4 ms·

Yeah, right. When _I_ went to Harvard (of all places!), it was all about learning Physics (in my case) and being with other people who cared _deeply_ about what

by 7402 3y ago

Yeah, right. When _I_ went to Harvard (of all places!), it was all about learning Physics (in my case) and being with other people who cared _deeply_ about what _they_ were studying. Everyone I knew there regarded all the final club / class-signalling arcana as ridiculous, humorous, and utterly irrelevant bullshit. Some people have weird hobbies, like caring about that sort of thing. Good for them, but I didn't have to think about it. To be sure, that was a while ago. Maybe it's different now. If so, that's sad. Did you go to college? Did you learn about class signals? Is that really what it's about these days?

fullshark 3y ago
I did, perhaps at Harvard or at whatever time you went to college, the degree was enough to guarantee gainful employment in a field of interest, so you could treat it ultimately as an enriching 4 year summer camp. For lower tier schools and today, the degree doesn't open enough doors, and people aren't learning enough practical skills in college so they go into massive debt just to learn how to talk like someone a corporation/firm is willing to trust with their capital, with a piece of paper to prove that they will fall in line and do what is asked.
- 7402 3y ago
  Fair enough. I'm sorry if that is the way things are, and I fully accept how out-of-date my viewpoint may be. It seems to me there's a problem any time the focus on just "the degree" as a goal, as opposed to what lies behind it. Simply getting a degree signals a certain ability to follow rules, navigate a bureaucracy, complete work on time, and demonstrate a generic ability to learn material and pass tests. For some jobs, that alone indicates potential value as an employee. This used to be indicated by obtaining a high school diploma.
  - fullshark 3y ago
    Even high school is a relatively recent sociological phenomenon, and similarly its primary purpose was to create factory workers. College has gone from a finishing school for the elites to a knowledge labor pool creator with mixed results I’d say. All the things you found rewarding in college are still there but I believe it was oversold and a lot of kids acquired unreasonable debt loads as a result and have condemned themselves to basically indentured servitude with zero actual skills. It’s genuinely tragic.

by 7402 3y ago

fullshark 3y ago

I did, perhaps at Harvard or at whatever time you went to college, the degree was enough to guarantee gainful employment in a field of interest, so you could treat it ultimately as an enriching 4 year summer camp. For lower tier schools and today, the degree doesn't open enough doors, and people aren't learning enough practical skills in college so they go into massive debt just to learn how to talk like someone a corporation/firm is willing to trust with their capital, with a piece of paper to prove that they will fall in line and do what is asked.

7402 3y ago
Fair enough. I'm sorry if that is the way things are, and I fully accept how out-of-date my viewpoint may be. It seems to me there's a problem any time the focus on just "the degree" as a goal, as opposed to what lies behind it. Simply getting a degree signals a certain ability to follow rules, navigate a bureaucracy, complete work on time, and demonstrate a generic ability to learn material and pass tests. For some jobs, that alone indicates potential value as an employee. This used to be indicated by obtaining a high school diploma.
- fullshark 3y ago
  Even high school is a relatively recent sociological phenomenon, and similarly its primary purpose was to create factory workers. College has gone from a finishing school for the elites to a knowledge labor pool creator with mixed results I’d say. All the things you found rewarding in college are still there but I believe it was oversold and a lot of kids acquired unreasonable debt loads as a result and have condemned themselves to basically indentured servitude with zero actual skills. It’s genuinely tragic.