Most complaints about university being useless come from a place of laziness, amirite?

My philosophy class I was required to take as a business major was one of the most important classes and helped me critically think with an open mind about the world.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

That's interesting I totally didn't pay any attention in my philosophy or psychology classes since they had nothing to do with my degree.

by RelativeCockroach324 1 week ago

I think idea of college is good it's just the overall executions end not being good. Now granted the system maybe designed for kids to fail but still i think we need to have a better understanding of what people are getting into at such a young age. Like 16 is very young to be figuring out how the next 50+ years is going to go career wise.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I agree that it's a lot to expect teens to know their career trajectories. But it's also important to stress that careers change, so it's better to ask them what would they like to try out as a first job rather than what they'll do their whole life

by Anonymous 1 week ago

The system is not designed for kids to fail lol… The data clearly shows the ROI of nearly all undergrad degrees from any school, and especially masters degrees, is pretty worthwhile. It is generally helpful in making more money than you would have without college

by Ashamed_Self_9282 1 week ago

My music degree opened doors for me when I worked in tech, oddly enough.

by jaida25 1 week ago

As strange as it sound it makes sense. It's like some how these degrees are connected or can help you in other fields. Maybe not the course but having a musician mindset might help you in the tech field somehow some way.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

That's how it was designed to work and it does work, if you put into it what will help you

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Agreed. Another part of college is that it is supposed to help you think critically. That said, too many people have a mindset of "how will this help me get a job" and don't see how things would benefit them intellectually.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Yeah i think it starts in HS by forcing kids to make a career financial life or death decision at like 19 or younger. Plus some of these schools be asking for stuff that has nothing to do with the degree. If you are majoring in math why do you need to also show that you played a sport???

by Anonymous 1 week ago

They want to show university is the best path for all jobs when it's not To be fair, this is kind of caused by technological advancements and automation of low-skill labor. The obvious answer to jobs being replaced by automation is to retrain the workers to maintain and build the automation machines, but that training is college level knowledge due to the complexity of these machines. This turns college from a place of academia into what trade schools were supposed to be.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

username checks out

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I agree college is definitely not a waste of time, but I think basic reading and writing should not be required. Not that they're not important, they are, but students should have to be proficient in those to graduate high school. A course on critical thinking, or philosophy, can be required no matter what someone's major is, as that is more in depth.

by Adorable-Pattern 1 week ago

there was a girl in one of my required english classes that used the movie hidden figures as a source for writing about the women the movie focused on. she could not understand for the life of her why that wasn't a real, credible source for a paper. all i could think about was how her high school completely failed her because she tried so hard to do well in school.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

It comes from debt payments

by rennercharity 1 week ago

I'm a secondary school teacher and there is a whole lot of fluff added to the college curriculum I don't blame people for slacking on.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Universities are statistically struggling to create employable people while simultaneously ignoring qualified applicants in favor of reverse-racism. There's many valid reasons to be wary of colleges, especially the public ones that discuss marriage during various classes like some kind of atheist religion. No, I will not marry a random college woman for your cause, professor. I'm my own person.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I don't think it's a case of people thinking college is actually useless. Most complaints come from the idea that college isn't worth the money (and thus, in a sense, useless) and this is increasingly true as many companies continue to drop their college degree requirements and more and more college grads come out with less critical thinking than going in and more group think coming out. But it's hard to argue that college is actually "useless." Sitting in any educational settings and absorbing the bare minimum is still better than nothing. And laziness is laziness. This is detrimental to everyone and happens a lot in colleges, high schools, work places, families... Essentially it's everywhere. This is a pretty decent unpopular opinion as it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, which is the hallmark of many unpopular opinions. And unpopular opinions are often just opinions where the OP didn't really think it out thoroughly.

by Boring_Suspect_260 1 week ago

There were so many stupid classes that had no relation or bearing to my degree that of course I was going to put minimal effort into them. Like seriously I didn't need psychology or any of the BS sciences or humanities, or lame boring history classes to be a draftsman. Like I was drawing blue prints. No need for lame filler classes to make the university money. I put effort on what matters everything else was just a money suck.

by RelativeCockroach324 1 week ago

So why not pursue your degree in a university/college program that doesn't shove liberal arts education down your throat? Didn't you CHOOSE a university and if you did, you sign up for a holistic education?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Because the only place where I lived that offered it that I could afford out of pocket was a university...

by RelativeCockroach324 1 week ago

Holistic*, stay in college

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Thanks bartender

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Actually I'm a digital design engineer - since I went to college with ambitions higher than "writing essays real good"

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Most people go to university because it is the done thing and with the promise of improved job prospects. Aside from obviously pragmatic degrees, this skill translation does not occur in the real world - therefore it is a waste of time. This doesn't come from a place of laziness, just from a set of ethics that doesn't hold academic accomplishment or "service to others" (code for being a jewel-collared bitch instead of a regular one) in high regard - so naturally, people do the bare minimum to get by.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Universities historically are sold on the upper-class getting a holistic education in liberal arts. Of course it'd want to shove those "studies" courses down your throats. And no, the idea that university improves your job prospects is false and everyone is finally wisening up to that reality

by Anonymous 1 week ago

It also doesn't help there are so many pointless courses on offer (or courses with a minimal chance of getting a related job after graduation)

by jovanweissnat 1 week ago

I mean a lot of those courses are opportunities for you to think critically in different fields and apply/learn different approaches. Usually you can choose which of those you want to take, but when universities limit your choices to either pottery or classics…. then yeah, that's kinda defeating the liberty to choose

by Anonymous 1 week ago

If your field of study's name ends in "studies" you're being indoctrinated not educated, and your degree is worthless. Most programs related to these are not that much better, and most are better off working at McDonalds for 4 years than getting degrees in these fields.

by Wiltongreen 1 week ago

You're not entirely wrong about the studies part - hell, I've had grad student TAs knock me down for not parroting what the professor said. But again, why choose to take those classes if you decided to go to a university that shoves that down your throat? Why not go to a community college or a technical program that doesn't force those requirements?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Like what? Gender studies? Even degrees like that have their own use.

by Anonymous 1 week ago