Worthless.
is the name of a book given to me by Captain Capitalism. You can find it here on Amazon.
With a daughter going to start university in a bit over two years, this was damned valuable information to me. You can get the Kindle editiion for FIVE BUCKS. if you have children about to enter school- or you EVER WILL, you NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. And get your kid to read it too, so they understand the battle they have ahead of them.
11 comments Og | Uncategorized
I’ve got 2 starting next year. This is sure to amp up the anxiety to eleven.
Knox: I will be happy to loan you my copy, but it’s a good enough thing to have on hand.
It’s mostly common sense, but from the perspective of someone who knows the ins and outs of the system; predominantly,what I got from the book is: find a field where there are JOBS, and don’t take out any student loans.
Also, if you are part of the 51% who pay taxes, you are subsidizing someone else gettig a worthless degree even if you have no children.
A lot of those worthless degrees would not exist without a “free money” industry of student loans to support them. If student loans were given by bankers using the same credit worthiness criteria that they do for small business loans, only a small fraction of degrees would qualify.
A while back Instapundit did a post: NEWS YOU CAN USE: Worst College Majors for Your Career. And they’re right, and I know because at one point I majored in almost ALL of them and graduated in…#1 Anthropology. I spent (wasted) a lot of time in #2 Fine Arts, did many hours in the darkroom with #3 Film & Photography…spent too much time burdened by #4 Philosophy and Religious Studies (partial major/TA in Anthro of Relig.), and most recently have been in #5 Graphic Design (currently unemployed and probably-never-will-be-employed-again), did a bunch of #6 Studio Arts (metal sculpture), while attending UCSC #7 Liberal Arts (Poetry!), and after college being unable to find work spent even more time in the wasteland of #8. Drama and (local) Theater Arts – but as an “Anthropologist” I completely eschewed the idiot-laden #9. Sociology – but at least I wasn’t an #10. English-major – but I had a batshit crazy GF for a while who was… Should have stayed safely ensconced in Academe but felt suffocated by it.
My poor parents wanted a(nother) member of the Professoriat but I failed them.
Back when I got out of the military (and before I re-enlisted again) I was amazed at how I, little SPC Dave, without an actual degree, still had job skills that made me more employable than many college graduates who had all the credentials.
I’ve been pushing people towards the trade schools as hard as I could. Yes, you can go to STATE university and get a pretty sheepskin with your name on it, but just what else does that get you? While a two year school and a certificate in welding can get you six figures a year rather quickly, if you put the time in.
And now I’m at a crux in my military career where I’ll need a degree to advance any further. Not because the degree does jack squat for me, but the people who are in charge of promotions want to see someone with a degree. So I could have a BA in Underwater Basket Weaving, and they’ll think that’s all fine and dandy, but my actual WORK and my PRODUCTION won’t get me anywhere. I’m having a hard time swallowing the sheer amount of time and money I’ll need to expend to get to the next level.
I’m a history major with most of a Master’s in same, but I never let that stop me from taking what’s turned into a semi-management job in the software industry. And I didn’t go to college till I was 24, either.
I did take student loans (had to) and paid them back in 10 years pretty much on the button…but I had only $20K to pay back, INCLUDING the loans I took for grad school. I keep hearing about kids getting out of school with $50K, $60K, $100K in loans, and I can’t figure out a) who was so damn irresponsible as to issue all those loans to undergraduates, and b) what the hell the kids did with all that money.
I wouldn’t recommend college for anyone these days unless they wanted to be a doctor or an engineer or a veterinarian. Anybody else, you’d be better off going to trade school than graduating with that worthless degree in Eng.Lit.
And don’t get me started on education degrees. My niece who is practically my daughter has already been sucked into that whiney-ass profession and has been posting stuff on Facebook about how elite and put-upon teachers are, so I fear we’ve already lost her.
No doubt a lot of student loan money is used to support lifestyle. Not just room and board, but also vacations. Spring break and european trips in the summer, charged as “tuition” and “class fees”.
I have a nephew who’s six months younger than me, so he and I started college at the same time. He went to Rutgers (NJ state school), while I went to the College of Staten Island (City University of NY). He majored in film-making/theater, I majored in Computer Science. Now, 27 years after I graduated, I’ve spent those 27 years doing what I majored in (and got a MS degree along the way). He’s been a waiter and part-time playwright for all that time.
Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with doing what interests you. For some people, it’s something they can make a career out of. For others, it’s a hobby. I don’t program computers in my spare time unless that program will fulfill a need I have. I also don’t try to make a living fishing or building model trains. I got into computers because I have a natural ability for it, honed by years of education and experience. If I didn’t have to make a living though, I’d walk away and never write another program again.
So if I may be so bold as to offer advice to the Oglet, I’d say to find something she’s GOOD at that she can make a living doing. If it doesn’t happen to coincide with her passion, but her passion isn’t something she can live off of, then by all means pursue that passion part-time. Study it if possible, even as a minor or as electives, but have a way of supporting herself too. I know she doesn’t need ME to tell her that, I’m sure Og has already done so.
Professor, I have no doubt you are 100% correct in your assessment.
[…] A while back Instapundit did a post referencing NEWS YOU CAN USE: Worst College Majors for Your Career. And more recently the venerable Og the Neanderpundit has a post on Worthless. which is the name of a book given to him by Captain Capitalism. You can find it here on Amazon. And they’re righta bout how useless most major are – and I know this because at one point I majored in almost ALL of the Top-Ten Most Worthless – and graduated in…#1 Anthropology! I also spent (wasted) a confusing amount of time in #2 Fine Arts, drawing fat, nekkid people with a pencil on rough paper, and spent many hours in the darkroom with #3 Film & Photography… and whiled-away too much time burdened by #4 Philosophy and Religious Studies (partial major/TA in Anthro of Religion as a result of growing-up overseas Missionary Kid), and most recently have been floundering in the career (if you can call it that) of #5 Graphic Design (currently unemployed and probably-never-will-be-employed-again). I did a whole bunch of #6 Studio Arts (metal sculpture!), while attending UCSC which for me was #7 Liberal Arts (Advanced Poetry!), and after College being unskilled (and quite aware of it) was unable to find meaningful work, I spent even more time in the wasteland of #8. Drama and Theater Arts – but as an “Anthropologist†I completely eschewed the idiot-laden #9. Sociology – and at least I wasn’t an #10. English-major – but I had a batshit crazy GF for a while who was. She wrote an entire freakin’ 20-page paper on the use of the third person plural in Shakespeare’s “As You Like it” (or some damn Shakespeare-thing). Ultimately I probably should have stayed safely ensconced in the Lotus-Land of Academe, but I really felt suffocated by it. My poor parents wanted a(nother) member of the Professoriat, but I failed them too by bailing out. So after Post-Graduately working at an Archaeology dig in South Dakota, I wandered eastward until I landed at a friend’s house in Arlington, and did pick-up day labor with a bunch of recently released ex-(temporarily) cons as a “landscaper” until I landed a gig as a stripper on N-Street – “stripper” being a guy who assembles advertising-art in a darkroom for a photographic-services house… […]