Growing Number of College Grads Regret Liberal Arts Degree

[Pokinfun]

I don't think anybody regrets getting a vo tech welding certificate even if they don't use it for a primary source of income.
It comes in handy to an employer that you are willing to learn outside of the box and your more well rounded in the education of the blue collar worker even if one does have a college degree. Plus, you get to use that skill to build cool stuff a home.
I had a whole lot more respect for the engineers I worked with that came off the farm where they worked with their hands before they worked with a computer.

I do not think you are actually addressing the point he made. I have a lifelong friend that got a welding certificate you of high school, but delivers for FedEx. He enjoys welding, thought he would do it for a living, but it is really worthless training. However, I would never say that welding is a worthless skill or training.

 

[Rooster1971]

Hit the nail on the head with all points.


Meanwhile....on the right side of the isle....

Didn't realize there were cheap seats on that side of the aisle.

 

[Pokinfun]

 

[dennishoddy]

I do not think you are actually addressing the point he made. I have a lifelong friend that got a welding certificate you of high school, but delivers for FedEx. He enjoys welding, thought he would do it for a living, but it is really worthless training. However, I would never say that welding is a worthless skill or training.

Myself as an example. I put myself into a box once. First big job after getting out of the Army was a purchasing agent. When the company downsized, I spent a year looking for a purchasing agent job with no success. I was in that box I talked about.
Got a job as a machine shop apprentice, that offered free education at either college or votech benefits. Had a year of college before going to the Army, and it wasn't for me.
I took every evening class I could at the vo tech. Welding, Industrial Electrical, Machining, CNC programming, and so on with the intent that I could fall back on any of them because I had that paper cert to show an employer I could make a living in that field if I needed to that I had training in their field and was willing to learn.
It worked well for me later on. Every time I pulled that packet of training certificates out when looking for a new job, it made a difference. The same difference that some have posted about a liberal arts education.
BTW I was always looking for a job. Never considered any job I had to be a permanent position for the rest of my life. Always moving forward.

 

[Pokinfun]

Myself as an example. I put myself into a box once. First big job after getting out of the Army was a purchasing agent. When the company downsized, I spent a year looking for a purchasing agent job with no success. I was in that box I talked about.
Got a job as a machine shop apprentice, that offered free education at either college or votech benefits. Had a year of college before going to the Army, and it wasn't for me.
I took every evening class I could at the vo tech. Welding, Industrial Electrical, Machining, CNC programming, and so on with the intent that I could fall back on any of them because I had that paper cert to show an employer I could make a living in that field if I needed to that I had training in their field and was willing to learn.
It worked well for me later on. Every time I pulled that packet of training certificates out when looking for a new job, it made a difference. The same difference that some have posted about a liberal arts education.
BTW I was always looking for a job. Never considered any job I had to be a permanent position for the rest of my life. Always moving forward.

I think you are still missing the point. I actually think you get the point, but want to toss the Blue-collar card.

 

[dennishoddy]

I think you are still missing the point. I actually think you get the point, but want to toss the Blue-collar card.

Perhaps. I did comment that college is not for all people. I'm one, others have commented the same. I tried college, so nobody can say I don't know what I'm talking about.
Just preferred the blue collar and the skilled trades. Ended the last 16 years of my career in Power Plant instrumentation and controls systems which included programming the system and troubleshooting a 2 billion dollar power plant that cost 1 million dollars an hour when it went down and I was the only person on duty at the time in the middle of the night on a call out to figure out why and correct it. Lots of responsibility and danger working around equipment and transformers that could turn you into a carbon fiber in an instant. 550 megawatts is nothing to take lightly and takes specialized equipment.
None of the engineers with any degree could do my job, nor could I do theirs. We were there to enhance each other's job and keep the plant online so Okla, Arkansas, and New Mexico had power and light.
Degree or not, the whole system has work in harmony for it to function.

 

[donner]

1) About what?
2) About what?
3) About what?
4) About what?
5) About what?
6) About what?

Along with all those skills, one must also learn a field to apply those skills to. An automobile mechanic should know those skills even as an apprentice. Same as for those leeches in politics and law.

Woody

i'd add that one of the great things about a liberal arts education is that someone is usually exposed to a wide range of topics. It's a degree that can translate to many fields, even if it still requires specialized training (law school) or on the job training (PR, fire, police, etc).

Employer A might have different 'about what' needs than employer B, but a solid foundation in the skills Mightymouse mentioned means that a person is better equipped to meet the needs of either employer (again, even if it requires a bit more training from the employer).

As an example, a friend of mine from journalism school got married out of college and almost immediately pregnant. She has been a stay at home mom for the last ten + years or so. Now she is working as a spokesman for the Forestry industry in Oregon. She never did any kind of work like that prior to getting the job, nor did she ever think she'd live in Oregon when she was in college. But her writing and communication skills and experience with the newspaper program at Missouri (it's a lab program running the daily, citywide, newspaper) meant that she met the criteria for the job in Oregon.

If she had been forced to pick an 'about what' in college, she'd never have guessed that Forestry would have been the one that paid off best for her. But having a broad set of skills meant that she could adapt and apply them to that specific field when presented with the chance.

And all that to say, looking strictly at outcome is difficult because jobs, and the educational background required, is somewhat fluid and will change over time. Do you think a factory worker who was laid off after 20 years never said 'i really should have gone to college' or that a college graduate (in any field) has said 'wow, i really should have taken X class instead of Y'?

All are forms of regret that only appear after time has passed and people start to think about how their past experiences have impacted their current situations.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

As an example, a friend of mine from journalism school got married out of college and almost immediately pregnant. She has been a stay at home mom for the last ten + years or so. Now she is working as a spokesman for the Forestry industry in Oregon. She never did any kind of work like that prior to getting the job, nor did she ever think she'd live in Oregon when she was in college. But her writing and communication skills and experience with the newspaper program at Missouri (it's a lab program running the daily, citywide, newspaper) meant that she met the criteria for the job in Oregon.

This is her "at what".

Woody

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Doubtful. The first named is a classic, but you learn to write well by writing a lot.

Once you learn how. Writing a lot of gibberish will lead you nowhere ... except if you are a liberal, of course!

The second isn't a classic outside the self-help genre.

Eh ... What is education if it isn't self help?

Whether or not either book is a classic is immaterial. I doubt any of my math, science, history, geography, and English text books were or are classics but I learned from them.

Woody

 

[Glocktogo]

Once you learn how. Writing a lot of gibberish will lead you nowhere ... except if you are a liberal, of course!



Eh ... What is education if it isn't self help?

Whether or not either book is a classic is immaterial. I doubt any of my math, science, history, geography, and English text books were or are classics but I learned from them.

Woody

I beg to differ. I write a LOT of gibberish for a living and the .gov pays me quite well to do it!