On Sun, 8 Feb 2004 19:23:26 -0800, CW wrote:


"Joe Willmann" wrote in message
.77...
Silvan wrote in
:

CW wrote:

Your not alone, Silvan. A friend of mine has a masters in
anthropology. He drives a truck for living. College counselors
should tell their students what their job prospects are going to be
in a particular field. Instead, they fill classes and keep teachers
working.

I was listening to the radio a couple of days ago. There was a woman
talking to an advise guy. She had financial problems and was in real
debt. She owed about $35,000. Something like this - 20K for student
loans, 7K for automobile and the rest on credit cards.

So he asked her what she did. She is a waitress in a restraunt.
Something like TGI Fridays or such.

He asked about her student status. She graduated two years ealier with
a BA in performing arts!

You know, I understand the desire to go to school and study something
"fun". But if you can't make a living at it, it isn't a carear it is a
hobby. You have to pay for hobbies as you go.

Not always. Most of my working life I have made a pretty good living off
my
hobbies. I have more unusual hobbies though. Machine work, drafting,
electronics.


Borrowing 20K to get an education in performing arts should be against
the law. Her parents aught to sue the school, the proffesors and the
bank that loaned her the money.

I wouldn't go that far but I do think the counselor should have laid out
the
facts about future employment in that field. I'm sure they didn't do
that.
They are more concerned with filling classes than setting someone up to
succeed. Before someone jumps in and says it was her problem, she should
have known, there is a lot of difference in expecting someone to do
something for you and paying someone to do something for you. Your
average
college kid doesn't know squat about the world. The counselor should have
some knowledge of market trends.


Actually she aught to sue her parrents for letting her do such a stupid
thing.



University is rarely about learning a career, college is about learning a
career/trade. University is about learning how to think and be diverse. It
is generally irrelevant what you study unless you specialize, such as
engineering. Even then it's no sure fire way to end up working in the
chosen career field. Doctors, lawyers, most business professionals all
start with ANY undergraduate degree... even performing arts. After all,
what better way to start a career where you can absolutely say you know
how to present in front of a crowd with confidence. Sales anyone ? Once
you have your undergraduate degree, you have just begun. Then you either
embark on completing the process with a professional designation.... PEng,
DR, Lawyer, CA,etc... or you work hard to get an entry level job with
career prospects. The issue is the false sense that just because you have
an undergraduate degree you some how rate an immediate professional well
paying job.

The failing I see here is you friend with a degree in anthropology
obviously decided he was not interested in it or didn't want to put any
effort in it, believing he had apparently paid his dues and was therefore
due a great career. Driving a truck is choice made either because he
realized that's what he wants in life for one reason or another or it was
easier than anthropology which obviously would have meant other difficult
choices. Which after 6 years in higher education one would think would
have been realized without having to defer to a counselor who most likely
has less education or at most equivalent.






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