Actually, I went back and read what I said before I posted. You should have known I would do that. I substituted Interdisciplinary Studies for a reason. It was to convey just taking classes to be taking classes can be a bad idea. However, I was not judging a person majoring in Transgender studies at all. There are reasons that a person may want to go in that direction. My post is saying have a plan. You read into it what you wanted to. Something you do a lot.
The American Public Has Gotten the Message on College Degrees
- Thread starter PrestonyteParrot
- Start date
I have just checked out some library books on the Grant and Hayes administrations and the presidential election of 1876. Of course, I will not claim to be an expert when finished reading them, but I do expect to be more conversant on the subject than I am now.
Well, whatever you want to be called. (You get triggered when I say adcoop, you get triggered when I shield you and just say "some poster", so whatever you find less triggering)
You have a habit of not really reading my posts and just responding with whatever is on your mind anyway. But for once in your life, actually read this post.
I dont have a medical degree, but I've dealt with a family member who resembled you.
First, you often times get confused which poster you are replying to. This happens, but you cant simply admit it and move on. You double down and insist that the poster actually said such and such, regardless of what really happened. And you also get very mad when this is pointed out.
Sometimes, you say things and then days or weeks later will refuse to admit you ever said it. I'll offer your own posts, like today, and you'll steadfastly refuse to admit it. A simple "my bad" could save pages of back and forth, but you cant do it.
Then there was the time you got so adamant that you quoted your own post and started arguing with yourself.
These look a lot like the onset of dementia a family member of mine suffered from. He was in his 80's at the time. He confused who said what, what he said, and was always very quick to get defensive if it was pointed out.
I know youre old, you've claimed to have graduated around 90. So part of the inability with the quote function, or your amazement at my use of the site's simple search function could be the product of a guy who grew up without the internet, or mobile phones. But that alone doesn't explain these kind of slips.
I know youre already working up some lame retort, and you've probably already stopped reading. But for your sake, talk to a professional. Maybe start with a spouse, if you have one. Children if you've been blessed with those. Maybe them or others in your life have only seen examples, and haven't started putting the pieces together yet.
Now, I have no issue continuing to mock you. I've always thought you were just a giant moron, and you sputtering around like an idiot has been entertaining. But I have no interest in picking on someone whose mind is slipping. There's no fun there.
Go talk to someone in your life who'll be honeat with you. Catching it early may help ease or delay any decline that is coming.
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Lol… you saved me from posting this. I was going to say people could just read it but I like the way you said it better.It is written in English.
We get it…..the transgender studies market is booming and lucrative
I can tell you this, if a college graduate applied for a position in business, in general, I'd be more impressed with the kid who went on to a four year school after two years of community college. There are all kinds of reasons to take that path and they are all good ones as far as I'm concerned... whether by choice or of necessity. Anywhere from having to work a little harder to get where you want to be, to saving money. Call me impressed. Work ethic and monetary decisions... not a bad start imo.
Yes, but courts have interpreted it for a long time now and random guy off the street's opinion on it after reading it doesn't mean as much as someone who discusses it in context of those rulings.It is written in English.
About once a day someone claims to understand the constitution and wants to tell others what it says while not filtering it through 200+ years of court cases. So I prefer to hear someone talk about the constitution who can discuss with knowledge of how it's been interpreted and the nuances of different aspects of it. That requires someone that has done something more than "just read it"
Listening to Uncle Bill talk about "what it really says" at the family reunion is of no interest to me personally.
I could easily go the rest of my life without hearing someone opine on what the constitution says since I've heard a thousand opinions on it for 50+ years.
Especially given the average guy off the street thinks Plessy V. Ferguson was a middle-weight boxing match in 1971.
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It depends.
My oldest went straight to a 4 year school- USC. This was best in this situation although I do half wish community college would have been first. But I don't regret how it turned out.
My middle went to community college, then USC- and I spent a total of under $500 for the associate's degree he earned at community college. He's just now finished USC with no student loans. Of course my wife and I paid for the two years at USC but we could do that because he went to community college. This was best for him.
My youngest is getting ready to start at Winthrop. She's received several scholarships that are helping a lot with her freshman tuition. This is what was best for her overall.
Each one of mine are quite different in interests and all three wanted to go to college.
LOL on the last sentence.
I read that in the early 1950s with Brown V. Board of Education making its way through the courts, the state of SC began to take the "but equal" side of "separate" more seriously than it ever had. This resulted in the sales tax increase used to build decent school buildings for black residents (ultimately, most of the monies went to white schools, but there was definitely a boost in facilities for black students). Equalization schools. History. Context.
Actually, with the disproportionate emphasis some people put on transgender people, studying it seems to make sense if one is genuinely interested in the field or helping people.
People are interested in many different subjects, people, interests, etc.
My insurance broker got a degree in Geography. He never planned to be a teacher. He simply was interested in the subject and wanted to attend college.
A former pastor at the church I attend, got his 4 year degree in Electrical Engineering. He never spent one day in the field and didn't even trouble-shoot the electrical outlets at our church when they didn't work.
IMO, that a reasonable, but not absolute opnion. An interview with the candidate should determine who would be a better fit for the position. But knowing nothing else, I go along with your assessment.
Everyone's situation is different. Earning a scholarship is great. Also earning a degree without one is impressive. All I'm saying is as a guy doing the hiring, decisions made by an aplacant when their back is against the wall, overcoming adversity or just plain saving money during their college years tells me a lot.
To play the other side, we have a sitting supreme court justice with a few degrees who can't define what a woman is and Im not sure she can spell constitution.
I too get the idea of deferring to "experts", but from before, the problem comes from experts either learning from a biased source, or simply acting on their own biases.
Degrees simply cant be the only criteria to judge people. ESPECIALLY with anything involving politics.
You mentioned something that we've touched on before. "If people are interested in the field". I get the notion of a college teaching you to be a "well rounded individual" or teaching you different topics that might not be associated with your degree. If you want to spend your money (or parents money) on that, go for it. We shouldn't begrudge people for spending their own money.
What i object to is "kids" getting duped into large loans for these types of degrees. Especially when they then turn around and want other people to pay their loan. Entertaining their whims to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars does not appeal to me.
Any degree is fine as long you're interested and you dont mind spending your money and time on it.
I know people with law degrees that never practice law. I was going to be a sports writer with my Journalism degree….spent 37 years in a totally unrelated field. Not the same point. Being interested in something is fine. If you can afford it it’s your business and good for that person.
College has tried to blend the worthless and insane with the worthwhile and sane. The insane is winning.
Which is why the value of a college degree is in freefall while the cost is outrageous!
Hearkening back to law school days when it's all about theory and how far logic can take you.
Criterion.
I'll go along with this. Take financial responsibility for your tuition whether you're pursuing a degree/diploma/certification for the job training or the love of learning.
That's what makes experience the greatest equalizer in terms of skills and quality of work. And experience from an apprenticeship would be worth more than an accreditation IMHO. However, for both "white collar" and skilled labor positions, a CV that shows 8+ different employers in 10 years is a red flag (probably not the kind of "experience" you want).
I agree.
I remember 20+ years ago working towards a certification in some aspect of Novell NetWare. Even then, the testing did not reflect how network administrators would manage a network.
Colleges aren't unlike other things in society. They cater to their customers.
What is worthwhile to one is useless to another - and what is worthless to one is valuable to another. We all know this.
This is not unique to college degrees.
I heard it said by a wise man once….be leery of expertitis.
As of 2025, the average federal student loan balance is approx. $41,600. For the Class of 2023 specifically, average cumulative debt totaled $29,300 per borrower.
The exaggerations made on a message board (and cable news and talk shows) are always interesting.
While some people have crazy levels of student loan debt, there are hundreds of thousands of college students that don't have much debt.
TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION SERIES Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2024
Yes, the average is 40k. That means for every student without debt, there's one with 80k in debt. I dont think thats the exaggeration you think it is.
I would also wager the conversation from earlier comes back in. STEM students are probably paying off their debt, leaving the higher debt with the students who have degrees giving less earning power. Chicken/egg thing going on there.
That is not correct. The average is the average among students who have debt, not all students.
The average number is also the amount of debt at graduation, not at present.
The article i read seemed to say it was at present.
And if we want to split hairs, then for every person with $1 in debt, there is a person with 80k.
Average just means the middle (i know, median) , it doesnt erase the higher end numbers that are out there.
What really surprised me was the numbers for 62+ aged people. Who is taking our school loans in their 60's????
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The post I responded to mentioned over $100k. That's not common. It's not the average. The average is much less.
Yes, some students have very high levels of debt, but that also includes people who go to medical school, dental, school, law school, etc. -who tend to make a lot of money not too long after graduation, who also have very high levels of debt that tend to increase the average upward.
Yes, some students have a very high amount of student loan debt. However, the vast majority do not, and that seems to get lost in this discussion.
Correct.
many students graduate and never have any debt. They get lost in this discussion of the extremes.
and if you look through the data at the majors with student loan debt, you see students in the humanities related majors are almost all in the $20,000-$26,000 range at graduation.
Oddly, you will also see majors such as "religion" and "religious studies" are in the $30,000 range.
Most all undergrad majors who have student loan debt graduate with between $20k and $30k in student loan debt- a far cry from the much larger numbers that get talked about- that almost always include the post graduate student loan borrowers such as medicine, dental, law, pharmacy, etc.
That's not $0, but it's a far cry from $80,000 to $100,000 that you see talked about a lot on message boards and social media.
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Okay, so we want to dispel the "rare" 100k debtors and replace them with the 80k debtors?
I dont really think thats a convincing argument.
I agree with you that some students end up with very high debt. And a lot of them have degrees that arent going to help them pay it back very much.
Just to clarify on the math, if 9 students had 20k in debt, and 1 had 100k, the average is 28k.
So 10% of graduates could be floating around that number. Thats still a lot of people.
Hence the popularity of trying to buy votes with student loan forgiveness.
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