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I agree completely. Getting a degree in philosophy sounds cool until you realize that you've just wasted your money and could have studied philosophy for free b

by nhangen 15y ago

I agree completely. Getting a degree in philosophy sounds cool until you realize that you've just wasted your money and could have studied philosophy for free by reading books while you paid the bills with the education from your CS degree, etc.

te_chris 15y ago
That's the the thing really though isn't it. It's YOUR degree. Who are you to say that someone made the wrong choice? I have liberal arts and a music degree. I'm now a self-taught web developer earning good money, building a start-up and paying my student loan (interest free because I stayed in New Zealand) off. My arts education helped with my general understanding and comprehension of the world and I credit it for making it easier for me to pick up development. I'm so sick of the belittling of the humanities by commerce and science. We're all needed, if there's any elephant in the room robbing people of value there, to me it is commerce. I studied some marketing while I was at uni as well, and it felt like I was no longer at university but at some parallel universe on my campus where suddenly creative thinking was discouraged, intellectual creativity was discouraged and you'd succeed if you submitted answers the lecturers wanted to hear. NOTE: I'm also educated enough in research methods to know that my anecdotal proof is not conclusive, however I find that in NZ, the people who I meet who generally seem like they're less intelligent are the ones with business degrees. It's the science and humanities grads who are the ones who seem smarter and more motivated. There's even a successful business person here (bob jones) who refuses to hire commerce grads and insists on hiring humanities and science grads because he believes they're more suited (once trained) to coping with a complex business environment..
- zeemonkee 15y ago
  That was my impression in the UK. One could argue the toss whether, say, being able to read ancient texts in the original Greek was easier or harder than quantum physics (or the relative usefulness of either) but there was general contempt for the seeming lack of intellectual curiosity and love of learning for its own sake among business students. Most of whom, depressingly, would become our managers.
- nhangen 15y ago
  Well I minored in religion, so I understand your feelings on this. My point wasn't that those degrees are worthless, just that they are worthless for the purpose of job security. There are of course exceptions, but a CS major has a much higher chance of getting a job out of college than a humanities major.

by nhangen 15y ago

te_chris 15y ago

That's the the thing really though isn't it. It's YOUR degree. Who are you to say that someone made the wrong choice? I have liberal arts and a music degree. I'm now a self-taught web developer earning good money, building a start-up and paying my student loan (interest free because I stayed in New Zealand) off. My arts education helped with my general understanding and comprehension of the world and I credit it for making it easier for me to pick up development. I'm so sick of the belittling of the humanities by commerce and science. We're all needed, if there's any elephant in the room robbing people of value there, to me it is commerce. I studied some marketing while I was at uni as well, and it felt like I was no longer at university but at some parallel universe on my campus where suddenly creative thinking was discouraged, intellectual creativity was discouraged and you'd succeed if you submitted answers the lecturers wanted to hear. NOTE: I'm also educated enough in research methods to know that my anecdotal proof is not conclusive, however I find that in NZ, the people who I meet who generally seem like they're less intelligent are the ones with business degrees. It's the science and humanities grads who are the ones who seem smarter and more motivated. There's even a successful business person here (bob jones) who refuses to hire commerce grads and insists on hiring humanities and science grads because he believes they're more suited (once trained) to coping with a complex business environment..

zeemonkee 15y ago
That was my impression in the UK. One could argue the toss whether, say, being able to read ancient texts in the original Greek was easier or harder than quantum physics (or the relative usefulness of either) but there was general contempt for the seeming lack of intellectual curiosity and love of learning for its own sake among business students. Most of whom, depressingly, would become our managers.
nhangen 15y ago
Well I minored in religion, so I understand your feelings on this. My point wasn't that those degrees are worthless, just that they are worthless for the purpose of job security. There are of course exceptions, but a CS major has a much higher chance of getting a job out of college than a humanities major.