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2. This generation is encouraged to follow their dreams, even if it requires struggle and low pay.
The general studies though... I dunno man.... Maybe an easy degree to get people into grad school?
Wrong. English was NOT an easy major. Unlike Math, there are no right and wrong answers, and professors can decide if they like your interpretation or not. Some professors would not give you a good grade if they didn't agree with you.
I remember a term paper I wrote for a Science class in college. I received an A. If I had submitted that paper to an English professor they would have torn it apart. I would have been lucky to get a C from an English professor. English professors are very, very picky.
Perhaps some people just don't want to study Math or other STEM subjects, which are are impossibly rigid and boring. Mind-numbingly boring.
How can people STAND to write code all day??? How can people STAND math???
Math and science always made me want to gouge my eyes out. When I took my last Math class in college, I knew that I was free from ever taking a class in Math again. I sang and danced my way out of the classroom after my final exam.
I tremendously respect those who can write a good book, sing beautifully, or paint a lovely picture.
Of course, my husband is a math and science genius. As they say, opposites attract . . .
Yes it was known as USC-Spartanburg (USCS) and it became a 4 year school in 75. The name was changed to USC Upstate in 2004. Upstate is a great school .The professors know their stuff and they are a diverse group from all over the country. Upstate now has over 5500 students. Just curious how long you were in the area? It has grown a lot here since the 70s and it's still rural but just not as rural as it was.
Grew up in the upstate during the 60s/70s. Been gone almost 40 years now, though I've been back for the occasional visit. It just doesn't seem like that long. Uncle Sam gave me the chance though to see and do a lot of things that a poor old boy from a cotton mill town wouldn't have done otherwise.
Wrong. English was NOT an easy major. Unlike Math, there are no right and wrong answers, and professors can decide if they like your interpretation or not. Some professors would not give you a good grade if they didn't agree with you. .
I agree with you on how many English and basically most LA professors graded -- on whether you told them what they wanted to hear. Which I think is just wrong. Once you get past basic grammar and facts and into opinion, which is what much of it is, the professor's interpretation has no more validity than yours. I always hated that about my LA classes. Your grade depended too much on how they felt about what you wrote vs their viewpoint.
Grew up in the upstate during the 60s/70s. Been gone almost 40 years now, though I've been back for the occasional visit. It just doesn't seem like that long. Uncle Sam gave me the chance though to see and do a lot of things that a poor old boy from a cotton mill town wouldn't have done otherwise.
Most of my mother's family worked in the mills. She was born in a mill village! In 1945 my grandfather got tired of mill life and bought a farm and never went back. I think my mom said he got tired of the whistle that woke everyone up early in the morning. Then there was a second whistle to tell you that you had so many minutes to get to the mill and if you didn't make it in the gate by the third whistle they locked you out for the day!
Last edited by senecaman; 12-28-2015 at 11:09 PM..
Wrong. English was NOT an easy major. Unlike Math, there are no right and wrong answers, and professors can decide if they like your interpretation or not. Some professors would not give you a good grade if they didn't agree with you.
Take some of those "liberal arts critical thinking skills" and write a short paragraph on why your second and third sentences do not support the premise of your first sentence.
The problem is that there are very few research positions relative to the number of graduates. It's a nice pie-in-the-sky dream that everyone should go to grad school, but it's financially and practically unrealistic.
Exactly. Which is why we need fewer colleges and less public funding going towards them. We don't need everyone to graduate college. There's not enough room in research to handle the masses. We need to be more competitive in determining who we allow into our colleges and who we invest in... in terms of academics
Quote:
Originally Posted by PanapolicRiddle
Some of us just didn't have the grades and/or financial resources for a 'real' school, so we had to settle for a state college or university. I went to the UW which you probably know is a very good, though fairly standard, large state university. It's unrealistic to expect most to attend an elite ivy league school.
There's nothing wrong with not being adequate for a college education. Maybe at a later time in your life, these people will be better prepared. UW has handful of great programs. But they also have plenty of programs in which they don't excel. Why they admit students to those programs is beyond me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PanapolicRiddle
Only a small portion of students have the drive and resources for grad school, so most persons in their late teen-early 20s would be better served either with a STEM degree, or forgoing a 4-yr school entirely in favor of professional/technical program at community college, or an internship for a skilled trade. For most prospective students these paths are far more practical than an LA education.
I agree with you. These students are the ones that should attend college to prepare themselves for graduate study and eventually research and innovation. Preparation for professional jobs is great and one should attend professional/technical programs at vocational schools and community colleges to get that preparation. That's a different path than the higher education path.
I am going back to college in January after a LONG hiatus. I'm doing an online program and am majoring in Liberal Studies. (This will be a Bachelor's degree, btw.)
I work for a healthcare company I've been with for almost 11 years. I have a great job and make close to $70K...without a college degree. [I started at $40K 11 years ago as an admin with about 10 years experience under my belt; moved laterally into a different, non-admin position in 2008; and in 2014 was promoted two job levels and given a significant raise.] I'm getting my degree (finally) because there is no further mobility or promotability for me within the company without it. But I've spoken with several managers and VPs in the company, and they all say the same thing: they don't CARE what a person's degree is in; they only want to be able to check the box.
(Based on what I see in my group, this is true. One person has a degree in political science, another has a degree in recreational/sports management, another has a fine arts degree, and so on. Nobody in my group has a degree in a business-related field; no one in my group has a masters degree.)
So I'm majoring in Liberal Studies because those are the subjects -- history, religion, philosophy, literature, arts, etc. -- that interest me.
(To be fair, I am considering doing a post-bac certification in Business Analytics when I'm finished with my undergrad, but that's a way off, and my thinking on that subject may change between now and then.)
If you wanted to, you could use math and science courses toward your liberal studies degree because those are also liberal arts. If I went back to my alma mater for a liberal studies degree, they would even let me use computer science courses in my major.
I actually did very well in math in K-12 and had to pass a statistics comp exam for my PhD program. I didn't major in math or physics because I find them to be mind-numbingly boring like another poster said. The only natural science that interests me is biology, but biology majors tend to struggle to find good-paying jobs.
STEM is no guarantee of a job after graduation. Just ask any biology major.
Nothing is guaranteed, but I'm referring to likelihood. An engineering major is far more likely to a decent job than an anthropology major. And yes, some STEM degrees aren't much better than LA degrees. For instance, there are a limited number of jobs for those with an astronomy BS.
But overall the economy has mostly become bifurcated: Most job growth is in lower paying service jobs, with less -but still significant- growth in health care and science/technical fields. There's also decent growth in some of the skilled trades.
So unless someone is resigned to a low-wage service job they need to focus on preparing for health care, science/technical, or skilled trade jobs.
To comment on a post above about math and English - I love math and would have possibly gone in that direction BUT the math teachers at my big state University didn't speak English. Well, TAs, but you had to be in level 300 and above courses to get a "real" teacher. Maybe the TAs were knowledgeable but didn't matter, couldn't understand them. And I mean it was so bad we would ask how much time (in minutes) we had for a test and the answer would be "1 o'clock".
The English teachers all spoke very good English and knew their material. And I concur, hard to please an English prof - As were not all that easy to obtain. Often it was a guessing game of how to please said prof; hit the mark and As abound.
I agree with you. These students are the ones that should attend college to prepare themselves for graduate study and eventually research and innovation. Preparation for professional jobs is great and one should attend professional/technical programs at vocational schools and community colleges to get that preparation. That's a different path than the higher education path.
I don't follow your premise. Are you saying the only purpose of college (undergrad) is to prepare someone for more college (grad) so they can get a job in college (professor)? There is a whole world of professional jobs out there that come from an undergrad college education, not vo-tech and CC. Not arguing against vo-tech, but that the vast majority of college is in that professional arena, neither vo-tech, nor PhD.
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school, so we had to settle for a state college or university. I went to the UW which you probably know is a very good, though fairly standard, large state university. It's unrealistic to expect most to attend an elite ivy league school.
