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If that's really the case, then perhaps universities should just dump all their humanities departments, fire the faculty, and re-purpose the buildings, along wi

by angdis 11y ago

If that's really the case, then perhaps universities should just dump all their humanities departments, fire the faculty, and re-purpose the buildings, along with any other department that doesn't produce "outcomes". And how do you measure "outcomes"? If you measure it by the first job students get out of college, that's very sad and short-sighted. To really understand the outcomes of education on careers, you need to look at the entire arc of a career-- NOT just the starting point. Employ-ability is really up to the students themselves, NOT their university, and definitely NOT the particular department.

netcan 11y ago
Perhaps, less the arson. ;) I don't know how you measure outcomes. As research facilities, employability is not a factor. I don't even know that studying anthropology and behavioral psychology is not effective at making people employable. What I am saying is that the students, their parents, their government, society, expect that employability is an outcome of undergraduate education. This is why they are pouring so much resources into it. This is why it exists in the form that it does. There is certainly room in the world for enrichment. I wish we had more of it. I'm always happy to hear about people taking time to do gap years, study tangental to career career goals. It's great. But, this is a consumption. It needs to be balanced with what you can afford and I think most undergraduate students cannot afford an undergraduate degree that does not leave them more employable in the long term. I don't think they signed up for that. Lets be friends though, even if we disagree.
- angdis 11y ago
  Of course :) I agree that employability is something the students, parents and society _want_ after college. But look at it this way, if a student decides to major in philosophy, whose fault is it if the student graduates and ends up as a admin-assistant on the first job out of college? It sounds like some want to blame the university system and that's wrong.

by angdis 11y ago

netcan 11y ago

Perhaps, less the arson. ;) I don't know how you measure outcomes. As research facilities, employability is not a factor. I don't even know that studying anthropology and behavioral psychology is not effective at making people employable. What I am saying is that the students, their parents, their government, society, expect that employability is an outcome of undergraduate education. This is why they are pouring so much resources into it. This is why it exists in the form that it does. There is certainly room in the world for enrichment. I wish we had more of it. I'm always happy to hear about people taking time to do gap years, study tangental to career career goals. It's great. But, this is a consumption. It needs to be balanced with what you can afford and I think most undergraduate students cannot afford an undergraduate degree that does not leave them more employable in the long term. I don't think they signed up for that. Lets be friends though, even if we disagree.

angdis 11y ago
Of course :) I agree that employability is something the students, parents and society _want_ after college. But look at it this way, if a student decides to major in philosophy, whose fault is it if the student graduates and ends up as a admin-assistant on the first job out of college? It sounds like some want to blame the university system and that's wrong.