max & cr?m otm
― D-40, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:51 (twelve years ago) link
Nobody's shitting on academia, as far as I can tell. But, I'm sorry, the insistance that college makes you more 'worthy' of a good/stable/high-paying job is silly, and kind of elitest – and that if you go to college you are more deserving of one than somebody who didn't/couldn't/hasn't yet.
― remy bean, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:52 (twelve years ago) link
Mind you, I've got 2 post-bac degrees, and I've worked minimum wage for most of my career.
― remy bean, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:53 (twelve years ago) link
(i fucking hate it)
yeah idk i think most bad jobs are shitty, dispiriting wastes of time and its super gross for louis c.k. are anyone to be like 'dont complain' abt them
― *clicks 'OK'* (Lamp), Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:53 (twelve years ago) link
remy otm
― kate78, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:54 (twelve years ago) link
like i can sort of see the argument that 'in our america of today the virtue and vitality of work has been debased' but i think that has as much to do w/ the type of 'work' ppl are being forced to do, rather than our prevalent attitudes towards 'working'
― *clicks 'OK'* (Lamp), Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:55 (twelve years ago) link
calling the dockworker MBA--or whoever is out there saying "i have a degree, i should be putting it to use"--elitist just occludes the fact that we have what is apparently a very broken system in place. it puts the blame on the people who were "screwed" (for lack of a better word) instead of the institutions doing the screwing
― max, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:55 (twelve years ago) link
― *clicks 'OK'* (Lamp), Thursday, September 1, 2011 6:53 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
eh i think what he said is otm & funny but more in the "no one has dream jobs at age 20" sense
― D-40, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:56 (twelve years ago) link
i should add that i dont really think theres anything "elitist" about wanting some kind of return for the time and money you invest in a college education!
― max, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:57 (twelve years ago) link
most jobs are shitty –– if there's a truism in the universe it's that you don't have any right to be happy at work. it's nice, and lucky, if you are. but you should also feel very, very lucky to have a job at this particular juncture in history and not be a grudge-filled asshole about it.
― remy bean, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:57 (twelve years ago) link
― *clicks 'OK'* (Lamp), Thursday, September 1, 2011 7:55 PM (40 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i think its def partially to do w/that, like good blue collar jobs dont exist anymore, but its also a state of mind thing imho
― ice cr?m, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:58 (twelve years ago) link
But, I'm sorry, the insistance that college makes you more 'worthy' of a good/stable/high-paying job is silly, and kind of elitest
really? i mean maybe not automatically but shouldnt at least have some correlation to them? and if it doesnt than what should? luck? ancestry? being handsome? nothing?
― *clicks 'OK'* (Lamp), Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:58 (twelve years ago) link
there is something inherently elitist in thinking that your time spent talking about chaucer in small groups of like-minded people qualifies you for high-paying work more than four years as an apprentice electrician running cable in the rain at 5am for $12/hr
― remy bean, Thursday, 1 September 2011 23:59 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, that's hyperbole
if we believe that to be true why shit on the dockworker MBA?
― max, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
but you should also feel very, very lucky to have a job at this particular juncture in history and not be a grudge-filled asshole about it.
so honduran migrants picking crops in south florida for a few dollars a day should just be happy theyre making more than they were in their villages?
i mean lol internet arguing tactics but i mean...
― *clicks 'OK'* (Lamp), Friday, 2 September 2011 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
there's more than one conversation happening here
― horseshoe, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
1) higher education is kind of broken, as is the economy
i do thinks its p fd up that everyone is always u need college to get a good job then these kids pay all this money to go to college then they cant get a good job and everyones like welp - but on the other hand you do have to be somewhat savvy in life to do well
― ice cr?m, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:02 (twelve years ago) link
wtf @ driving slowly to save gas
― call all destroyer, Thursday, September 1, 2011 3:51 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark
iirc the sweet spot is 50-55 mph to get the best gas mileage
― dayo, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:02 (twelve years ago) link
2) certain disciplines are maybe not a good idea to get a degree in anymore
― horseshoe, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:02 (twelve years ago) link
horseshoe otm but really it's 1) america is broken
― dayo, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:03 (twelve years ago) link
2) nuh uh
― ice cr?m, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:03 (twelve years ago) link
I agree completely. I don't know where our signals got crossed.
― remy bean, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:03 (twelve years ago) link
a college degree is still advantageous for getting a job, fwiw
― D-40, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:04 (twelve years ago) link
even a liberal arts one
3) people like to feel dignity and meaning in their work and it seems less and less possible in postindustrial america<--not just a problem for the upper middle class as far as i can tell
― horseshoe, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:04 (twelve years ago) link
― remy bean, Thursday, September 1, 2011 8:03 PM (26 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i dont think we were arguing iirc
― ice cr?m, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:05 (twelve years ago) link
― D-40, Thursday, September 1, 2011 8:04 PM (54 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― D-40, Thursday, September 1, 2011 8:04 PM (7 seconds ago) Bookmark
yeah i didn't mean to suggest otherwise. this sometimes makes it hard to talk abuot what is wrong with academia, though.
― horseshoe, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:05 (twelve years ago) link
otm
― D-40, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:06 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i mean in all fairness im p close in age to the ppl in that article and i was always told p blatantly that its not just enough to go to an elite college i had to get v good marks, have decent extracurriculars, spend my summers working at 'adult' jobs/interships &c &c so its not like i cant see why simply graduating w/ a b- average and summers spent surfing and playing in bands and working @ starbucks or w/e and youre not getting consulting gigs but @ the same time i cant spit on a dude for not yknow?
― *clicks 'OK'* (Lamp), Friday, 2 September 2011 00:07 (twelve years ago) link
there are other conversations, like, yes sometimes 21 year olds are entitled about jobs because they don't know anything yet, but that doesn't mean that everyone's life should be backbreaking soulcrushing labor until they die
― horseshoe, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:07 (twelve years ago) link
@ Horseshoe's #2) Yes, certainly. There are a lot of people who can't/won't/shouldn't attend higher education that are perfectly skilled and would be happy in jobs that are now requiring a college diploma. When a 4-year degree is required for an "administrative assistant" position that would be equally-well served by a 6-week trade school course and an apprenticeship under a senior secretary, everybody suffers –- the 4-year degree'd "administrative assistant" may feel stifled and like they're working in a job below their potential and skills, and the applicant for the job who would really appreciate it, and take pride in it, is left out in the cold.
― remy bean, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:08 (twelve years ago) link
4a) is the decline of unions or something
― horseshoe, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:08 (twelve years ago) link
a college degree has traditionally served as a signal (= this person is safer to hire than someone who doesn't have the degree). it wasn't 'elitist' to decide that this was a decent investment/goal/use of 4 years. the majority of people who made that investment in the 40 years prior came out thinking they made a good decision - that's why 'college is good, more college is better' has become universally accepted, and still is, even while there's mounting evidence that that isn't quite the case anymore.
― iatee, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:08 (twelve years ago) link
― remy bean, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:09 (twelve years ago) link
although i don't think that it isn't 'just the case' –– i think it's actually injurious to the neediest and least-employable segment of the workforce
― remy bean, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:12 (twelve years ago) link
― horseshoe, Thursday, September 1, 2011 8:07 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark
feel like it's worth pointing out that as americans we are pretty lucky to have (the possibility of) options other than backbreaking soulcrushing labor!
― dayo, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:12 (twelve years ago) link
absolutely, which is an even bigger problem that gets less time in the nyt xp
― iatee, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:13 (twelve years ago) link
its true being a rickshaw wallah or sharecropper is not that cool
― ice cr?m, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:14 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i mean we're still in a position of privilege globally but i don't know this:
― remy bean, Thursday, September 1, 2011 7:57 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark
kind of comment always rubs me wrong. if you're not independently wealthy then you can't opt out of this, but there's nothing wrong with pointing out that it sucks
― horseshoe, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:14 (twelve years ago) link
I also kind of want to examine how the 'follow your bliss' or 'do what you love for your job' line of thinking plays in to all of this
― dayo, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:15 (twelve years ago) link
i do agree with max to an extent, i think our model of higher education can be very reasonably be called a scam as far as it doesn't always deliver its promised economic results and has institutionalized massive personal debt as a rite of passage.
however, and i'm wary of sounding too bootstrappy here, but you get out what you put in, at least as far as a biz degree is concerned i would think. if you hustle your ass off and network with everybody and work your way into good internships, you probably have a higher chance of putting that degree to good use. but if you think that your diploma alone is going to open doors for you, you're likely gonna be disappointed.
my point is, dude in the article comes across as the latter. sitting in his parent's basement "browsing for jobs online" doesn't exactly endear him to my sympathies. his parents started charging him rent? good for them. it sounds like he sorely needed some motivation.
― elmo argonaut, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:15 (twelve years ago) link
yes i think that's part of what went wrong with academia
xp
― horseshoe, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:15 (twelve years ago) link
― dayo, Thursday, September 1, 2011 7:15 PM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
otm mostly bcuz im struggling with this myself irl
― D-40, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:16 (twelve years ago) link
seems like we're assuming a lot about this guy and passing judgment from a few 'graphs of a nyt article
― dayo, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:17 (twelve years ago) link
― elmo argonaut, Thursday, September 1, 2011 7:15 PM (45 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i think its fair to say that this kind of thing isnt always communicated to college students
― D-40, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:17 (twelve years ago) link
fwiw I think ygl is right on this and the american university system is pretty much gonna implode in our lifetimes
http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/09/01/309988/bold-prediction-of-the-day-universities-are-the-new-newspapers/
― iatee, Friday, 2 September 2011 00:17 (twelve years ago) link
i never did an internship -- no one ever really impressed on me how much easier it would make things -- i wish they had