Uni of Life v Uni Degree?

[Curious_AJ]

Me too..... For starters many in my view can't do basic maths without a calculator, can't spell or write... they just print.

Now you got me started.... I hate it when I walk into a clothing shop or similar (and that is very rare) and the young assistants just sit on their stools or lean on a wall texting dribble to their boyfriends and girlfriends...

....um, hello, you are employed to get off your lazy arse and serve, talk to, engage potential customers and see if you can increase sales for your employer... you know the one that pays you a wage to actually work rather than just turn up and expect to get paid!!

Okay Mr Grumpy is going to bed now.

you do forget, that dependign on the store, the person only gets paid minimum wage, the job ends up being a chore to scrape meagre wages... it's not a very engaging or interesting job... When I worked at the baby factory, I always made the effort to help people, or ask an older sales rep if I didnt know. But I got paid puddle stix and eventually resigned because the amount of pay I was getting was just rediculous for the amount of work i was putting in.

[geoffm]

While Mature students do tend to be more active in tutorials and lectures I dont know whether non-mature students would necessarily share you enthusiasm.

Particularly with regard to group projects where mature students are often very inflexible with available hours.

Plus their contributions in other areas are not always appreciated. (I didn't personally mind but I know a lot of people who have had that view)

It also depends if it is post graduate or undergrad. I finished my ME a couple of years ago as an adult student. There is a big difference between postgrad and undergrad - it is much less of a factory and you are expected to think.
2 years of study got me a $25k student loan, a new job with a lot more money, and a massive debt from living for 2 years with no income... I am glad I did my BE in the Old Days when it was a snip at $1350/year fees. The numbers don't add up now IMO.
It also explains why engineers are in short supply - anyone who can do engineering is bright enough to do accountancy, which takes 3 years and pays more with more jobs, especially in a downturn in the economy.

[The Pastor]

i hate it when people think they are better than a job, then complain they cant get no work,

thats not to say you shouldnt aim high, but if you cant get high, start lower down and work your way up ya basterd.


The good thing about being at the bottom is you can't get any lower

[*caution*]

Alot of degrees out there these days are absolute arse, run just to make money, the following degrees are well worth the pain, suffering and fees: architecture, medicine, law, Engineering (From experience I had many a good job to choose from after graduating from Engineering).

You learn alot of life skills at uni, like drinking, causing havok and such like....is that education? Though those off course can be learnt anywhere...

In the context of your whole life though, a few years at uni isn't that long, and $50,000 dept isn't really that much either, (taken in the context of how much you will earn in your whole life), and paying no interest thanks to labours vote buying means by the time you pay it back your not really paying back the full loan anyway (inflation!).

Certain degrees open alot of doors for you, but I know many a smart/dumb/successful/dropkick with and without degrees.

You are more "educated" in the academic sense with a Uni Degree, and as someone pointed out earlier you've proved you can stick it out at something and finish it, and after finishing you still have plenty of time left to get your "degree in life".....

[Swoop]

And my brother is a tradesman (own business) who seems to be earning craploads more than me at present, and he left school at 15 to go work as a joiner. Go figure.

Interesting point.

Schools are directing their students into the "academic pathway" (leave secondary school and then go to university) at the expense of everything else.
If a student shows an interest in, say, plumbing/hairdressing/carpentry/etc, they are immediately placed to one side with the other "lost causes".

The job market is flooded with university graduates with nice new bits of paper with the ink still drying on them, and the employer is faced with choosing between them all.
This happens time and time again. A flooded job market for the university leaver, coupled with the lack of "hands on experience" and real world CDF.

I do find it interesting that someone is making good money as a joiner though. Their wages are usually piss-poor.

[James Deuce]

degree fan bouy by chance?

No, I don't have one. The whole argument about whether a degree is worthwhile or a waste of time is hovering at about the same level as the idea that people have a fixed view on any given situation that is determined by their "politics" alone.

Both premises are about as watertight as Courtney Love's fishnets.

[Her_C4]

No, I don't have one. The whole argument about whether a degree is worthwhile or a waste of time is hovering at about the same level as idea that people have a fixed view on any given situation that is determined by their "politics" alone.

Both premises are about as watertight as Courtney Love's fishnets.

Oh thank god - someone finally has an opinion worth reading....

[kerfufflez]

you do forget, that dependign on the store, the person only gets paid minimum wage, the job ends up being a chore to scrape meagre wages... it's not a very engaging or interesting job...

The 'enjoyment' of a job is largely irrelevant - if you're paid to do a job, then DO it. That's why it's called work, and not 'engaging/interesting/fun time'.

[Curious_AJ]

well, this is true. but you can't expect most teenagers to actually take a part time job that seriously... you know how they are these days... I personally hate those people, i'm not saying that if I don't enjoy the job, I wont work at it. OF COURSE I'd work as hard as possible! I'm just saying that that's the general consensus for people around my age that are getting jobs.

[Maha]

I have a degree (somewhere buried in my office at home..... somewhere.... old undies.. no.... someone's bra...hmmm.... ah here

Me tooooo, well not exactly a Degree, more of a Certificate for 25yds (yes thats right yards) Breaststroke achieved at Primary skool i fink?....

[caesius]

the following degrees are well worth the pain, suffering and fees: architecture, medicine, law, Engineering (From experience I had many a good job to choose from after graduating from Engineering).

You've offended a BSc student.

But you're right, with all the degrees in surfing management etc nowadays what's the bloody point?

[The Pastor]

degree fan bouy by chance?

hey.. horses for courses; and i learnt the hard way, that corporate life and having a supposed career aint all its cracked upto be .. by everyone else.
I chased that dream for 15 years and now i'm pondering on what i'm really here to be..not do.

still. what ever tickles ya fancy huh. I just disagree with the comment that having a degree means someone is more educated, intelligent or will get them further in life.


I was lucky enough to have later education paid for by work and when submitting papers i had my tutor fail me because i'd achieved something in a manner he wasn't familiar with. it worked, but not the way he prescribed.

My experience of academics, especially lecturers, is they're short of experience in the real world.

thats one good thing about unitec, alot of them have SOME real world experiance though its out of date, they can understand it when you say "lets try it this way"

[caesius]

Read over the thread. It'd kill me not to give my opinion.

Uni does not make you smarter. You can go and do a BSomethingUseless and think you're part of the master race. I tend to dislike those people.

I am doing a BSc, Mathematics and Physics. It takes a lot of energy not to pack it all in and get a "real job", but at the moment I'm lucky enough to have the means to go to Uni, which, as a lot of people have said, gives you that slip of paper you need.

But the number of wankers I have to put up with it drives me insane; people who have no clue about the real world outside of their cushy hostel/Uni lives.

I would honestly rather be doing a fitter welder apprenticeship, I may even do it after I finish Uni. Back in the day Uni usually meant you had an ounce of brain power above the rest, today it means nothing.

To everyone who has graduated from a Uni degree post 2000:

Congratulations, you're now mediocre.

[Curious_AJ]

w00t... lol. tech colleges with practical learning for the win (yet unitec itself is sub-standard, they need better management in natural sciences!!!)

[The Pastor]

Read over the thread. It'd kill me not to give my opinion.

Uni does not make you smarter. You can go and do a BSomethingUseless and think you're part of the master race. I tend to dislike those people.

I am doing a BSc, Mathematics and Physics. It takes a lot of energy not to pack it all in and get a "real job", but at the moment I'm lucky enough to have the means to go to Uni, which, as a lot of people have said, gives you that slip of paper you need.

But the number of wankers I have to put up with it drives me insane; people who have no clue about the real world outside of their cushy hostel/Uni lives.

I would honestly rather be doing a fitter welder apprenticeship, I may even do it after I finish Uni. Back in the day Uni usually meant you had an ounce of brain power above the rest, today it means nothing.

To everyone who has graduated from a Uni degree post 2000:

Congratulations, you're now mediocre.

did you get your degree in 1999?