Tastiness8002
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
Martin Howitt@purplepadma I did a degree in physics. Am I now a physicist? No. Am I earning a good salary? Also no. Did I study a subject I was passionate about? Also, also no.
@martinhowitt Oh that’s a shame! I have two degrees, I really enjoyed them both
@purplepadma I also gave 2. My point is that studying a so-called “hard” degree doesn’t guarantee you’ll become more of an asset to society than if you studied something completely random
@martinhowitt Oh 100% agree. And what’s the point of training people in law or medicine or education if those professions don’t pay enough to keep people in the public sector?
Black Chic with the Red Truck@martinhowitt
This made me lol because my dad is a physicist and I can absolutely picture him saying this. (Though he did use his degree in his work.)
This made me lol because my dad is a physicist and I can absolutely picture him saying this. (Though he did use his degree in his work.)
Sheepnik@purplepadma As someone with a degree in Celtic Studies, I absolutely agree with you.
Ian Thistlethwaite@purplepadma Your son will use his education throughout his life and no job position will hinder or help that. He'll use it because he learnt stuff and that stuff is now part of him. He is composed of that knowledge. And the world should be terrifically pleased that this is what he now offers in his very being. (I work at a factory and my degree and post-grad are music based, unlike my minimum wage job, and I definitely use my education all the time, so this isn't a guess, lol)
Godless Hedgehog@IanThistlethwaite @purplepadma Beautifully put. ❤️
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
Bombay Lady@purplepadma @vertana
Not every degree enables students to pay off their student debts. Unfortunately, studying what you love, if it doesn’t directly lead to a job that allows you pay off those student debts, is a privilege most students in the world can’t afford.
Not every degree enables students to pay off their student debts. Unfortunately, studying what you love, if it doesn’t directly lead to a job that allows you pay off those student debts, is a privilege most students in the world can’t afford.
@purplepadma @vertana However, I do hope that one day every child in the world can pick whatever they wish to study without having to worry about finances and job outcomes.
🥥 Tucker Carlson's Nuts 🥥@bombaylady @purplepadma @vertana
🥥 Most students in most developed countries in the world don't have #StudentDebt like we have in the USA.
Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it next time you're thinking of voting #Republican. 🥥
🥥 Most students in most developed countries in the world don't have #StudentDebt like we have in the USA.
Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it next time you're thinking of voting #Republican. 🥥
@purplepadma but part of it is also to discredit fairly important academic fields -- media studies was the big one when I was a teenager. Ha ha ha imagine learning critical media literacy ho ho. Hmmmmmm.
@artbyailbhe What use could that possibly be 🧐
Meow.tar.gz 
@purplepadma Education of (almost) any sort is good for the brain and the body. My undergrad is in Criminal Justice because at one time I wanted to work in the field. It might as well be basket weaving in terms of marketable skills. But it shows I can think critically and I have good written communication skills.
On another note, education can be had beyond the 4 walls of the classroom. I basically taught myself systems administration so I can work in IT. There are courses out there and opportunities to experiment.
@ablackcatstail My second degree is in criminal justice, I then didn’t use it for over a decade but ended up getting a job as a criminology research assistant. Funny old career path
@purplepadma I know that when I started out my career in state government last year, the juvenile probation officers were constantly trying to recruit me from IT on to their side. I might have done it to if it were not for the 30K pay cut I would have had to endure.
@ablackcatstail I was a probation officer for years. The pay isn’t bad in the UK but the caseloads are huge and it’s super stressful
@purplepadma Yes, the stress levels are quite high but I did really like the folks in the probation department and they me. The only problem is that 32K USD a year would have me needing a roommate. At my age, I both want and need my solitude.
@ablackcatstail Oh that is terrible pay. UK is just a little better at equivalent of 38k USD
@purplepadma It varies quite a bit from state to state. It just so happens that Delaware's salaries are, on average, lower than the surrounding tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland.
@ablackcatstail That’s unfortunate
@purplepadma The juvenile probation officers in the State of Delaware are far less focused on punishment but rehabilitation and work closely with prevention and behavioral health services. It is still a system far from perfect but a lot better than other states.
@ablackcatstail That’s what probation services for children are like in the UK. Adult probation services tend to be less joined up with other services, but they are less punitive than the general American model
@purplepadma Amurica has always been about "lock'em up and throw away the key." Now even more so because an entire profit model has grown up around incarceration and people in the criminal justice system. Profiting from other's misery seems to be something uniquely #Amurican.
Steven Capsuto - Alt. Channels@purplepadma The best advice a college dean ever gave me, when I was 18, was this: "80% of US college graduates wind up working in a field other the one they majored in. What you learn in college goes far beyond your major."
@StevenCapsuto Agree 100%
Paul Carpenter 👾@purplepadma I think the predominant western attitude is that doing ANYTHING that doesn’t directly contribute to capitalism and/or making money is a complete waste of effort. You must make money, anything else is ultimately harmful to capitalism so therefore worse than doing nothing. Do not learn for fun, learn to work.
@xmetal Yes. I really hate that
Arturo Serrano 🇨🇴🤖👽🧙🦄@purplepadma The 8 years I wasted in business school by parental mandate were the worst mistake of my life.
@carturo222 Sorry you were forced down that avenue
Tormod HalvorsenNot to be forgotten, Mickey Mouse did pretty good for himself too. Solid earner, world famous and with a really long career.
@airwhale Fair point
Bruce Mirken@purplepadma I have a degree in Theater. That's not how I ended up making a living, but it vastly enriched my life and helped me in the career I eventually landed in. #education
Sammi@purplepadma This annoys me intensely. All education is good education. Full marks to your son for doing what he wanted to do rather than spend 3 years hating what he was doing.
Christopher Miller
Aviva Gary@purplepadma Education is important for it's own sake but unfortunately the society we live in only prioritizes what makes money and for whom... that's why they always ask what you do for a living (like a job is everything) when really education is everything.
@Aviva_Gary I hated being asked what I did for a living when my disability was too incapacitating for me to work
@purplepadma There's that too... and sorry
@Aviva_Gary It’s OK :) I’m in a good phase right now
@purplepadma yay for good
@Aviva_Gary Yay indeed!
@purplepadma Got to celebrate the small wins... with out them there are no big wins
Pseudandry 
@purplepadma I went to a vocational college as opposed to a university with the idea I'd get a Practical Education ™️ and a job, only to have the industry I was training for suffer a major crash 9 months before I finished my degree. My current career has nothing to do with anything I trained for and now I recommend strongly that kids follow their hearts rather than some sure thing idea for a future career
@pseudandry That’s what I said to my kids, if you’re going to be saddled with student debt do it for something you really love
@purplepadma The unfortunate situation is that education is so expensive, the only way to rationalize it is for it to lead directly to a well-paying job. I agree that this harms our society in the long run. I wonder how many Steve Jobs and Albert Einsteins we lose out on because we don’t have a path for the non-conforming.
(((Jann Gobble)))🏳️🌈@purplepadma There is NOTHING wrong with learning for learning's sake EXCEPT for those who did that are now complaining they can't pay their college loans.
IF they find another way to pay for that education, be my guest, but I know three friends who got "useless" degrees and are bitching about the amount of money they pay to loans cos they didn't get jobs with those degrees.
You can't have both - and they all knew that.
DJDarren@purplepadma My degree is in radio production. I’m a former welder who works in quality and training management.
Are those connected? Nope.
But boy did I enjoy those three years spent having fun and broadening my horizons.
Miakoda 
@purplepadma @allenstenhaus
I dunno, Mickey Mouse seems to be doing a decent job of beating DeSantis.
I dunno, Mickey Mouse seems to be doing a decent job of beating DeSantis.
David John Crook@purplepadma There are also major issues with the lack of access to education for older people who want to learn for fun. The days of evening classes at colleges are long gone. Even the OU has become more work orientated.
@DavidjCrook Yeah, it’s a real shame
DTrasler Writing@purplepadma my wife works in HR. She says the rise in using software to sift resumes means getting the highest qualifications you can afford to avoid being auto-dumped before a human reviews your job application.