New 'Axis of evil'

[Bruce Tuncks]

There are too many "micky mouse" courses around these days. Training kids for non-existent jobs with no regard to their ability or interest in studying.

We finish up with undermining the high-schools and wasting taxpayer's money on rubbish. "Horse husbandry" comes to mind here.

BUT there are some courses that are not like that at all, and we should not restrict those courses to the rich. Dentistry comes to mind here.

 

[old man emu]

7 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

"Horse husbandry" comes to mind here.

I wouldn't call that subject a "mickey mouse" one. It is a specialisation in the wider field of animal husbandry, just the same as cattle and sheep husbandry. Just because the employment options are probably restricted to the racing industry doesn't make it "rubbish". 

 

But I can't disagree that it seems that a lot of Masters and PHD theses produce little to improve the general well-being of Society. 

[ClintonB]

On 2/8/2023 at 11:55 AM, Old Koreelah said:

Voting there is optional.
Many citizens have been conditioned to believe they can’t make any difference, so don’t even register.

Many who want to vote are prevented by discriminatory laws, regulations, management decisions and blatant harassment.

 

In Democrat-leaning areas, polling booths are few and far between. Expect to queue for hours. It is illegal to bring water to help those waiting.

 

Laws have been framed to ensure a huge proportion of black males get incarcerated for minor crimes like smoking dope.

If you’ve ever been to jail, no vote. 

 

Americans have been astonished at Australia’s recent change of government; how efficiently the election was run, how we all heard the result that night! And all with old-fashioned paper ballots!

 

 

 

 

Yet Trump can run for president from jail if he gets anytime from his trials, how stuffed up I that.

[Jerry_Atrick]

24 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I wouldn't call that subject a "mickey mouse" one. It is a specialisation in the wider field of animal husbandry, just the same as cattle and sheep husbandry. Just because the employment options are probably restricted to the racing industry doesn't make it "rubbish". 

 

But I can't disagree that it seems that a lot of Masters and PHD theses produce little to improve the general well-being of Society. 

 

I was in the position a few years ago of itnerviewing for mathemagicians to work for me on a project. We required at least a degree in maths, physics, or engineering. I interviewed a few people with PhDs in the area of maths we were interested in, and while they knew their poop, they were of little practical use. That is the point of PhDs - they are exemplary in research to pave the way forward, and some do take their research and commercialise it (especially in electornic high-frequency/low-latency algorithimic trading), but many that I have at least interviewed are best suited to academia.

 

8 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

There are too many "micky mouse" courses around these days. Training kids for non-existent jobs with no regard to their ability or interest in studying.

I think there's probably a lot fewer than you think.. Even the maligned Bachelor of Arts graduates are often sought after in commerce due to the different view they have than the commerce graduate robots that come out. However, there are a lot of vocational degrees that one has to question whether a degree is required. In the UK, they have had for a few years now, apprenticeship degrees - whereto people can enter an apprenticeship to obtain a degree in some of the professions. The nephew of my partner is currently doing an apprenticeship to become an accountant at BAe, for example. There are a lot of professions that don't need degrees - computing, accounting, and law are some that spring to mind. There are some you probably do want a university environment, but even many of the traditional professions requiring a university degree are probably there as a barrier to entry.

[Marty_d]

Anything that teaches critical thinking skills should be encouraged. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Agreed, Marty.. But a lot of the vocational degrees don't. When I did computer science, there was very little critical thinking in the course - one of the reasons I dropped the course; I simply read the texts and voilla! When I did economics, it was largely the same - although there was a lot more contemplative thinking in that course; droped for the same reason. I have never done an accounting course, but I can 't imagine it would involve that much critical thinking...

 

And when I say course, they were degree courses.

 

IN

[octave]

I think it is easy to have a go at highly qualified PhDs etc without fully appreciating their input to the things we expect.  As an example we expect medical science to advance. We expect research to come up with better treatments for cancer and other conditions.   I know a young woman who was in Australia for a few years doing her PhD.  She came to Australia because it is a leader in the field she was working in. 

 

She was researching (and I might have the title wrong) nanobiotechnology.  Specifically, this was about creating particles of an exact (but tiny) size). The purpose of this is to hopefully create particles that can transport cancer drugs specifically to the cancer cells instead of poorly targeting chemo drugs.

 

I think it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that people less educated than me are dumb losers and those much more educated are somehow useless to society. 

[Bruce Tuncks]

In defence of my opinion about "horse husbandry", I was at a place which introduced such a thing as an associate diploma. The girls ( yep, they all were girls) were referred to as the "horse tarts'". I was told by one student guy that if you needed a release, you started by knocking on their first door that night. When it was put to him that you could surely get to the last door, he reacted with surprise...  it had never occurred to him that this was possible.

On another occasion, I went past a classroom in riot...  the poor lecturer had tried to explain how Pythagoras could be used to help set out shed footings. The girls didn't want to hear such high-mathematics rubbish!

Yes, maybe as a degree they would have been better, but the numbers of enrolees would not have been there. Personally, I regard the whole thing as a scam on the taxpayer and it sure destroyed my socialist ideas of free higher education being a good thing. I reckon that free stuff should be restricted to the top 10% of students. We were close to this in the 50's and 60's, with Commonwealth scholarships.

[old man emu]

When I did my Initial Training to become a constable in 1979 it was at the Redfern Police Barracks. The NSW Mounted Police Unit was, and still is, is based at the Redfern Police Barracks. The Mounties were all blokes. (But there women were just starting to come into the Police on an equal footing with men.) A couple of years ago, I took a group of people to visit the Mounties. I was amazed that just about every constable attached there was a woman. 

 

I reckon that if I'd joined the Mounties, this would be my song:

https://archive.org/details/78_rose-marie_howard-keel-m-g-m-studio-orchestra-friml-webster-george-stoll_gbia8002569/04+-+I'M+A+MOUNTIE+WHO+NEVER+GOT+HIS+MAN+-+BERT+LAHR.flac

[red750]

A Batchelor of Arts seems to qualify you for a job at Macca's.

 

 

Meanwhile.....

 

We are off the track a little. All this has little to do with Putler/Xi/Kim Jong Un.

[octave]

3 hours ago, red750 said:

A Batchelor of Arts seems to qualify you for a job at Macca's.

 

Yeah, that is the myth however most people who knock a BA don't even know what it is.  

[Jerry_Atrick]

8 hours ago, octave said:

I think it is easy to have a go at highly qualified PhDs etc without fully appreciating their input to the things we expect

Agree.. my post should have said they are better suited (generally) to research than academia...

 

 

[octave]

6 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

t "horse husbandry", I was at a place which introduced such a thing as an associate diploma.

 

It does not seem an absurd subject to me. Having a look at the available courses I can see a certificate course and a degree course.  I am not particularly interested in horses myself but I can understand that vets assistants and people who are involved in the racing industry would benefit from gaining knowledge in these subjects.  If the course is crap then it is up to these industries to insist on improvements to the curriculum.

6 hours ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

The girls ( yep, they all were girls) were referred to as the "horse tarts'".

 I would have thought that tertiary studies would have been undertaken by women rather than girls.   

[facthunter]

Some degrees like Batchelor of Applied Science can be a bit Iffy.. There should be more Training at other than Universities like TAFE without stigma..   Nev