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Is college more about signaling, or is it more about giving people valuable skills? Lumping all college degrees together confuses the issue. A computer science

by lacker 7y ago

Is college more about signaling, or is it more about giving people valuable skills? Lumping all college degrees together confuses the issue. A computer science degree from a top-25 university gives you valuable skills. A philosophy degree from a non-top-25 university gives you no valuable skills. Colleges like to describe all degrees as if they are similar, because most degrees give you no valuable skills, but the existence of really valuable degrees gives all degrees some signaling value.

viburnum 7y ago
How many people reading this right now make a very good living writing software without a “computer science degree from a top 25 university”? To what extent are those degrees also just for sorting?
- mises 7y ago
  A serious university comp sci program teaches you a lot. This is part of the difference between programmer and software engineer. Going to college allows you to gain advanced kmowledge and ideally do reseach of your own.
  - viburnum 7y ago
    A philosophy education teaches a lot too. The discussion here is about what markets value and why that matters and why it doesn’t. I think trying to align education with private gain is the wrong approach. Society should promote human flourishing, not just numbers on a bank statement.
    - mises 7y ago
      Ok, so who's going to pay the philosophy major? He's not necessarily worth that much. On the other hand, he's worth a lot of he learns something more practical. What would you classify as human flourishing? I think humans have flourished because of advancements in digital technology. Also, "society" is not a concrete individual that can do valuing. Again, who's going to pay a philosophy major?
taylodl 7y ago
Considering how there's a lot of developers doing just fine without having any degree in Computer Science, let alone a "top 25 university", I'd argue that a degree in Philosophy is more valuable.

by lacker 7y ago

viburnum 7y ago

How many people reading this right now make a very good living writing software without a “computer science degree from a top 25 university”? To what extent are those degrees also just for sorting?

mises 7y ago
A serious university comp sci program teaches you a lot. This is part of the difference between programmer and software engineer. Going to college allows you to gain advanced kmowledge and ideally do reseach of your own.
- viburnum 7y ago
  A philosophy education teaches a lot too. The discussion here is about what markets value and why that matters and why it doesn’t. I think trying to align education with private gain is the wrong approach. Society should promote human flourishing, not just numbers on a bank statement.
  - mises 7y ago
    Ok, so who's going to pay the philosophy major? He's not necessarily worth that much. On the other hand, he's worth a lot of he learns something more practical. What would you classify as human flourishing? I think humans have flourished because of advancements in digital technology. Also, "society" is not a concrete individual that can do valuing. Again, who's going to pay a philosophy major?

taylodl 7y ago

Considering how there's a lot of developers doing just fine without having any degree in Computer Science, let alone a "top 25 university", I'd argue that a degree in Philosophy is more valuable.