3 ms·

I don't have the stats, but I suspect it would take a lot of new people in the trades to replace just the natural attrition as boomers retire. One of the unfor

by douche 10y ago

I don't have the stats, but I suspect it would take a lot of new people in the trades to replace just the natural attrition as boomers retire. One of the unfortunate consequences of a lot of the unionized industrial environment is that in many cases seniority ruled, and the young workers got pink slips every time there was a round of layoffs. Now the old grognards are retiring, but there is no one in the mid-level to step into their places - there are huge amounts of institutional knowledge evaporating. I wouldn't argue against an engineering degree, if you've got the chops and the discipline to finish it. Generic liberal arts fluff? More of a liability than an asset - particularly if you don't actually finish it. Hope you like bartending or waiting tables... We may be coming from different places. I grew up in a very rural area, and especially in my parent's generation, but also mine to a large degree, the military was a way to get out of crushing poverty, learn skills, see something of the world, and maybe get a subsidized education.

a3n 10y ago
> I wouldn't argue against an engineering degree, if you've got the chops and the discipline to finish it. Generic liberal arts fluff? More of a liability than an asset - particularly if you don't actually finish it. Hope you like bartending or waiting tables... I was just reading the History department's site, for no real reason, at the Uni where my kid goes (he's EE). Their "why study history" statement included being the foundation of a later graduate degree. Which I think is appropriate; it's great to have lawyers and MBAs with a diversity of backgrounds and interests, including history, art, engineering, etc. It used to be that any undergraduate degree would serve you well enough. But today things are so specialized and hyper-competetive that some degrees (the "fluff") are indeed not economically worthwhile if you stop at undergrad. Not to say that some people shouldn't pursue them, but they should know up front what the limitations are, and that the degree itself won't pay itself off.
- Chris2048 10y ago
  I think some of those humanities degrees would be better served as "leisure" degrees, for people who already have a career. I also think STEM is a good background for any liberal arts subject - it give you analytical tools on which to hang the "meat" of the subject, and can curb some of the more "dubious" lit-crit style thinking that can exist in some of those subjects (unfalsifiable, subjective, tautological claims etc.).

by douche 10y ago

a3n 10y ago

> I wouldn't argue against an engineering degree, if you've got the chops and the discipline to finish it. Generic liberal arts fluff? More of a liability than an asset - particularly if you don't actually finish it. Hope you like bartending or waiting tables... I was just reading the History department's site, for no real reason, at the Uni where my kid goes (he's EE). Their "why study history" statement included being the foundation of a later graduate degree. Which I think is appropriate; it's great to have lawyers and MBAs with a diversity of backgrounds and interests, including history, art, engineering, etc. It used to be that any undergraduate degree would serve you well enough. But today things are so specialized and hyper-competetive that some degrees (the "fluff") are indeed not economically worthwhile if you stop at undergrad. Not to say that some people shouldn't pursue them, but they should know up front what the limitations are, and that the degree itself won't pay itself off.

Chris2048 10y ago
I think some of those humanities degrees would be better served as "leisure" degrees, for people who already have a career. I also think STEM is a good background for any liberal arts subject - it give you analytical tools on which to hang the "meat" of the subject, and can curb some of the more "dubious" lit-crit style thinking that can exist in some of those subjects (unfalsifiable, subjective, tautological claims etc.).