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I think that the government shoud lok at what they are pushing in colleges before offering loans . . .
Uh, they do look into what they are "pushing" in college before offering loans. That's why there's an accreditation system and only students attending accredited institutions are eligible for federal loans.
No it is not unethical. They are not selling anything. Vast majority of people I know who major in majors such as Art, Literature, Philosophy, Theatre etc. pretty much know they aren't going to be working for a large corporation or company. The whole purpose of a university isn't so you can learn a trade but so you can expand your mind and education. The whole beauty of being a supposedly "cultured" society is to learn about and enjoy things that really have no baring on our survival skills.
Do you think it's unethical for them to sell knowingly worthless degrees for $30 or $60 k?
Degrees that they know have no value in the marketplace. With zero chance of increasing in value. Zero chance of increasing in a rising economy.
Why don't consumer laws apply to degrees?
If you buy a car or a house, you can't purposely rip people off. There are also money back guarantee rules in retail, rules about food safety, etc. Why don't these apply to a degree?
Or are college interests simply more powerful than retail, food, automakers?
Thanks for the lol...I never thought about it quite that way. Well they are Convinced they are giving an Education, which they are. Just has no monetary value.
No... people can choose to do whatever they want. If I want a degree in basket-weaving, and a college offers that as a major, then that's good news for me. If I want a degree in biology, then the fact that the college offers basket-weaving does not affect me in the least. It's not like they force you to major in something that you don't want.
If you want to go further, is it unethical to sell Oreos? After all, they really offer nothing of nutritive value. Is it unethical for Walmart to sell crappy polyester clothes? (Well, aside from the overseas labor camps and such.) If people want to buy that, then it's their choice.
It's an enormous amount of money, that's the factor.
I think the ethics are questionable....I had plenty of professors that at least implied, why are you going to college? To learn something, to get a job later on.
I know some degrees are rock solid...engineering or law or something.
But it seems like they have a blank check to sell virtually any class, at any price. Under the brand "college". It's scary if you ask me that you can go to a public or private school, take out tens of thousands in loans, and you have no idea if you can repay them at the end. Or any serious cost/benefit analysis.
I know some like liberal arts, you can springboard to better things.
I took a few journalism classes. But they leave out on the first day the state of the newspaper business or magazine business. Or trends, blogging, anything. It's a little bizarre when you think about it.
I don't understand why you would say that it is the responsibility of the college, instead of the responsibility of the student. So if I'm a stay at home mom, but I'm interested in existentialist philosophy, I shouldn't be able to go to a school and take classes in it because it isn't "useful"? When you sign up to take a class, the school promises to teach you something. Nothing more, nothing less. Your marketability is up to you.
I knew a guy who had a master's degree in "ancient languages." Last time I bumped into him, he was bussing tables and washing dishes. He spent $118,000 on his education. When my son wanted to go to school for acting and aksed me to pay for it, I told him not only NO, but HELL NO!
I find it humorous that so many are claiming the purpose of school and education is so you can get a job. I challenge those with even the "rock solid" degrees to claim they use even half of what they were taught in their classroom.
I have a degree in Finance, about as rock solid as it gets, and less than half of what I learned in class matters. Basically all Financial formulas can be plugged into excel, accounting is done by computer programs, and anything else I need to know is taught by on the job training. Even the rock solid degrees are worthless as far as preparing you for a job goes.
Yes! But I was in a graduate program that openly admitted that the masters degree was useless. lol Left them after 2 semesters too late...
Quote:
Originally Posted by John23
Interesting worthless degree thread.
Do you think it's unethical for them to sell knowingly worthless degrees for $30 or $60 k?
Degrees that they know have no value in the marketplace. With zero chance of increasing in value. Zero chance of increasing in a rising economy.
Why don't consumer laws apply to degrees?
If you buy a car or a house, you can't purposely rip people off. There are also money back guarantee rules in retail, rules about food safety, etc. Why don't these apply to a degree?
Or are college interests simply more powerful than retail, food, automakers?
ya but if you ask around the academic advisors should be honest and "advise" you to a better degree..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Megande
No. And for lots and lots of reasons. The most basic is that it is incredibly paternalistic to tell people what is and is not a useful thing to know about. If you don't bother to research your job prospects when you get a degree in Art History, that is your problem. If you buy a used car without taking it to a mechanic, that is also your problem. Schools aren't telling you that you will get a job paying $XX,XXX if you get a degree in Gender Studies. They are only promising to teach you about the subject. As long as they deliver, what you do with your degree is your business.
College is also about teaching you how to think. I went to a liberal arts school and had to take lots of "useless" classes. In all of them, I had wonderful professors who were passionate about their fields. I don't feel as if any were a waste of my time. I learned a lot, became a better citizen, a better consumer, and a more critical thinker. I went to graduate school in a very "useful" field (economics) and had lots of worthless classes that were only interested in my ability to memorize mathematical proofs.
And finally, a degree, any degree, serves as a useful signal to employees, even if you don't learn anything of practical use. I'm a labor economist, and in the field there are two theories of education. The first is that education is useful in employment because you learn something that actually helps you be a better employee. The other is that it primarily serves as a signal. The signal theory is based on the fact that it takes a certain amount of intelligence, dedication, initiative, etc to get a degree and it is those things that make you a good employee. Since it is difficult for an employer to ascertain those things from a resume or a brief interview, a degree serves as a signal that you have at least a passable level of those intangible things. That is why employers prefer someone with a botany degree to be their sales rep over someone with no degree, even though their course of study doesn't directly help them in their job.
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hehe...
