why do people study such useless degrees?

[Sabjeet]

some examples - philosophy, english, art history. how will studying these help you get a job? moreover why do people waste their parents money studying for such a degree that won't be any use to them?

I'm studying economics and finance, and i think people who only take this degree are the smart ones. Others wasting their time doing philosophy etc are stupid because employers will ask them how will that help them.

Sabjeet

[DrAlex]

Let the shit-storm commence!

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[Duggeh]

Certainly true if they want a job in economics. Not so if they want a job in philosophy. Which, lets be honest, your economics degree would hvae employers saying "what use is that?"

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IMAGE:www.macintyre42.plus.com/images/tb2-100.jpg
Duggeh: Master Of Ceremonies

[David Bean]

The original poster is either making a poor attempt at a joke, or doesn't understand what a university (or, indeed, academic education) actually is. I wonder which?

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Psalm 91:7

[Al]

Why do people study such "stupid" subjects? Hmmmm. Because they like them? Because they have a talent for them? Because - gasp! - they want to?

[flarewearer]

Quoting Sabjeet from 17:43, 22nd Feb 2006
I'm studying economics and finance, and i think people who only take this degree are the smart ones.

Well you're obviously breaking the mould by being such a complete moron

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image:www.magnificentoctopus.com/x/elgar.png

[Ellkie]

Quoting Sabjeet from 17:43, 22nd Feb 2006
moreover why do people waste their parents money studying for such a degree that won't be any use to them?

Waste their parents money?
Firstly, there are people here who have to fund this themselves.
Secondly, I don't think most parents would think of it as a waste. Most parents would be happy that their child(ren) is/are going to university and doing something they want to do and that they enjoy.
Thirdly, education and knowledge are valuble, never a waste.

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It's all GEEK

[munchingfoo]

I take the piss out of arts students but this is a bit OTT. I don't actually mean it when i say they learn how to ask "do you want fries with that?"

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Tired Freudian references aside - your mother played my mighty skin flute like a surf crowned sea nymph trying to rouse Poseidon from his watery slumber!

[Altheia]

Quoting Sabjeet from 17:43, 22nd Feb 2006
some examples - philosophy, english, art history. how will studying these help you get a job? moreover why do people waste their parents money studying for such a degree that won't be any use to them?

I'm studying economics and finance, and i think people who only take this degree are the smart ones. Others wasting their time doing philosophy etc are stupid because employers will ask them how will that help them.

Sabjeet

Now if only that ultra-useful economics and finance degree would help you learn to use apostrophes, commas, or the shift key.

The CEO of Disney was an English major. Bill Gates didn't even graduate university. I'll hazard a guess and say that both of them are more successful than you are, so I wouldn't put down the "useless" subjects. Of course, I think you're probably just taking the piss to get the Arts students wound up...

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When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. - Mark Twain

[amore vincit omnia]

Many arts students often have a lot more opportunities open to them when they graduate because of the nature of their degree, and can be flexible in their career path in a way which science students sometimes can't.
That aside though, (as I know some smart alec is going to argue it ) I know that my degree in Scottish History might make it slightly more difficult for me to find a job compared to, say, my biologist or chemist friends, especially one which is related to my degree in any sigificant way. But for me, university is not an end to a means. I'm not here simply to get a good job at the end, I'm here because I love my subject and I want to learn as much as I can about it while enjoying the university experience.

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle

[Anon.]

The really stupid degrees are things like Business Studies, and Tourism. Also things like Drama - if you're not going to make it without a degree, you're not going to make it with one either.

[Idealist]

Hmm I am perhaps thinking hoax. To claim that your degree is the only decent one and that everyone else is stupid because they don't take is not a logical argument by any stretch of the imagination.

I think that David was right when he guesses that this may have been 'a poor attempt at a joke'.

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[s]"You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time"[/s]

[Lodestone]

Bill Rammell, the higher edication minister, recently said that it was "no bad thing" that students are turning away from academic degrees ("http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityaccess/story/0,,1710387,00.html). Observer commenter Cristina Odone gave an impassioned reply (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/ ... 95,00.html), but the most interesting comment came from a friend of mine:

"The barbarians are at the gate, and Western civilization needs defending like never before.

The humanities, or the liberal arts, are the ultimate source of liberal values. They are the product of the Renaissance and Enlightenment, which largely left the Islamic world untouched, but which led to the French and American Revolutions and to Western individualism, to the growth of democracy in the place of theocracy and monarchy.

Ignorance of classical literature gives rise to a cultural autism in which our responses to Milton, Pope, and even Tennyson are deadened. Ignorance of philosophy moves the centre of Western ideas from Athens to Washington, Islington, and Notting Hill, with serious consequences for our civil liberties. Ignorance of history dooms us to repeat it."

--

His point is fairly overarching and may sound bizarre if you haven't heard Clive defend academia plenty before. But I'll let you sketch in the details.

Meanwhile, I'll also make the blindingly obvious point that you can take a degree for pleasure instead of / as well as for utility.

[B!TCH]

Hmm Sabshit/sabjeet whatever your name is..go climb a tree and jump off it.

You fucking moron.

Who are you to say whats useless and whats not.

Wanker.

[WashingtonIrving]

I study philosophy AND maths, does that make me half-moron?

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There's gotta be some way out of here, the joker said to the thief

[flossy]

I chose my degree for its usefulness in the jobs market and now I'm wishing I'd actually chosen a subject I enjoyed more, which probably would've been an arts subject.

[hr]

Not to put too fine a point on it, say I'm the only bee in your bonnet

[trouble]

SABJEET IS CLEARLY RETARDED

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"Just stay with me, safe and ignorant,
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,
See, they don't give a fuck about you, like I do." (APC- pet)

[JM]

thank god economists dont neeed doctors, dentists, therapists, etc etc....

out of curiosity, if english degrees etc are useless then who taught you up until now?

judging by the shit grammar etc, i'd say it was a teacher with a degree in economics

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"Life can be full of many problems"; this can be translated into "tormenting you is how the big man gets his jollies"

[Guest]

hahaha economics...!

[Guest]

Anyone who can get into St. Andrews is intelligent, and such arty degrees as mentioned above give you skills which you can apply to a number of jobs, such as learning how to construct and argument, analysis etc. Also if you have a passion to study something, why shouldn't you? Your degree will only get you a job in finance and if you want to change career's you may find it harder because you lack the skills that you learn from doing, say, an English degree. I am studying history because I enjoy it, im the first one in my family to go to university and my parents are proud of me, and why should I spend the best years of my life doing a degree I hate just because it givs me a better chance of getting a job (which I may also hate)?