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Right, who thinks you need to have a degree these day to show you're 'professional'?
How many students come out of college/uni and have to take basic jobs because they cant find a job in what they studied for.
Right, who thinks you need to have a degree these day to show you're 'professional'?
20 years ago that bit of paper was your passport to anything..whether ye were suited to it or not...A degree in History could open the door to a career in Philosophy and vice versa.
After the 8o's I think a lot of that changed as unemployment led people back into education and more and more obtained degrees whilst really wanting employment.
I don't think a degree is as venerated as it used to be and I think people now choose a vocation and seek ongoing qualification levels in that chosen field rather than seeing 'a degree' in whatsoever as the key to the entire jobs market.
How many students come out of college/uni and have to take basic jobs because they cant find a job in what they studied for.
A friend qualified with a masters degree back in the early 80s and could not get a job doing what she was trained to do. So rather than go on the dole she worked on a production line in a factory doing rotating shifts getting paid a pittance. I felt so sorry for her. In the end she did get a good job but it was in another field altogether. However, she has gone from strength to strength and has not looked back since.
cuddlepop
12-Apr-08, 21:01
Dont get me started on this degree question.
OH has loads of experience and was a facilities manager but with no paper qualification he'll be lucky to get an admin job.:(
Personally, I think it's on it's way out, vocational is the way to go.....
ciderally
12-Apr-08, 21:23
if its written in polish you might get a job....im being bad
How many students come out of college/uni and have to take basic jobs because they cant find a job in what they studied for.
That's because Uni doesn't represent the real world of work.
Sorry my opinion is having a degree just means that you can learn parrot fashion and as for the eternal student.... oh dont get me started and oh "Im doing research" simply means I cant be bothered to get a job so I'll just sponge off everyone else and try to look down on them at the same time! sorry for those that are the exception to the rule but I can only base my opinions on those I have met.
Sorry my opinion is having a degree just means that you can learn parrot fashion and as for the eternal student.... oh dont get me started and oh "Im doing research" simply means I cant be bothered to get a job so I'll just sponge off everyone else and try to look down on them at the same time! sorry for those that are the exception to the rule but I can only base my opinions on those I have met.
if its written in polish you might get a job....im being bad
That's because Uni doesn't represent the real world of work.
Mmm all very odd arguments the people I know who went to Uni on to medical school qualified etc are extremely competent against all the odds a lot of people achieve a degree
And a lot of students who think they are are top of the class at High School once they go to uni find they are nothing
they pretty dash quick find the real world and learn they have to find out its not all about partying etc
If they want to proceed they soon find out what the real world is really like
The polish people who rented my flat in The Highland Capital are more qualified than I am
who I may say went on to buy it through sheer hard work and determination
Right, who thinks you need to have a degree these day to show you're 'professional'?No-one in their right mind?
A degree is an educational qualification not a professional one. Professional qualifications are usually obtained later. Sometimes a degree is essential, sometimes it is isn't. It depends on the profession and the body that oversees it. On-the-job vocational training is good but it often needs to be preceded by a degree or degree-like education. I wouldn't like to be a guinea pig for straight from school on-the-job vocational training in Medicine, Dentistry, Law or Civil Engineering for example, but I suspect you don't need a degree to learn how to run your local Tesco or do a difficult job which involves mainly people skills.
I'm not convinced that the government's target of having 50% of young people in higher or further education is anywhere near optimal. I think 35% or perhaps even 25% might be nearer the mark with the remainder receiving a better preparation from on-the-job vocational training.
For the record, I have a couple of degrees, both obtained by the time I was 23, all some years ago now and mostly long forgotten. I learned a lot, much of it was useful, much of it wasn't, but I learned which was which and I learned how to learn and how to discard trash. That part of my education was priceless and many of my experienced co-workers without degrees haven't learned it and probably never will. Many of them suffer from degree envy and they never get over it, they use their lack of a degree to excuse their lack of promotion when the reality is that they're no bloody good at their jobs. We all make excuses for our lack of progress in our chosen careers, it just so happens that lack of a degree isn't one I can fall back on.
I think employers are more interested in experience and references rather than degrees. I have never had to show my qualifications to anyone who employed me!!apart from my driving licence etc.
It all depends if you study a decent course.
Do engineering and it opens up many more doors than IT or media studies.
So far my two BSc's have been useful. Definitely more than just bits of paper. Blood sweat and tears went into getting them, and I am making sure I get full value out of them in my career.
It all depends if you study a decent course.
Do engineering and it opens up many more doors than IT or media studies.
So far my two BSc's have been useful. Definitely more than just bits of paper. Blood sweat and tears went into getting them, and I am making sure I get full value out of them in my career.
The bit of paper makes all the difference in getting a job and believe it or not there is people that are good at all the theory side of things and have no problem getting ther certificates but when it comes to puting it in practical and using ure hands some of them are completley useless and then u meet people that dont have there bits of paper and really good with there hands and can fix anything.To be honest about it on job training is just as important than the theory side.
And as for engineering jobs depending on the location your living its quite easy to get a job because there is not a lot of people training people up these days and now there is a shortage due to people retireing and changing carreers and companys are relieing on immagrants to fill these jobs rather than training up the young ones.
Bobinovich
13-Apr-08, 20:42
Do engineering and it opens up many more doors than IT or media studies.
Maybe so but having experienced engineers fresh from Uni who barely know one end of a hammer from the other, I do feel a certain amount of practical experience would be useful.
Right, who thinks you need to have a degree these day to show you're 'professional'?
As mentioned already, only in critical positions such as doctors, dentists, civil engineering, etc. where other people's lives are at stake.
Looking professional and being a professional is very different. I am aghast at the number of people who claim to be professionals. Some of them cannot even spell the word and the rest should look it up.
Depends what you mean by "professional." You can be a waitress and be a professional if you have the right attitude to your job and want to be the best waitress ever.
I don't think churning out 50% of kids with degrees is a very good thing for the national economy. I just wish courses in spelling, grammar, a basic ability to communicate, and an understanding of "professionalism" were made prerequisites for obtaining a degree.
Right, who thinks you need to have a degree these day to show you're 'professional'?
Looking at this we may well now be flooded with bits of paper and degrees.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7346228.stm
and you can even get a degree in the management of selling beds[lol]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7343027.stm
percy toboggan
14-Apr-08, 16:55
A degree of common sense is the most valuable asset....and you don't really study for that. It can come naturally. via life's experience and knock backs. Some of which can be avoided by staying on at school 'til yer twenty-five!
However, that said I'm all for worthwhile degrees, and might go in for one meself....English...one day.
l/m
percy toboggan
14-Apr-08, 17:03
Incidentally....'professional' drivers are only ever referred to as such by their employers when accused of doing something wrong...such as bending the vehicle. ie...'yer supposed to be a professional'
At all other times they are considered ten a penny rubbing - rags.
I seldom bend or break...but hesitate before saying so publicly. You're only as good as yer last load!
Incidentally, I'm looking forward to mine.
Sapphire2803
14-Apr-08, 17:25
Well, with Geography classes like this...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7346860.stm (http://forum.caithness.org/go.php?url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7346860.stm)
I think I'll just go back to school. Why on earth would you be allowed to submit your geography work as a poem or cartoon? [disgust]
I find that most of the jobs that interest me seem to require a degree or some such now. Nobody is willing to say "come on then, let's see what you can do!" You have to waste time learning (officially) what you already know.
I don't think churning out 50% of kids with degrees is a very good thing for the national economy.
This country cannot compete economically with the world on labour costs. The only other option I can see is to compete with it on a high skill level (usually envolving extensive education).
A former employer once remarked he would rather have half a dozen staff with common sense and a will to work than a dozen graduates with lots of paper qualifications and no idea about life in the real world. Legislation has now decreed he has to use the staff with paperwork and life skills are worthless. A world gone mad.
northener
14-Apr-08, 18:44
Right, who thinks you need to have a degree these day to show you're 'professional'?
All those who have one![lol]
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