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Those degrees aren't worth their cost. A better recommendation, and a path that some STEM students have already taken, is independent study of the Liberal Arts

by lhnz 10y ago

Those degrees aren't worth their cost. A better recommendation, and a path that some STEM students have already taken, is independent study of the Liberal Arts curriculum. Unfortunately, even if you do this, you will still have to deal with condescending fools telling you that you can't see the forest from the trees, and are constrained by memorizing commands or syntax. The fact of the matter is that you have no critical thinking skills, can't see the big picture and lack the soft skills – the people skills – that help to understand customers and bring the staff along. Everybody here can see it, why can't you? You'll never make anything of yourself, nerd. (Those quotes are directly from the article. It's super condescending towards STEM people. No better than similar articles aimed at Liberal Arts students.)

taurath 10y ago
One would argue that we could consider it a societal good to have good critical well rounded thinkers. Nowadays college is more like a capitalist transaction in order to make money. If thats the point of college, then its definitely not worth the cost. I'd love to go back and be able to do a full course of liberal arts - I'd probably be a much more well rounded person.
tspike 10y ago
> liberal art's curriculum Is this the result of independent study? ;) In all seriousness, my linguistics degree was worth every penny. Spending that much time with incredibly bright people with broad perspectives focused solely on sharpening your understanding of the world is something that's very difficult to replicate independently.
- lhnz 10y ago
  Fixed. I can imagine that even if it is difficult to replicate broad perspectives independently it is worth trying to do so. I think the internet will certainly make it easier to do so now, too. Additionally you have a lot longer than 4 years to engage with material. Autodidactism eventually wins because it is unconstrained; though the educational experience might get a lot of breadth out fast.

by lhnz 10y ago

taurath 10y ago

One would argue that we could consider it a societal good to have good critical well rounded thinkers. Nowadays college is more like a capitalist transaction in order to make money. If thats the point of college, then its definitely not worth the cost. I'd love to go back and be able to do a full course of liberal arts - I'd probably be a much more well rounded person.

tspike 10y ago

> liberal art's curriculum Is this the result of independent study? ;) In all seriousness, my linguistics degree was worth every penny. Spending that much time with incredibly bright people with broad perspectives focused solely on sharpening your understanding of the world is something that's very difficult to replicate independently.

lhnz 10y ago
Fixed. I can imagine that even if it is difficult to replicate broad perspectives independently it is worth trying to do so. I think the internet will certainly make it easier to do so now, too. Additionally you have a lot longer than 4 years to engage with material. Autodidactism eventually wins because it is unconstrained; though the educational experience might get a lot of breadth out fast.