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As something that hasn't already been discussed dozens and dozens of times...
I would like to know what business majors learn that anthropology majors do not as someone who has zero courses in either.
Like ... convince me that business administration courses help you as a junior employee.
Like, I understand how companies are purchased and ownership transfer is negotiated and liability is limited. I understand how executives play the game of AP and AR. I understand markups, and billing rates, and profits and payroll. I understand marketing and legacy clientele. I understand ridiculously verbose contracts and T and C. I saw all of this stuff on the job, in the trenches. Or I should say ... what is things I will never unsee.
But ... they're not letting a junior employee anywhere near any of those decisions.
Like, what exactly do you learn that helps you in your first 3 years on the job that an anthropology student could not do.
I can't speak from a business major perspective, but my son just graduated as a statistics major/data science minor and his employer (a top 10 consulting company) has him building financial models that I would not expect an anthropology major to have the toolset to create (and perhaps not even understand fresh out of college). Of course, all the stats majors at his university made fun of business majors every chance they got due to their perception that the curriculum was not that difficult.
With the cost of college today that's just not feasible nor sound.
If you don't know what you want to be then wait and don't go to college just yet.
I didn't know what I wanted and went to work after HS and found I loved working with numbers.
That's when I went to college.
No one says you have to go to college right after graduating HS.
The 2 years of gen ed requirements exist for the purpose of exposing kids to a wide variety of disciplines they wouldn't otherwise have considered, with the goal in mind of helping them find something that speaks to them. (In addition to the goal of providing them with a well-rounded background in many subject areas.) Not too many majors have the students starting right away in freshman year. The fact that the first two years are mainly for general education courses means that it not only IS feasible for students to decide on a major at some point in their second year; it means the university experience in general was intentionally designed to support students finding their career path at that stage.
If students know already in highschool what they want to major in, that's great. But there's nothing wrong with students deciding in their 2nd year of college, since most majors only require they dedicate themselves to their chosen field for the final two years of college. This gives the students time to decide. That time isn't wasted, because it's spent meeting the college's gen ed requirements.
An obvious exception to this is STEM majors, many of which have students begin taking prerequisites for those fields already in freshman or sophomore years.
You sound like you're in the "2 years of gen eds is a waste of time and money" camp. Perhaps the STEM departments should separate from universities, and start their own independent tech and science institutes.
The 2 years of gen ed requirements exist for the purpose of exposing kids to a wide variety of disciplines they wouldn't otherwise have considered, with the goal in mind of helping them find something that speaks to them. (In addition to the goal of providing them with a well-rounded background in many subject areas.) Not too many majors have the students starting right away in freshman year. The fact that the first two years are mainly for general education courses means that it not only IS feasible for students to decide on a major at some point in their second year; it means the university experience in general was intentionally designed to support students finding their career path at that stage.
If students know already in highschool what they want to major in, that's great. But there's nothing wrong with students deciding in their 2nd year of college, since most majors only require they dedicate themselves to their chosen field for the final two years of college. This gives the students time to decide. That time isn't wasted, because it's spent meeting the college's gen ed requirements.
An obvious exception to this is STEM majors, many of which have students begin taking prerequisites for those fields already in freshman or sophomore years.
You sound like you're in the "2 years of gen eds is a waste of time and money" camp. Perhaps the STEM departments should separate from universities, and start their own independent tech and science institutes.
No I'm not Ruth. If they paid me I'd be a professional student. I loved school.
But it gets mighty expensive to keep taking classes that may not count towards any major
Just so there is no confusion here, ambitious and hardworking people who are persistent and optimistic, will always land on their feet. They can graduate with any major and pare that into a good job and move up. People who hustle and are driven are going to come out all right.
Most people just are not built that way.
The usefulness of a marketable degree is for the mass of average students who are just trying to make ends meet in the world. They are not driven and ambitious, but they don't want to fall out of the middle class either. They want to at least be in the top half of earners, so they can fund a good lifestyle of their choosing, free of money stress. When they graduate in engineering or nursing or IT, they don't have to hustle and push. With any decent work ethic and integrity, these hard degrees and the skills they impart, allow average students to readily obtain good paying jobs without having to be go-getters, by and large.
So it is not as if an Anthropology graduate can't excel and thrive in the workplace. The point is, the person excels. The degree has little to do with it, except in a small number of exceptional cases. Your average bumpkin student is not going to thrive in the workplace with an Anthropology degree.
Maybe you can argue that the engineering or nursing student is already driven, since those are demanding majors. My point is, the major and associated skills readily translate to a good paying job you don't have to sell yourself constantly to maintain or succeed in. You just show up and fulfill your assignments well.
I don't agree that engineering takes you out of the rat race at all.
There's better jobs if you want to just do well in school and have a relatively chill job. For example, audiologist.
Engineering is not a true restricting degree, it's a very hierarchical career, and it's competitive. Many people who have a primary focus of making money will enter engineering (as evidenced here), so I'm competing against those people.
Nursing is a better example but a physically difficult job
What I see in this thread is this kind of thinking:
He's my kid.
I own him.
He has to do what I want him to do...even when he's an adult.
I had one student in particular I remember. Dad was a CPA so that's what he wanted for his son. Picked the college (UMDCP), picked his classes, made the kid live at home, took him to college and picked him up every day, wouldn't let him drive. the whole power play nine yards.
Kid dropped out second year, dad disowned him. Kid became a PG County cop.
I had one student in particular I remember. Dad was a CPA so that's what he wanted for his son. Picked the college (UMDCP), picked his classes, made the kid live at home, took him to college and picked him up every day, wouldn't let him drive. the whole power play nine yards.
Kid dropped out second year, dad disowned him. Kid became a PG County cop.
Nothing wrong with becoming a county cop. Good for him!
You can't micro-manage 18 years old. It always backfires.
I had one student in particular I remember. Dad was a CPA so that's what he wanted for his son. Picked the college (UMDCP), picked his classes, made the kid live at home, took him to college and picked him up every day, wouldn't let him drive. the whole power play nine yards.
Kid dropped out second year, dad disowned him. Kid became a PG County cop.
I had a student one time that kept in touch, and when it got time to make college decisions the father basically said, 'You take the career path I have planned for you, or you're on your own'. The student said no, he wanted to be a librarian. Father followed through -- 'Then you're on your own'. The kid went into library science, eventually became a librarian at the Library Of Congress. Down the road the father's business failed and he became ill. Went to the son for help and the son basically said, 'You're on your own'.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,690 posts, read 57,994,855 times
Reputation: 46166
Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi
What I see in this thread is this kind of thinking:
He's my kid. I own him.
...
Quote:
Originally Posted by North Beach Person
I had one student in particular ... Dad was a CPA so that's what he wanted for his son. Picked the college (UMDCP), picked his classes, made the kid live at home, took him to college and picked him up every day, wouldn't let him drive. the whole power play nine yards.
Kid dropped out second year, dad disowned him. Kid became a PG County cop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YorktownGal
....
You can't micro-manage 18 years old. It always backfires.
Quote:
Originally Posted by heavymind
What a d!ck. ....
Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi
I had a student one time ...'You take the career path I have planned for you, or you're on your own'. ...Down the road the father's business failed and he became ill. Went to the son for help and the son basically said, 'You're on your own'.
Karma
What I see in this thread is this kind of thinking:
Just wow...
It's sounding like a Public School playground / peer battles around here.
I'm SO GLAD none of my 'circle' behaves or talks this way or has these types of relationships. (retribution, anger, disowning...). Becoming a care giver to a very violent and difficult parent the day I turned 18 solved these types of problems for me. Our neighbor kid did the same for his father who got Parkinson's when kid was age 17 (22 yrs ago and still caring for his father, my duty lasted 32 yrs).
Thanking my lucky stars I'm not caught up in a life with this childish attitude and behavior... What I see in this thread is this kind of thinking:
Glad I invested the time and training to set my kids free long before college age. That too was very difficult caring for a disabled parent plus a multitude of other complications and working and homeschooling. But that duty is done and just reaping the rewards. (none of this trivial character abuse and bashing).
geesh, enough lessons in anthropology!
I've gotta go get a REAL life, and make a positive different in the lives of others!
See ya
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