobs that dont actualy pay that much more then I would earn if I went full time.


End rant

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 07:42 pm UTC (link)
No one can know what they want to do for the rest of their lives at 16. I didn't know at 18. Hell, I didn't know at 24. There needs to be a better transition between high school and college. There needs to be a year or two where you bridge the gab between learning and working, so you can see what it would actually be like to work in your chosen field for 8 hours a day, 50 weeks a year. And the thing is? Not everyone has to work in a think tank, or be an accountant, or practice medicine. Sorry to say, but someone needs to pick up the garbage, fix air conditioning, cut hair, ring up groceries... We need to stop trying to fit every square peg in a round hole. To be cliche, let me quote Fight Club: "We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't."

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[info]bunnymuffin41
2008-08-27 07:58 pm UTC (link)
Exactly, yet the people that do ring groceries or pick up garbage are made to feel like their less.
It's a fucked system.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 08:09 pm UTC (link)
It is fucked up. I don't know why we put so much value on the person who helps us file our tax returns but not on the person who keeps filth from overflowing on our streets. I'm seriously tired of the idea that in order to 'be' someone, you need a degree. Like [info]enhendi says, when everyone has a degree it lessens the value of having one.

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[info]artisticmuddle
2008-08-27 06:44 pm UTC (link)
You're right about me making the 'D:' face. I constantly think about this sort of thing. Especially how it's all going to end up after it and where the fuck I'm going to get a job.

I can easily admit that art is one of the most insane things to want to get into. In high school both of my art teachers told us to be ready for constant shut downs and points in your life where you are going to have no job. My one art teacher was indeed a capitalist, though, so she was just wantin' the money.

The problem with JKS is that they don't give you a degree. It's a vocational school, basically, and you get a certificate for compleating it of course. With art the only somewhat good thing is that even if you have a degree in the end you might not be as good as someone else and they'll take that someone else WITHOUT the degree over you just because they can draw better.

It's rather insane to get into this field and I always worry I should go do something else but I guess it all does boil down to a) being happy in the job and b) who you know. Everything goes back to connections (which is a total bitch) and it'll take some time but hopefully I can get something out of where I'm going. The whole thing where the teachers are actually still working in the field (like Adam Kubert will be working with Neil Gaiman soon for a Batman comic...) could be so helpful. We'll see where it goes. It doesn't mean I'm not still terrified out of my mind that in three years I'm going to have a piece of paper in my hand, a shit load of art, and no where to go...

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 07:47 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I know you'r worried about it. I'm telling you, I think your choice of education will be a lot more helpful than mine.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with going to a vocational school. You don't need a liberal arts education to do what you want to do. Really, you're a lot better off just focusing on what you need to learn rather than spending another semester on math and psychology. You're going to spend three years on improving your talent, making connections, and learning the trade. What did I get out of my 4-year education? Well, from what I can remember, I learned how to drink, smoke and spend too much money. It was essentially a place-holder til law school, which is a whole other ball of worms. :(

I think you're making the right choice. Things will work themselves out as they need to. Just keep putting yourself out there to meet new people and be open to new opportunities. ♥

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[info]artisticmuddle
2008-08-27 08:37 pm UTC (link)
It's interesting how we kinda reverse ideas on this. In high school they kind of beat in the idea that if you don't get a higher education degree or whatever that you're not going to do well. They had huge presentations (during and after school with parents) on how to get it all done and where to go and what fields were open. I wish it wasn't like that but it's just how they worked and then parents sought out the most needed fields and sorta directed their kids to that. I'm lucky in the fact that my mom is fairly supportive (even if no one else in my family really is) but it's still a stressful situation.

I know there's nothing wrong with it. It just sucks because it doesn't seem to have as much worth as someone who spent a ton of money doing whatever else to get an actual degree. I've been back and forth with this and I could easily drop everything and run to a regular art school just to get a degree. I know it would cost more, I know I would have to take classes I didn't want, but I would end up with a different piece of paper with different writing on it. It sucks because I know what I want but when it comes to living off of it or getting a job, a piece of paper can determine everything or how people see you.

I really hope I'm making the right choice. I'm nervous beyond belief and the fact that it's a week away is what really gets me going into this long train of thought on what the fuck I'm doing. @_@ I wish it wasn't like this or so damned stressful. Blah.

♥

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[info]mwestbelle
2008-08-27 07:45 pm UTC (link)
What about my english degreeeeee ;___;

Really though, not going to school means no one will take you seriously :\ so having a degree > not having one

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 07:51 pm UTC (link)
It's uselessssssssssssssss. :p

Depends on what you do for a living, though. And the thing is? You shouldn't need a degree to be taken seriously. I'm just cranky because I wasted four years and $40,000 on a degree that, quite literally, does nothing for me. Which was why I made the original comment that sparked this post: a political science degree is kind of worthless.

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[info]mwestbelle
2008-08-27 07:54 pm UTC (link)
Nuuuuuuu

I think polisci is...kind of lame and pointless in general? But then I'm an english major who cares about GRATE LITERATURE. For me, I'm interested in college as an opportunity for learning, but moreso as a life experience. Plus, I want to be an editor (well. I really want to be an author but... /o\) and I can get into more internships through school than I could otherwise.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 08:07 pm UTC (link)
Uh, poli sci is pointless and lame in general. Which is why I commented to that effect in the original thread that spawned this post. :| Been there, done that, reaped no reward from it. RUN WHY YOU CAN, FOLKS. There are absolutely fields of study that require advanced coursework or degrees. Though, in theory, to be an author one need only write often and write well. If you can use your college experience for more than obtaining a piece of paper than kudos to you. I don't think obtaining that piece of paper is an end in itself. Nor do I think it represents that one has learned a damn thing. Exhbit A: me.

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[info]mwestbelle
2008-08-27 08:11 pm UTC (link)
That's sad :( ...for me, I think college will be useful, because as they say, anyone can learn to write, but it doesn't matter if you have nothing worth writing about. Anything I learn can be used in my writing, so pursuit of knowledge itself is applicable to my (hopeful) career path.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 08:15 pm UTC (link)
Yes, and I didn't mean to condemn the idea of higher education as a whole. I just know that for me, college was four years of treading water. I don't remember a whole lot from law school either, but at least I know that degree was required for me to do the job I do now, and it also completely changed the way in which I think. Whether that is a good thing is another issue entirely...

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[info]blushandrecover
2008-08-27 10:37 pm UTC (link)
I agree with what you're saying, essentially. But to be fair, if you get a bachelor's in any LAS program, you can pretty much get a job in many, many places. Or, similarly, you can go to any graduate school. I mean, I'm majoing in Creative Writing/Cinema Studies, so let me tell about useless degrees, srsly. However, I could go to law school if I wanted, or get a job writing in several places.

It feels like a lot of people major in English, Poli Sci, or Psych, though, just because it's "practical", or varied. But mostly because they don't know what else to do.

I don't know, this probably doesn't make sense. Ack.

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[info]blushandrecover
2008-08-27 10:38 pm UTC (link)
Also, I think I may accidentally condensed what you said (unfairly). I'm sorry, I just had a long day of college classes, which, you know, mostly are dull.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 11:43 pm UTC (link)
LOL it's cool. I understand. I was kind of on a rant this morning. I've got a little bit of... bitterness about my schooling. ;)

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-27 11:42 pm UTC (link)
I know a lot of employers look at a degree as a valuable thing, as a sign that a candidate can stick with something, that they're 'bright.' I guess I'd argue that a lot of the jobs one can get with a degree are not ones that a person should necessarily have to have a degree to get. (Worst sentence ever, y?) Certainly a writing degree is going to open you up to different jobs because even if you don't do ~cretive writing, you could do technical writing, or grant writing, or work as an editor in some capacity. Political science degrees don't necessarily have that same versatility. Law school is always an option, but I don't really recommend it unless you are positive that's what you want to do. I know lawyers who are in sales because they can make better money and have a better quality of life.

Yes, I absolutely agree that people will chose a major without really having any direction. Two years in, you switch majors and suprise! You have tacked on another semester or even a full year of college to finish it up. At least, I know several people who ended up in that position. I also have friends who graduated from college and then turned around and went back to get a different degree immediately because they realized they were in the wrong field. :|

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[info]lordgroovius
2008-08-27 11:14 pm UTC (link)
I personally feel that what you study in school is irrelevant. It's all about WHO you know, not what you know. My brother has a psych degree and a computer programming/HTML diploma and he doesn't work in the fields he studied, though he makes a ton of money and gets to travel the world, all because he happens to know the owners of the company he works for. In fact, every single job he's had right back to his first job in high school, he's gotten through connections by knowing someone who worked there. He's never had to interview for a job in his life.

I've had the displeasure of working for many companies where cronyism and/or nepotism where the way of life, and frankly it was hell. It seems to be the way things are heading though, especially where I live. You're more likely to get a job here based on who you know than on your qualifications. :/

Also, I never finished my university degree but I do have a 2-year community college diploma and was never able to find work in my field. But really, I'm not bitter, LOL. ;)

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-28 03:43 am UTC (link)
So, I typed out a response and LJ ate it. O______O So let me condense this: WORD.

:D

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[info]idle_graffito
2008-08-27 11:54 pm UTC (link)
Ugh. University. I should probably go back there.

WHAT IS THE POINT??! IDEK. ;_;





...Wow, sorry for injecting so much gloom into your entry. Fail.

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[info]runthegamut
2008-08-28 03:47 am UTC (link)
SCHOOL IS BAD FOR YOU AND IT MAKES YOU KICK BABIES! I have no idea what I'm talking about. *needs sleep*

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[info]chaosmanor
2008-08-28 12:17 am UTC (link)
I'm here as an 'older' person. (Looks, folks, I'm just plain a grown up. I'm on my third marriage and fourth mortage, alright?)

Back in the eighties, I started a pathetic little English degree because it was what my heart longed for. Then someone talked me into switching to a ~sensible~ science degree, which I completed. I worked and did ~sensible~ Stuff for years and years.

Want to know what I'm doing right now? I'm doing the bridging work (it's called a Higher Degree by Research Prelim) in English, back at my original uni, in order to be able to enter the PhD programme in Creative Writing in 2010.

I should have just done the original degree I wanted to, twenty five years ago.

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