Should the government issue loans for low paying degrees?

[Yeeper]

@TheRef65

@Yeeper

But…we do not need every area to be a degree. Maybe the arts, or at least many of them, don’t need expensive degrees and we need to stop kidding ourselves about the value of college degrees.

I agree, everything doesn’t need to be a college degree. I also don’t think you should disregard all arts degrees, either. Which ones there should be can be discussed, I’m not the arbiter of what should and shouldn’t exist, but there should be a discussion.

For sure. In my reply to 307 I said many, not all, degrees in arts not need to be expensive or degrees at all. My sister and I both attended the same undergrad and got our BA. She majored in classics, and I majored in philosophy. The difference was my concentration was in pre-med and hers was photo-studio art. We had very different plans and options after college and my parents spent roughly the same for each of us (very fortunate).

I see a significant difference in areas that require rote memorization of details vs areas that teach problem solving and extrapolation of important info

We need to change society’s expectations on college being necessary, and all college valuable. We also need to change the mindset that education = intelligence and someone without a college degree = unintelligent or non-useful. White collar is not superior to blue collar. Country club is not better than local community swim club.

Arts are necessary. STEM is necessary. But not all at all times and certainly don’t need to hamstring students with false promises and expectations and then also large debt that affects their QOL and ability to partake in our economy.

[TheRef65]

@Yeeper

We need to change society’s expectations on college being necessary, and all college valuable.

I agree 100%. The biggest problem here; the people who say you do not need a college degree are the same people who will not hire individuals who don’t have a degree.

@Yeeper

Arts are necessary. STEM is necessary. But not all at all times and certainly don’t need to hamstring students with false promises and expectations and then also large debt that affects their QOL and ability to partake in our economy.

Agree completely.

[TheRef65]

@RandMart

Were they perhaps nerds who liked Star Wars or Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica or even MythBusters or Bill NYE as kids and wanted to build or discover “cool shit?”

In those cases, Art inspired STEM

You see, I thought that was obvous.

[RandMart]

“Obvious”

[TheRef65]

@RandMart

“Obvious”

I should have proofread my response, obviously.

[Yeeper]

@TheRef65

@RandMart

“Obvious”

I should have proofread my response, obviously.

Should have majored in something useful. /p

[TheRef65]

You’re not wrong there. I guess being a former machinist with degrees in Marketing and Project Management could be put to use in a nice gallery.

I know that was sarcasm, but seriously, I could not get jobs outside of the company I was working for until I got my degrees. Nobody wanted to hire a guy for account management/project management in a manufacturing firm that didn’t have a degree in either business or engineering. It didn’t matter how many years of experience I had in manufacturing, running a shop floor, programming, scheduling, purchasing, account, and project management. I didn’t have a degree and was frequently passed over. Once I got the first degree, all kinds of doors opened. After the masters, I was being called with offers.