Charlotte WalkerI see the old “too many people are going to university to do Mickey Mouse degrees” trope is doing the rounds again. My son did a degree in Comedy Writing and Performance. Did he get a job in the creative industries? No. Is he earning a good salary? Also no. But he was greatly enriched by studying something he was passionate about for three years. What is wrong with just learning for learning’s sake? Education is not supposed to be merely a mechanism for churning out workers
Vertana@purplepadma Sadly, that purpose has been priced out for the vast majority of us.
@vertana Well, that depends on whether you think the whole thing (including living away from home, making lifelong friends etc) is worth the student debt I guess. My kids thought it was
Ailbhe@purplepadma @vertana being in a position to take on student debt is not universal, even for people who are eligible for the student loan schemes.
K3YWORD@artbyailbhe @purplepadma @vertana
Exactly, and that’s why this doesn’t make total sense to me. Do I think people should be able to study what they want? Absolutely. Do I think they should be able to do it for no or low cost? Also yes. However, you can’t. And it’s illogical in today’s society to pay thousands to do so when resources like the internet and libraries exist. Watch lectures or read books by people who have studied it their whole life. But don’t go in debt for it, come on.
@k3yword @purplepadma @vertana I think it's worth going into debt for, for those people who won't suffer hugely for it -- obviously people whose families rely on their income or who would be homeless if they didn't earn can't but people whose families have a spare bed to come back to in emergencies can take the risk. The trick is to expand access beyond people with those resources, not accept that that's a reasonable barrier.
@k3yword @artbyailbhe @vertana You can’t get even a remotely similar experience to higher education self-taught though