RE: No College Degree Necessary?

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RE: No College Degree Necessary? - 3/14/2011 10:43:07 PM

popeye1250

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Wind, look at all the people in govt. offices with degrees that simply aren't neccessary for the work they do. They're making $80k for doing what a secretary could do for half of that! Talk about waste!
Unless they're specialized most jobs simply don't require degrees. We used to have something called "on the job training" in this country. And, it worked very well!
The people with degrees could become targets of cost cutting measures. If I can hire someone at $50 k to do the same job then why would I want a person with a degree at $80k?
Years ago in Boston, Mass they started a program where Cops and Firefighters could get degrees and get more pay for having one. Needless to say the program got out of control and none of them ever performed their jobs any better. I think they called them "Foley degrees."
Do we really need Cops and Firefighters with degrees? No, of course not but all the colleges and universities think "everyone" should have a degree.

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RE: No College Degree Necessary? - 3/15/2011 12:16:19 AM

Edwynn

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quote:

ORIGINAL: popeye1250

Wind, look at all the people in govt. offices with degrees that simply aren't neccessary for the work they do.

She was speaking of the private sector. Everything in your post applies even more so in the private sector than in the government sector, so I don't know why you are trying to invoke "government waste" into the discussion, other than that you are a life long beneficiary of that yourself.

I any case, point taken as to both posts. I somehow survived a long time with out even a HS diploma, and here I am now heading towards a masters degree. I estimated that my retirement would be better this way. I didn't even need to take a class to figure that out.

When I was 19 people kept asking me what college I graduated from and what my major was, etc., based upon normal discourse, the fact that I knew more than they did about numerous things, etc. It did not even occur to most people that someone would bother to read so much with out the academic gun to the head. When I dropped out of high school I just started reading and I couldn't stop. Not having the pressure of some twit commenting on everything I did and piling things on me that I had no use for and taught me very little might have had something to do with that. Who knows.

But what windchymes was pointing out, I think, is that current day HR departments have no brain and just 'paint by numbers,' so to speak, in just blindly requiring a college degree willy nilly, with out any consideration or understanding of what the job itself actually requires. It is taken as a measure of "higher standards" to require a degree, if actually needed for that particular task or not.

In some way of thinking, it reduces the burden on the HR staff of having to actually understand the job they are hiring for, and having to assess fundamental capacity, etc. At least half the degrees obtained are just for "cos the job add says so," and don't ask me what all the English or Philosophy or History degrees are about, the first being ridiculous in awarding a degree for speaking the the language you were born with, the latter two what anybody capable of reading can do on their own time, and the only job obtained by any of them is in academia (OK, not 100%, but the vast majority).

In any case, I've been through the job world where I'm better to the task than the average college grad, but yet they and I both were stuck where we were. Now that I've gotten to the uni myself, I learned enough from r/l to get a degree that actually matters, not just to potential employers, but to myself.

All I can say is, I wish I had figured this out earlier.

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