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I'm always somewhat taken back with the subject of "useless degrees" and while I can see the concerns from a student or more to the point a parents point of view (I'm an indentured servant to Pitt) I was browsing through a musical instrument catalogue and was taken aback by the price of musical instruments for aspiring musicians.
$3,000 for a French Horn, $6,000 for an oboe, $21,000 for a bassoon!!!
How absurd! Who would spend that kind of money on the off chance that their child MIGHT be lucky enough to get some low paying job with a medium sized symphonic orchestra? Insane!
But then I thought, what kind of society would we live in without young people who could play the introduction to Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, understand the beauty of Mark Twain's colloquial prose, know how to preserve the artistic integrity of an Andrew Wyeth, or understand the intrinsic value of a Gustav Stickley chair and its importance to the history of American design and craftsmanship?
We need students who study "useless degrees", I would hate to think of what kind of world this would be without them.
That's all well and good, but I hope to heaven that my kid isn't the one with thousands upon thousands of dollars to pay back for the sake of a degree in The Beatles. Because goodness knows I wouldn't be the one paying for that!
Getting a useless degree as a minor or as a double major is fine. Getting one without any sort of a backup plan is asinine and a complete waste of money.
I believe that there are no shortage of threads in which to bemoan either the cost of a college education, the cost benefits of courses of study and parental desires for the occupational success of their children. That isn't the topic of this thread.
But let me say this....
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherTouchOfWhimsy
a degree in The Beatles. Because goodness knows I wouldn't be the one paying for that!
This is a graduate level program offered in a nation that has historically supported seemingly eccentric fields of intellectual interest. Although I hasten to point out that massive volume of literature and interest in the musical and cultural impact of the Beatles, a post-graduate program offered I might add at a comparatively low cost is not more a travesty than a post graduate study of Shakespeare.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prof2000
Getting a useless degree as a minor or as a double major is fine. Getting one without any sort of a backup plan is asinine and a complete waste of money.
Ahhhh. Talented musicians, and artist who don't concentrate on their chosen art form generally are set for failure when it comes to pursuing the primary goal of their chosen art form. Considering the level of competition, and devotion to the art I doubt that those who hope to achieve a position with a major symphonic orchestra or careers as soloist can afford to spend a great deal of time and energy pursuing a major in performance and one in mechanical engineering. But hey, what do I know.
Now back to the central issue of the thread. If we as a society insist that academia is sole purpose of producing the the vocationally useful, I submit that society will be the lessor for it, a world filled with apparachiks, corporate bureaucrats, financiers, and technological mechanics. How more dystopian can the future be?
So, the topic of this thread can a society be of value that believes that education is solely for the purpose of vocational training or does academia continue to be a place where educations worth is judge by no other standard than the value of education of its own sake, no matter where intellectual curiosity may take it.
In a way aren't most degrees...well, maybe not "useless" but...unused (in the practical sense)? Many of those whom I know have degrees but not degrees one would think they 'should' have for their current occupation. I also know a lot of people with degrees whom take a career that has no particular degree requirement. Were the degrees a waste of time and money? I don't know. Maybe. I think part of the university experience is becoming exposed to ideas, ideas that lead us in unexpected directions or toward a discovery of something about ourselves that we would otherwise not know.
I'm always somewhat taken back with the subject of "useless degrees" and while I can see the concerns from a student or more to the point a parents point of view (I'm an indentured servant to Pitt) I was browsing through a musical instrument catalogue and was taken aback by the price of musical instruments for aspiring musicians.
$3,000 for a French Horn, $6,000 for an oboe, $21,000 for a bassoon!!!
How absurd! Who would spend that kind of money on the off chance that their child MIGHT be lucky enough to get some low paying job with a medium sized symphonic orchestra? Insane!
But then I thought, what kind of society would we live in without young people who could play the introduction to Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, understand the beauty of Mark Twain's colloquial prose, know how to preserve the artistic integrity of an Andrew Wyeth, or understand the intrinsic value of a Gustav Stickley chair and its importance to the history of American design and craftsmanship?
We need students who study "useless degrees", I would hate to think of what kind of world this would be without them.
Sounds like you're getting at what Loren Graham wrote about re: the Soviet higher learning system in his book, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer.
Anyone interested should read this very brief book about how under the Soviet system, higher learning was all about practical skills and it fomented a society full of technocrats who didn't realize problems scientific advancement brings to human beings because these technocrats didn't study the humanities in college. In other words, the Soviets wanted people who could build grand things for the state rather than people who could use technology to solve the basic problems of the human condition.
Sounds like you're getting at what Loren Graham wrote about re: the Soviet higher learning system in his book, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer.
Just great, something else that I have to put on my reading list.
Anyway, I know that I could have spent my entire life locked in a library perusing the "useless" information compiled by writers and academic who have picked apart, and put back together millions of volumes of vocationally useless information for no earthly purpose other than to learn those things that I do not know or knew that they were worth knowing in the first place.
When I went to college, and majored in something my family had never heard of...they thought it was a "useless" degree.
I have had an excellent career...and never had a problem finding a job. I have even been offerred jobs...I never applied for. Once I turned down an interview....and was offerred the job anyway. Some little known degrees are in high demand because few people major in them...
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Because goodness knows I wouldn't be the one paying for that!
