4 ms·

This sounds like a bias working backwards to find a justification. Is there any studies or data that support your stance? Which are the "good" majors? Who gets

This sounds like a bias working backwards to find a justification. Is there any studies or data that support your stance? Which are the "good" majors? Who gets to judge that? > There are reams of low-grade degrees in which the majority of teaching is in memorization, and not mastering new ways to think. The biggest complaint from anyone I know who studied medicine/pre-med is the sheer amount of memorization involved. Must be a useless field of study.

JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> biggest complaint from anyone I know who studied medicine/pre-med is the sheer amount of memorization This is a straw man. Nobody said memorization is verboten. A certificate granted for mainly memorization, where no new modes of thinking or doing were involved, is not worth tends of thousands of dollars. If a med school matriculated students who never did practical and had never deliberated treatment modes and tradeoffs, et cetera, yes, it would be close to useless.
- long_time_gone 5y ago
  >A certificate granted for mainly memorization, where no new modes of thinking or doing were involved, is not worth tends of thousands of dollars. And here is your straw man. Nobody said they were worth that much. You haven't demonstrated that a significant portion of any major exhibits these traits.
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    > Nobody said they were worth that much Four years of a young person's time is worth tens of thousands of dollars. So beyond the direct cost of education, that is the opportunity cost, to the individual and to society. I think that's money well spent for e.g. a proper liberal arts degree. It isn't for a piece of paper pursued for its own end.
    - long_time_gone 5y ago
      You haven't presented evidence or sources that any individual major is "A certificate granted for mainly memorization, where no new modes of thinking or doing were involved." This is the basis of your entire point, and you haven't backed it up with anything of substance. You can keep tossing red herrings, but this hasn't been addressed.
      - SuoDuanDao 5y ago
        Anecdotally, I have a friend who recently retired from teaching psychology and linguistics at a university level, and his observation over twenty years at the same institution was that standards were aggressively lowered to move more paying customers through the system. Not sure you'd say that's substantial or not, but I'm inclined to believe him.
        long_time_gone 5y ago
        > Not sure you'd say that's substantial or not, but I'm inclined to believe him. I would certainly believe that person. However, saying "this major at this school has low standards" is not the same as saying "a bunch of majors at all schools have low standards and are thus worthless."

JumpCrisscross 5y ago

> biggest complaint from anyone I know who studied medicine/pre-med is the sheer amount of memorization This is a straw man. Nobody said memorization is verboten. A certificate granted for mainly memorization, where no new modes of thinking or doing were involved, is not worth tends of thousands of dollars. If a med school matriculated students who never did practical and had never deliberated treatment modes and tradeoffs, et cetera, yes, it would be close to useless.

long_time_gone 5y ago
>A certificate granted for mainly memorization, where no new modes of thinking or doing were involved, is not worth tends of thousands of dollars. And here is your straw man. Nobody said they were worth that much. You haven't demonstrated that a significant portion of any major exhibits these traits.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > Nobody said they were worth that much Four years of a young person's time is worth tens of thousands of dollars. So beyond the direct cost of education, that is the opportunity cost, to the individual and to society. I think that's money well spent for e.g. a proper liberal arts degree. It isn't for a piece of paper pursued for its own end.
  - long_time_gone 5y ago
    You haven't presented evidence or sources that any individual major is "A certificate granted for mainly memorization, where no new modes of thinking or doing were involved." This is the basis of your entire point, and you haven't backed it up with anything of substance. You can keep tossing red herrings, but this hasn't been addressed.
    - SuoDuanDao 5y ago
      Anecdotally, I have a friend who recently retired from teaching psychology and linguistics at a university level, and his observation over twenty years at the same institution was that standards were aggressively lowered to move more paying customers through the system. Not sure you'd say that's substantial or not, but I'm inclined to believe him.
      - long_time_gone 5y ago
        > Not sure you'd say that's substantial or not, but I'm inclined to believe him. I would certainly believe that person. However, saying "this major at this school has low standards" is not the same as saying "a bunch of majors at all schools have low standards and are thus worthless."