Fries With That: It's Getting Old

It seems to me that most people doing distance learning to get a degree are in work and have a family with all that comes with that. The degree is to either build on their work based experience or to change direction into a different career. In some cases, like mine, it is about personal growth. Building on an existing career sounds to me a better option in tight times.

My observations are as follows:
1. Personal growth never hurts and a degree in philosophy, for example, may be useful in analysing some problem in a business. All knowledge is seeming interrelated at some point, however, a good library and reading plan will probably give you personal growth at a lot less money;
2. Credentialism seems to be a dominant factor, not learning for most people. I have the credential therefore I am worthy of employing or promoting. Most employers want experience and don't necessary trust the credential, but some professions demand it. You need to know where, in your industry, the employer's headset is at. Just don't assume it before you invest time and money;
3. It is so very important to understand why you are getting the degree. It is a lot of time and money that may not be the best track for you. Applying existing skills in a different framework may give better outcomes. Look at what you have got and where that can take you first. A mechanic with more skill certificates may be a better paying option than one with an MBA;
4. Where ever the herd is running is not where you should be. If everybody is getting MBA's then there is probably going to be a glut of MBA's. Becoming a cordon bleu cook may be a better option for employment;
5. Is it a myth that better education will always lead to a better job? There is a lot of people with degrees under employed while others without degrees may be fully employed. I would argue that skilled employees always seem to be better paid, and that does not always mean a degree. Sometimes it just means commitment to the job;

6. There are times in life when nothing will work. Fortunately this seems to pass. There were plenty of men and women with degrees in 1929 sleeping rough in parks. Fortunately that passed. My take on the economic situation is that it is a depression, not a recession as the spindoctors would have everybody believe, so if you are trying hard and getting nowhere, don't assume that it is your fault. Just breathe and live. As history shows, it will most likely pass.

7. Family are not just important, they are, in my opinion, everything. Every time you enroll and study there is a loss of time for them. What is their payoff? Family are also a good survival mechanism in hard times. Mutual support and understanding exceeds individual misery in all categories. Time spent with the family in the main is unlikely to be wasted and will be rewarding at many levels. A degree is a pale alternative.

A person asking you if you want "fries with that." may be decidedly more happy than a CEO because he/she has a family/friends/a community that genuinely cares about them. A credential itself is a guarantee of nothing unless you are in an elite group, but then you probably don't need the credential.

 

You annoy me because you are too nice, intelligent and articulate. How dare you? :smile:

 

You never seem to fail at providing extremely thoughtful and helpful posts.

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LOL!!! Well ok then

 

What is this other board?

 

But it's just so much fun to joke about fries with that ... especially when you have a fries with that degree.

 

ebbwvale, SurfDoctor is right about your contributions here. Let me just quote you on one point for emphasis…

Some might also add close friends.

 

Here, degreeforum.net. DegreeForum is sponsored by instantcert.com, which sells an online flashcard program geared to many CLEP, DSST, and ECE tests.

 

Just a cursory look reveals that the board is focused on credit for testing, which (by no coincidence) is the business of its owner. Pretty boring.

 

A degree should represent a large investment in time, and usually represents a large investment of money. Anyone about to make these investments should have some sort of personal business plan behind them, written down or not. Maybe it would help if more people wrote these down? In any case, the plan could evolve.

But every day, there are people with degrees in literature and philosophy taking them out to the job market and selling them smartly – maybe not often as direct passes in to a profession, but as parts of packages – to help qualify for excellent and diverse opportunities.

Meanwhile, every day, people also run up against serious risks involved in training to be or working as a nurse or a CPA. The courses of study aren't for everyone. The jobs aren't for everyone. Even an honest beginner's mistake in training or in a first job could conceivably lead to tragedy, especially in the first trade but also in the second. Etc.

 

The Bachelors degree is oftentimes just a professional ticket that allows someone to apply for a job, regardless of what the degree is in.

IMO a Masters degree is best pursued when someone needs it for career advancement for those who are already established in a discipline.

There are always exceptions though.

 

From tvtropes.org –

A Degree In Useless - Television Tropes and Idioms

 

I disagree (with this point, not with Jonathan or the many fine points he routinely makes).

Let's look at this in terms of inputs, outputs, and outcomes. Measuring a degree by the investment of time is like giving credit for time served in a classroom. (In secondary school, this is routine. We call it "social promotion," moving kids up because they attended, despite their lack of educational attainment.) Time spent is one of many possible inputs, but it isn't the true measure of the experience.

Outputs are things created by the system. In this case, outputs could be construed as the credits earned (for inputs, back to that in a second), learning attained, or even degrees awarded. Outputs are the products we create.

Outcomes are the "so what" of this phenomenon. If I invest the right inputs in the right amounts, I create an output. That output, in turn, has an impact that constitutes its "outcome."

Back to inputs. Some schools require time as an input. Any professor that takes attendance and uses it in grading is doing this. But would what the attendee did during that time (like contributing to the classroom processes and enhancing others' learning) be a more relevant measure? But still, is that what we want to measure? Don't we want to measure what students know, value, and can do? (Bloom's Taxonomy is at work here. Know = Cognitive domain. Value = Effective domain. Can Do = Psychomotor domain.) Thus, doesn't it matter most how students do when we measure these things? It doesn't matter how hard they study, right? Only how we'll they do on the tests (and other measures).

I did a bachelor's at USNY (the forerunner to the now-private Excelsior) in 18 months--while on active duty in the Air Force--graduating when I was 20. (Hiya, Tom Head!) I demonstrated my knowledge sufficiently to earn enough credits in the right areas to earn my degree. It didn't matter where I got the knowledge--only that I could demonstrate it. (It wasn't just knowledge, I also had to pass some essay exams and pass a few courses--many of which called upon all three of Bloom's areas.)

"Easy" and "hard" are lame terms. Remember, if it was easy, everyone would do it. Don't measure me by my effort. Just look at the scoreboard, baby.

 

You should see what the other forum thinks about this forum.

 

I like both forums. I'm on both forums everyday. This forum seems a bit harsher at times, a bit more criticism to it's members... Just my honest opinion. The other forum is a little bit much more helpful and they really go out all the way to help you, literally. (Go ahead attack me I'm waiting for it, LOL!) But all jokes aside, without this forum I would not have my degree, I found out about the big three particularly due to this forum. It's where the other forum I found out about testing out. At the end of the day it's two different types of forums. This one concentrates on distance learning in general where as degreeforum concentrates on CLEPS/DSST/ECE/NON-TRADITIONAL sources of credit for the big three, and maybe other schools where one is interested in testing out.

I think btw, we are missing on a third forum. Which is elearners.com, Steve Foerster is a very helpful guy on that forum and I notice he is on here as well.

Also, Merry Christmas everyone and God Bless!! :]

 

Just as Rugby said, for me the two forums have different audiences at different points in their educational career. The other forum is dedicated to undergrad with mostly being focused on testing out. This forum primarily deals with graduate study. There is some slight intermingling but not much.

When I need information about undergrad stuff I go over there, when I need information about graduate study (or have a good argument) I come here.

 

Isn't that forum gone? There were only 3 regular participants on there including myself. Someone would post a question a couple of times a month.

 

Is this Harry Potter? Is this the "FORUM THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED?" Why is everyone tip-toeing around it?