Majoring in Bullshit

[DGS49]

Don't take this the wrong way, but your education is bullshit. And if you think you have refuted that assessment with what you have written so far, then what can I say? Thanks for proving my point.

If you are, as you say, middle class, and if you are as intelligent and diligent as you imply, then you are wasting a mountain of money majoring in "anthropology and government." It appears that your aspiration is to obtain some sinecure in government and reek havoc on your productive brothers and sisters in the private sector.

You can learn everything you would ever want to know about anthropology on the internet and with a couple to textbooks, but textbooks are mainly going to be a waste because the most current information is changing relatively rapidly, as it always has.

And please, please, please, don't respond that you intend to go to law school; you would only be digging your hole deeper.

 

[HenryBHough]

America needs more law school graduates!

Coffee shop chains are expanding all over the place and they need those unemployed grads to staff the counters. Their ability to memorize the liberal line demonstrates their superior potential to get your complicated order right. The downside is that they tend to spit and piss in inappropriate places.

Close supervision is required, so there are also a few openings for conservatives as well.

 

[wallflower]

Actually, I intend to go into teaching high school social studies. Which anthropology and government are great for.

And furthermore, I said statistics on their own are not enough. Combined with qualitative data, they are.

Third, if you all question the strengths of seven sisters graduates, you clearly have never met one. The only proof you need of the quality of our education is to look at the places seven sisters women have gone and continue to go.

My statements on my research experience were not meant to say "oh, I am on equal level to people with doctorates" it was meant to say "I have gotten many amazing opportunities thanks to my school, and that is only after two years"

I'll be the first to criticize the administration here, they do a lot of stuff wrong. I'm also always the first to criticize admissions and their attempts to make this school seem "pearls and cashmere" to get money. But I will also criticize anyone who dares to say I don't get a quality education because I dared to not major in the precious field of stem and decided to go to a school where all my professors learn my name.


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[Esmeralda]

Don't let these knuckle draggers criticize your school or education. They are ignorant, know nothing, narrow minded buffoons and trolls who are spouting and pontificating on things they do not understand. Without the humanities, civilization is lost, no matter how many scientists, engineers and mathematicians we have. These people hassling you are second and third rate thinkers whom no one would listen to or pay any attention to if they were not posting on the internet.

 

[Katzndogz]

Liberal arts majors graduate unqualified to do anything except go back to school for a post graduate degree in something useful.

 

[oldfart]

You can learn everything you would ever want to know about anthropology on the internet and with a couple to textbooks, but textbooks are mainly going to be a waste because the most current information is changing relatively rapidly, as it always has.

The information may be available, but the tools to make sense of it are another thing. There is a difference between a school and a library. Good schools and universities are places where scholars interact with students to make sense of the information available. We went through this before in a thread about whether or not people could be self-educated by reading as opposed to a structured educational experience.

And the more rapidly information on a subject changes, the more valuable the community of scholars becomes relative to the stock of information resources.

Knowledge is essentially worthless in today's world, anybody can get it for free. Judgment, however, is ever more valuable. And it's what people pay for.

 

[Esmeralda]

You can learn everything you would ever want to know about anthropology on the internet and with a couple to textbooks, but textbooks are mainly going to be a waste because the most current information is changing relatively rapidly, as it always has.

The information may be available, but the tools to make sense of it are another thing. There is a difference between a school and a library. Good schools and universities are places where scholars interact with students to make sense of the information available. We went through this before in a thread about whether or not people could be self-educated by reading as opposed to a structured educational experience.

And the more rapidly information on a subject changes, the more valuable the community of scholars becomes relative to the stock of information resources.

Knowledge is essentially worthless in today's world, anybody can get it for free. Judgment, however, is ever more valuable. And it's what people pay for.

Exactly. Excellent post.

 

[jasonnfree]

Don't take this the wrong way, but your education is bullshit. And if you think you have refuted that assessment with what you have written so far, then what can I say? Thanks for proving my point.

If you are, as you say, middle class, and if you are as intelligent and diligent as you imply, then you are wasting a mountain of money majoring in "anthropology and government." It appears that your aspiration is to obtain some sinecure in government and reek havoc on your productive brothers and sisters in the private sector.

You can learn everything you would ever want to know about anthropology on the internet and with a couple to textbooks, but textbooks are mainly going to be a waste because the most current information is changing relatively rapidly, as it always has.

And please, please, please, don't respond that you intend to go to law school; you would only be digging your hole deeper.

I guess I'm wasting a mountain of money helping my daughter, a single mom, in her getting her anthropology degree. It's her talent and calling. Art, music, anthropology which is a good base for her being a teacher later on if nothing pans out in the anthropology field. (How will she wreak havoc teaching? Explain). She even has a small tattoo on her inside wrist with the Darwin theory of selection. It's her passion. She would disagree with you on depending too much on the internet. Professors in classes, study labs and maybe tutoring, symposiums, field trips, internships, also needed. Working in her field of choice is important. China is pretty productive, top students in math, engineering and science. However they also have strong respect for music and arts etc. in their curriculums, which their government subsidizes.

 

[HenryBHough]

If a child (anyone under 26) really wants to "do" archaeology then they might consider first attending a trade school where they learn to operate heavy equipment. Then do the degree and make sure whoever hires you (more work for heavy equipment ops than for sand-sifters) knows it. That's opportunity. When your Cat rips into some ancient artifact or turns up bones you're positioned to take on the role required by overzealous regulators. You can shut the job down in a heartbeat but drag out that degree to prove you're qualified to set up a whole new department in the company to efficiently get things back on track and to show corporate "responsibility".

If one sets about to make lemonade one may wish to be sure he/she/it has sugar (or some other sweetener) available before rushing out to buy a box of lemons.

 

[NLT]

Most colleges, the ability to graduate with a diploma is dependent on your ability to write checks that don't bounce.

 

[wallflower]

Maybe some, but you know, most colleges have these things called grades? And some like mine will kick you out if you fall below a certain GPA. And professors here are not afraid to fail you.

Also...anthropology and archaeology are different. Archaeology is a subset of anthropology. There's also biological anthropology, medical anthropology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, political anthropology, etc. the list goes on.

And humanities/liberal arts degrees, I know, generally don't have the same direct translation to a job as business or engineering or whatever else would. But the fact that you lack the creativity and critical thinking ability to see that the skills one learns in the social sciences or humanities show why this country still has a very strong need for both.


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[HenryBHough]

Please do let us know if you find work.

 

[wallflower]

As I said, I plan on going into teaching, most likely in an inner city school. So I'll find work.

But anthropologists are employed by a wide variety of groups, including the US military. Why does the military need anthropologists, you may ask? Well, seeing as how it holds operations all over the world, it needs to understand the places in which these operations are occurring. And it needs to understand them on a human level, not just on a military or governmental level. Just one example.


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[HenryBHough]

We shall look forward to hearing of your success in finding work.

Provided, of course, any of us remain alive by then.

 

[williepete]

"But the fact that you lack the creativity and critical thinking ability to see that the skills one learns in the social sciences or humanities show why this country still has a very strong need for both."

Since I know how hard it is to tolerate such a troglodyte, I can easily overlook your rudeness. Superior elites need not be civil to the hoi polloi. Oh, how I remember the days back in college when I was the smartest person in the world. How unencumbered I was by experience, decades of reading and world travel. I can tell from your humble character you will go far in the world.



“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

― Mark Twain

 

[HenryBHough]

When they refuse to face facts they get all hissy. Should it be surprising that so many with advanced degrees in nothing productive are amongst the unemployed? One might but wonder how (or whether) they might be planning to repay those student loans.

Community colleges should not be allowed to discriminate against advanced degree holders when they apply for admission to pick up a few courses leading to marketable job skills.

 

[williepete]

Can't say how reliable the following is. You all know what a rag Forbes is and how shaky any research from Georgetown University can be.


The 10 Worst College Majors

Not all college degrees are created equal. According to a report by the Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) at Georgetown University, your choice of college major substantially affects your employment prospects and earnings.

“What you make depends a lot on what you take,” says Anthony P. Carnevale, Ph.D., director of Georgetown’s CEW. “Most young people in college take whatever interests them, without thinking what it can really do for them.”

So which college majors are the least valuable in terms of career prospects and expected salary? Using data provided by the CEW from the 2009 and 2010 American Community Survey, Forbes discovered the 10 worst college majors based on high initial unemployment rates and low initial median earnings of full-time, full-year workers. The findings? While the arts may be good for the soul, artistic majors are terrible for the bank account.

Topping the list at No. 1, anthropology and archeology represent the worst choice of college major in economic terms. Recent college graduates of the major, those ages 22 to 26, can expect an unemployment rate of 10.5%, well above the national average. When they do land a job, the median salary is just $28,000, compared to a mechanical engineer’s initial earnings of $58,000.

MORE: The 10 Worst College Majors - Forbes

 

[wallflower]

Because they lump archeology and anthropology together. They're not the same. One has the very narrow focus of looking at artifacts (archeology) while the other has many more diverse fields and applications underneath it.


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[DGS49]

Yes, they are not the same. And Archaeology is NOT a subset of anthropology. One studies PEOPLE, and one studies STUFF.

The pity is that so many bright, motivated people choose to study things that are either worthless or lead to careers that produce nothing of value. It is cute that you aspire to be a social studies teacher in an inner-city school, but if you choose that route, I guarantee that by age 30 you will be looking seriously into Amway for you next move. Alternatively, you will be one of those burned out teachers who plugs along for years doing as little as possible, just because there is a pension at the end of it.

Yes, there are jobs for anthropologists and whatnot. Many government construction contracts require that an archaeological specialist be at the site during excavation, in case some potentially noteworth artifacts are uncovered. And they actually have a lot of power, with the ability to shut a job down if something is unearthed.

But these jobs are few and far between. Mostly people with those degrees are, in the best case, struggling to find a teaching job somewhere and complaining at how little they get paid to be an "adjunct professor."

Or working in retailing, fast foods, or for Enterprise - the most prolific employer of recent grads in the U.S.

 

[HenryBHough]

I have been advised that my earlier post (concerning esoteric subject grads in search of work see additional vocational education in hope of transitioning into the specialty for which we taxpayers so much) was incomplete.

After due consideration I must agree. I neglected to note that many highly paid trades, such as heavy equipment operation, require pre-employment drug testing. Since most elite institutions of "higher education" take "higher" to mean something other than academic this is something grads cannot be expected to know. So now you're on notice - don't apply for work if you know you can't get it. Unless, of course, the application is solely to satisfy those nasty "looking for work" requirements to keep feeding at the government (tax-funded) trough.