Is this degree actually useful?

• You're hiring a principal for a magnet school for gifted/talented education.

Other than the following, your two finalists are almost identical, with teaching qualifications at the bachelor's level and principal certification at the post-master's level.

One finalist has the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking from UMass Boston. The other has a generic MEd in Secondary Education from about an equal school.

Here on DI, a master's in secondary education is considered almost inherently practical and defensible.

But in this example, for a fairly common job, does the master's in secondary education clearly beat the CCT degree?

• You're hiring a college instructor. Courses you'll need a new instructor for in the coming semesters include Cognitive Psychology, Logic, and Science and Society.

Your college requires instructors hold 18+ sh in graduate credit related to their teaching subjects, but it doesn't get hung up about a good instructor whose graduate qualifications are in "Educational Technology" teaching courses coded "Information Technology," whose graduate qualifications are in "Leadership" teaching courses coded "Business," etc. (Yeah, from what I understand, some colleges do so get hung up.)

Other than the following, your two finalists are almost identical.

One finalist has the MA in Critical and Creative Thinking from UMass Boston. The other has an MA in Psychology, with the same number of semester hours, in a human services track (not in itself qualifying for counseling licensure), from about an equal school.

Here on DI, a master's in psychology, even non-licensure human services track, is considered almost inherently practical and defensible.

But in this example, for a reasonably common job, does the master's in psychology, human services track clearly beat the CCT degree?

• You're hiring a creative executive for a marketing firm. …And so on.

 

Some would argue that nearly every school does that. However, in my opinion, the utility of a degree can vary depending on the situation. A degree like this from a big-time school can mean more than the same degree from a lesser or relatively unknown school.

All of that being said, to me, this is a degree you get while already succeeding in your current career. While there may be some prospects for someone entering a new field, I imagine there won't be many right off the bat and experience will win over and defeat that particular degree more often than not, provided that other candidate's experience is directly relevant to the field.

 

Critical and creative thinking? How useless! And to think one would waste two learning years such skills, which will never help in any practical way, ever.

 

^^^I think we can all agree that the skills are very much needed. But the utility of the degree itself--not the skills learned while earning it--is the big question mark.

 

Exactly!! While I know, as I've said, that the skills learned are important, does one REALLY need the time and expense of a 2 year degree to show they can think and be creative? For me PERSONALLY, I can think of better ways to spend my time and money.

 

But a master's in communication isn't just to say that its graduate can communicate. There's a great big body of scholarship to the subject, theoretical, applied, and in between. Any degree program in the subject will include and engage with it.

Don't you suppose there's also a good body of scholarship on creative and critical thinking?

There's a lot of common sense and common knowledge relevant to creative and critical thinking, yes. But there's also a lot of common sense and common knowledge relevant to communication, politics, and nutrition. We don't, or we shouldn't, dismiss degrees in communication, political science or nutrition on this basis! Why should we treat this new subject title differently?

fwiw, I recently completed an undergraduate course on Cognitive Psychology, and it happens I still have out from the library this copy of the Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning. It has a short chapter on Creativity, written by Robert J. Sternberg, a past president of the American Psychological Association, et al. The chapter discusses all sorts of theory and research; it seems to have something like 150 references. And hey!:

The leading scholars of creativity seem to calling for much more interdisciplinary work on the subject. And here's UMass Boston with something toward that end.

 

Ok. I get it now. We're debating the utility of a degree that imparts very much needed skills. Have fun...

 

Indeed. I'd like a link to ANY job in any career in any field asking for this degree. :deal:

However, I don't want to appear rude. In my nice voice, I just suggest finding your career dream and then working backwards into the degree that will best take you there.

 

You're right, that's one way to do it but I think that we need to acknowledge that it's not the only way to do it. Here's a story:

Two people want to buy new cars. The first does all the research, knows all the numbers, all the options, all the prices. They go to the dealership with all their accumulated research and buy the car of their choice, driving away very pleased with their deal. The second person drives to the dealership, walks around the parking lot and then decides, "I like the looks of THAT one." They make their purchase based on emotion and drive away very pleased with their deal. I am not prepared to say that one method is superior to another. Both customers got what they wanted and were pleased in the end. They have different styles. They have different values. They have different sorts of lives. That's OK, isn't it? To me this is not significantly different than having someone ask if they should buy a motorcycle instead (or in addition to) a car. If the bike will work for you it doesn't really matter if I think it's a good idea or not. At the same time, if you post the question on an internet discussion board then you need to be prepared for a wide range of answers. Some of them might not be to your liking. We hope our members can find ways to express their opinions without being nasty. (I've been guilty of this myself and so I'm not trying to get all uppity or anything).

 

I think this could check the box not only as a generic master's degree, but also for a good number of postings that ask for a master's in education or related, in psychology or a social or behavioral science or related, or in a creative art or related. Is it a stretch to say that the UMass Boston CCT degree could be science-related? Not with their track in "Science in a Changing World."

I see plenty of angles a smart person could sell.

For all the popularity here of leadership degrees, has any job posting ever explicitly asked for one of those?

I don't dispute the value of leadership degrees. I trust a smart people can sell a leadership degree in the marketplace as a next subject over. "Leadership" is probably most often sold as a next subject over from administration/management, but it obviously connects to other subjects too. I would be surprised if they're aren't multiple people teaching religion full-time today on the strength of a leadership degree (with a strong religious element). If the following isn't happening today, it's probably not too long until at least a few smart people use graduate degrees in leadership together with closely related study, maybe research, to qualify to teach HIS, PHI, POL, SOC, etc.

A better technical term, maybe, for my "next subject over," cognate subject.

This is spot on. And why I'm buying myself NOT a UMass Boston or Buff State degree in creativity, but the best deal going in creative education today, for Christmas. Everyone else should too.

 

I posted this to see exactly what others think. In no way am I offended or upset. I personally think this particular degree would be a waste of time and money, but then others may feel differently. And if they were to get this degree and make it work for them, I say AWESOME!!! More power to ya. I just don't see much utility in this as an actual degree. The skill learned, yes. But couldn't you learn those same skills in a few courses as opposed to an entire degree?

 

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Let's look at the courses they offer, then.

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Let's say the four foundation courses are "a few courses." Your argument seems to propose that anything more below the line is likely to be a "waste of time and money." I'll choose four electives especially interesting to me, and there's a standard Research and Engagement sequence.

Still so confident that that you "don't see much utility in this as an actual degree?"

Who would you rather have, say, in the extremely practical and relevant job of curriculum specialist for your child's school: Someone who had taken this full set, or someone who looked at the courses below the line and thought 'This is a waste. I know all I need to know about creative and critical thinking from real life, and the first few courses.'

About "learning the same skills," the degree isn't 11 very similar courses about "How to Think Critically and Be Creative!" If it were, we wouldn't be disagreeing.

And I'm thinking this MA in CCT should basically be considered an education degree with an especially broad mandate and an interdisciplinary name.

 

Actually, I would rather have a degree that had interesting AND practical classes, a name that didnt make people scratch their heads and say "huh?" and something that would fulfill both my creative liberal arts love and still have practical use. While AGAIN I do NOT discount the usefulness of the skills gained from this degree, I feel if those 4 classes were given along with other classes of a more applicable nature (psychology, sociology, education, marketing, etc etc etc) then it would make more sense. You could learn a trade AND learn how to think. Win win!!

 

All degrees are useful to me. Most people might not see it, but not everybody uses Yahoo articles and Monster.com job postings to form their opinion of a degree.

 

I like the approach of generally recognized discipline with specialism.
There are degrees such as MBA in IT, MBA in Accounting etc.

So this degree can be a Masters of Science Degree in Education with specialization in CCT or Psychology degree.

I agree that usefulness of degree is individuality assessed.

 

I wasn't trying to be funny when I asked what one would do with this degree. I honestly don't know, and don't see the utility of it.

 

I was just venting. I have no idea what to do with it myself, but I'm sure somebody can come up with something genius. I saw a guy on Good Morning America a few months ago that was a Marilyn Monroe, so anything is possibe.

 

I meant to say Marilyn Monroe expert.