The humanities may seem pointless, but that is the point

[Redneck]

I bet farkwit Brian has never worked in private enterprise!

Sounds like a public servant now , apart from the army or whatever it was.

Have you ever had a real job twit?

[Bobby]

I bet farkwit Brian has never worked in private enterprise!

Sounds like a public servant now , apart from the army or whatever it was.

Have you ever had a real job twit?

Public servants polish seats -
you're not saying that Brian only ever did that?

[Black Orchid]

Do you have any qualifications, Black Orchid? Any at all? Ever been to university? Ever been near a university? Ever?

Feeling the pressure, Brian, so you go for the attempted condescension? We've been through this before, several times in fact. I am sorry that your mind is so muddled that you cannot seem to remember.

So, you know all about University do you? Really? When did you graduate, Black Orchid? What was your degree majoring in? Where was it conferred?

Like I said above. Can you read Brian?

We have been through this before and I answered your idiotic attempts at patronisation then. If you can't remember that's not my problem. There are plenty of tools available on the internet for checking your dementia.

You really get nasty when challenged and it's not a good look.

You aren't a challenge, Black Orchid, you're an amusement, nothing more. You refuse to answer valid questions. Is it 'cause they demonstrate your anti-intellectualism? Tsk, tsk.

I am not going to stoop to your juvenile and ignorant level, Brian, but I will say this ...

The qualification abbreviation for a Bachelor of Arts degree is BA! Not Ba or Bas as you have referred to it half a dozen times.

[brian ross]

Feeling the pressure, Brian, so you go for the attempted condescension? We've been through this before, several times in fact. I am sorry that your mind is so muddled that you cannot seem to remember.

So, you know all about University do you? Really? When did you graduate, Black Orchid? What was your degree majoring in? Where was it conferred?

Like I said above. Can you read Brian?

We have been through this before and I answered your idiotic attempts at patronisation then. If you can't remember that's not my problem. There are plenty of tools available on the internet for checking your dementia.

You really get nasty when challenged and it's not a good look.

You aren't a challenge, Black Orchid, you're an amusement, nothing more. You refuse to answer valid questions. Is it 'cause they demonstrate your anti-intellectualism? Tsk, tsk.

I am not going to stoop to your juvenile and ignorant level, Brian, but I will say this ...

The qualification abbreviation for a Bachelor of Arts degree is BA! Not Ba or Bas as you have referred to it half a dozen times.

You just contradicted yourself, Black Orchid...

[brian ross]

I bet farkwit Brian has never worked in private enterprise!

Sounds like a public servant now , apart from the army or whatever it was.

Have you ever had a real job twit?

I have worked in "private enterprise" now for over 20 years, Red. Before that, I worked exclusively in Tertiary Education and before that I studied and was a member of the Australian Army.

The only difference I ever discovered between "private enterprise" and the Public Service was that the Public Service was more accountable. It needed to prove how it had spent the public's money, whereas "private enterprise" just spent it's own money, how it liked.

How about you?

[brian ross]

I've told this story before.
I know someone with a PhD who wrote a book and it only sold 12 copies.
She is over 60 and lives with her parents.
She could never find a job.

Universities sell dreams to gullible people of high paying jobs.
Only certain degrees pay the big money such as medicine.
A BA or a BSc can make you little more than the minimum wage
if you're lucky enough to find a job.
Centerlink dole lines are full of people with worthless university degrees.

The research indicates that people with degrees get better paying jobs than those who do not. Those who do not hold degrees earn more money, initially but they are soon surpassed by those who have earnt degrees. The lack of a degree is a barrier to advancement and promotion whereas a degree is the key to both.

Brian,
that's probably more to do with the fact that intelligent people go
to university and so they are more likely to succeed in any job.

If that was true, there are plenty of intelligent people who do not have degrees, Bobby and yet they are generally held to lower paying positions because they don't have degrees....

It depends on the employer -
with some technical jobs a degree won't help you -
you need to do TAFE and other courses to be up to date with skills that employers want.
Experience is worth more than anything -
however I notice that many jobs require you to have a relevant degree before applying.

In my experience, a university degree teaches you how things occur. TAFE just teaches you what happens when they occur. If you want someone who understands why something happens the way it does, go to a person with a university degree.

In IT, if I want to understand how TCP/IP works, I consult a university trained Systems Engineer. If I want TCP/IP to work, I consult a TAFE trained Systems Administrator. He can connect up the devices and get them to talk to one another but is at a loss when that doesn't work, whereas the Systems Engineer can figure out the reasons why it isn't working.

[Nicole]

Whilst I agree with what you have just written Brian (for something novel) the problem we have now is we are sending too many people to university.

In 2016, 1500 students graduated from Flinders University in Adelaide with a Masters in Social Work. This does not take into account the numbers that graduated that year from Flinders with a Bachelor of Social Work, nor the people that graduated with social work qualifications from the University of South Australia.

Universities can do that now that so many courses can be studied online. They are no longer confined to the size of the lecture theatre. Pack em, rack em and stack em. It’s a considerable drain on the public purse.

It would be far better - to continue with social work as an example - if the government did projections on how many social workers would be needed in South Australia, and allocated the number of University placements in social work available. Universities would only take the brightest and best, and the public would spend money University educating only the numbers required in the particular field.

I would add that for degrees like social work, medicine, nursing, etc, course applicants should also have to pass an entry interview, proving they can engage in conversation and have basic social skills.

[Bobby]

The research indicates that people with degrees get better paying jobs than those who do not. Those who do not hold degrees earn more money, initially but they are soon surpassed by those who have earnt degrees. The lack of a degree is a barrier to advancement and promotion whereas a degree is the key to both.

Brian,
that's probably more to do with the fact that intelligent people go
to university and so they are more likely to succeed in any job.

If that was true, there are plenty of intelligent people who do not have degrees, Bobby and yet they are generally held to lower paying positions because they don't have degrees....

It depends on the employer -
with some technical jobs a degree won't help you -
you need to do TAFE and other courses to be up to date with skills that employers want.
Experience is worth more than anything -
however I notice that many jobs require you to have a relevant degree before applying.

In my experience, a university degree teaches you how things occur. TAFE just teaches you what happens when they occur. If you want someone who understands why something happens the way it does, go to a person with a university degree.

In IT, if I want to understand how TCP/IP works, I consult a university trained Systems Engineer. If I want TCP/IP to work, I consult a TAFE trained Systems Administrator. He can connect up the devices and get them to talk to one another but is at a loss when that doesn't work, whereas the Systems Engineer can figure out the reasons why it isn't working.

Only the person who wrote the software knows how it works.

[brian ross]

Brian,
that's probably more to do with the fact that intelligent people go
to university and so they are more likely to succeed in any job.

If that was true, there are plenty of intelligent people who do not have degrees, Bobby and yet they are generally held to lower paying positions because they don't have degrees....

It depends on the employer -
with some technical jobs a degree won't help you -
you need to do TAFE and other courses to be up to date with skills that employers want.
Experience is worth more than anything -
however I notice that many jobs require you to have a relevant degree before applying.

In my experience, a university degree teaches you how things occur. TAFE just teaches you what happens when they occur. If you want someone who understands why something happens the way it does, go to a person with a university degree.

In IT, if I want to understand how TCP/IP works, I consult a university trained Systems Engineer. If I want TCP/IP to work, I consult a TAFE trained Systems Administrator. He can connect up the devices and get them to talk to one another but is at a loss when that doesn't work, whereas the Systems Engineer can figure out the reasons why it isn't working.

Only the person who wrote the software knows how it works.

Not if they want it to work with other devices they don't, Bobby.

[Bobby]

If that was true, there are plenty of intelligent people who do not have degrees, Bobby and yet they are generally held to lower paying positions because they don't have degrees....

It depends on the employer -
with some technical jobs a degree won't help you -
you need to do TAFE and other courses to be up to date with skills that employers want.
Experience is worth more than anything -
however I notice that many jobs require you to have a relevant degree before applying.

In my experience, a university degree teaches you how things occur. TAFE just teaches you what happens when they occur. If you want someone who understands why something happens the way it does, go to a person with a university degree.

In IT, if I want to understand how TCP/IP works, I consult a university trained Systems Engineer. If I want TCP/IP to work, I consult a TAFE trained Systems Administrator. He can connect up the devices and get them to talk to one another but is at a loss when that doesn't work, whereas the Systems Engineer can figure out the reasons why it isn't working.

Only the person who wrote the software knows how it works.

Not if they want it to work with other devices they don't, Bobby.

A lot of devices are "plug and pray" these days.