Your Major May Not Matter As Much As You Think.

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by SurfDoctor, May 26, 2013.

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  1. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    We all worry about taking the correct major and going to the right school but Jeff Selingo from The Chronicle of Higher Education offers a different take:

    “In some industries, majors matter to the job (take engineering, as an example). But overall, I have found by talking to employers and educators that what they want most in their workers is the ability to learn how to learn….the capability to find the answers to the questions of tomorrow that we cannot envision asking today,"

    This is comforting to me as my daughter is just about to graduate from UCLA with a degree in English. I tried to get her to look at nursing, accounting and a few other more marketable degrees but she would not have it. Hopefully just having a degree from UCLA will leverage what Selingo is saying to her advantage.
     
  2. distancedoc2007

    distancedoc2007 New Member

    There is a lot of wisdom in this. I can't recall anyone ever asking me what I studied or where (to be fair, an MBA is self-explanatory) or what I majored in. Unless I volunteered it, nobody cared. It was abilities other than education that made my career a success.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Yeah, I'd say History v English, what difference really?
     
  4. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I just don't want her graduation quote to say "Want fries with that?" :yikes:
     
  5. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    You get an English degree for reading works of fiction; you get a history degree for reading non-fiction.
     
  6. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I think some of our history might actually be fiction.
     
  7. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Please explain.
     
  8. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

  9. mattbrent

    mattbrent Well-Known Member

    Truth!

    -Matt
     
  10. expat_eric

    expat_eric New Member

    You major does not really matter unless you are in technical discipline. My company is oil and gas and we hire thousands of new graduates every year. We do have preferred majors like petroleum engineering and mechanical engineering. However, about half of the people we hire and not in those disciplines. Oil and gas is one of those industries that very little of what you learn in university actually applies to real life. The ability to learn new skills is more important to us than what you actually learned while in school. Some of the best employees I have ever had either did not have a university degree or they have a very unrelated university degree.

    Two examples:

    Ten years ago I hired a veteran to work for my company. He has no university degree but did have significant military experience overseas. We hired him for his international exposure in places like Germany and Iraq. He is now our manager for North America for a product line. The business he runs has more than 4,000 employees and generates around $200M per year.

    One of the best drilling supervisors we have is from Spain and holds a PhD in Ornithology (bird watching). He is a leader for one of our drilling units and is in charge of a business of about $50M per year. He is also considered one of our technical experts.

    Food for thought...
     
  11. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    For example....
     
  12. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    My ERAU thesis was related to the WWII Dambusters Raid. The commanding officer had a dog called N****r which was also used as a code word. The original documentation that I reviewed at several UK locations used that word. However in some later editions of "The Dambusters" book the dogs name and codeword has been changed to Trigger for political correctness. Also the name is being changed to Digger for a new movie BBC News - Dam Busters dog renamed for movie remake

    Probably not a major revision of history but a revision nevertheless.
     
  13. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I think it is sad to rewrite history not to "offend" people. I remember that they wanted to add an African-Amercian to the image of the firefighters raising the flag on the 9/11 site after the attacks to make it more racially balanced. Isn't that rewiting history a bit?


    The "Heroes 2001" stamp, USA Scott #B2, was unveiled on March 11, 2002 by President George W. Bush, in a ceremony attended by Franklin, Johnson, Eisengrein, and McWilliams. These stamps were semipostals: they had a purchase price (45¢) higher than their postage value (34¢), with the balance given to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's relief efforts. A special exception was thus made to the normal requirement by the United States Postal Service that subjects of stamps be deceased.

    In December 2001 The New York City Fire Department unveiled plans for a statue based on the photograph to be placed at the Brooklyn headquarters. In an effort to be inclusive of all those who had been affected by this tragedy, the statue was to include black, white, and Hispanic firefighters. However, it was cancelled in an outcry about rewriting history because all the depicted firefighters are white.

    On November 5, 2007, a 40-foot-high bronze monument based on the photograph called 'To Lift A Nation' and depicting three New York firefighters raising the flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center was dedicated at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Park in Emmitsburg, Md.[3]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_at_Ground_Zero
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 27, 2013
  14. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    That is actually a bit of a conundrum, because I would assume that many African American individuals contributed greatly to the rescue efforts at 911 even if there were none present when the flag was raised. Those people deserve recognition, but yes, I would agree that it may be rewriting history.
     
  15. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I would agree but to alter a historic photo to be inclusive it wrong.
     
  16. BlueMason

    BlueMason Audaces fortuna juvat

    Agreed.. if you weren't in the picture, you weren't in the picture, regardless whether or not you were at the location...
     
  17. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Absolutely agree. But it is a bit of a conundrum. I wouldn't alter a photo though.
     

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