AIBU to feel that some parents just want their children at Uni even if its a BS degree

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator you didn't communicate this in your first post. Also your own experience is anecdotal. If your point was that people in STEM who began their working life 15 years ago are most likely financially well off, then that would be the case for the majority. I know plenty of people in IT and medicine with degrees who are the top of their field, entrepreneurs and leaders who all needed their degree to get where they are. You don't need a degree in many areas of STEM, but for others you will start further ahead and with more opportunities if you have one than if you don't. You're not going far in engineering without a degree for example - so your choice of IT as an industry is quite specific to certain roles and areas.

I also think that being an apprentice in a trade is often a better route to financial security these days than a degree or a background in STEM. In the meantime we still need workers in education, social services and the arts for our society to function.

If your only purpose was to boast about your own children's outcomes you could have done that in the first post, as that seems to be your motivation for your unpleasant attitude.

I agree with you, OP. I truly believe some people are terrified of actually going to work, so take up a BS degree to stay in the system a bit longer and be cossetted by mummy and daddy. For every person who did a BS degree and is "now on £100k", there are a thousand more who are stacking shelves with a massive student loan debt.

Do you watch television, listen to radio or wear clothes OP? If the answer is yes, then I assume you actually do give some value to those who have studied media or fashion.

Your comment re Stoke on Trent ("how would Media studies get you a job if you lived in Stoke in Trent?") is a bit odd - if there are no local jobs in the career you want to pursue, you move or commute to an area that does have those jobs. I'm sure people living in Stoke on Trent have heard of BBC Media City an hour away in Manchester. Maybe they go there - just a thought.

You and your Media degrees hate 🙄

Totally agree, the OP's list isn't one I would have produced, but there are some waste of space degrees, I have before mentioned my boss's anger when his son wanted to do Golf Course Design, something that would lend itself ideally to an apprenticeship. I would always encourage young people to go down the apprenticeship route unless they are wanting something that totally needed a degree course.

Does anyone remember the T-rexing around Asda thread from years ago? This one is similarly wonderful, illogical and chaotic. So funny.

A family member recently sold a piece of work for 100k. Not bad considering they have one of your BS degrees in fine art.

It wouldn't but then .....

...... how would Medicine, Dentistry or Nursing (your 'proper' degrees) help with getting a pilot's job? Guess you could whip up a new set of veneers while the plane was on autopilot. Maybe 🤔🤷

Anyway, university is more than just the subject you study 😊

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator

Could you clarify the confusion please? You have talked about values that were instilled in you "at university" and also about having left education at 18.

Are you
a) a child prodigy
b) not truthful on Mumsnet threads and have difficulty remembering what you've said about yourself from one thread to another?

The value in doing a degree is not just in getting a job at the end of it. To think otherwise is incredibly close minded. HTH.

Well this capitalism mindset really shows in this judgy opinion.
Ideally education should be an experience where individuals become well rounded and endeavour their vocation. and calling.
Nowadays it's a business decision to make more money and show off status. Very shallow approach to life.
While money is important to pay the bills, it should be a means to live, not the final scope.
This is why society is degrading in some collective aspects.
We should do better and have more respect for what brings meaning in our lives.

In the US, saying someone has a “BS” degree means they have a Bachelor of Science.

I think all degrees have the potential to lead to profitable jobs, some with better odds than others. I’d rather have someone expand their talents in a field they love than slog their way through a “sensible” degree because someone talked them into it.

What were you hoping to accomplish in starting this thread?

For about 15-20 years now (since they introduced tuition fees and could make oodles of money on student loan interest???) there's been societal pressure for school leavers to go to university. I suspect this pressure is more about making money from student accommodation and student loans interest etc than the desire to have a well-educated population. It also keeps unemployment figures lower perhaps.
A lot of the newer degrees used to be apprenticeship and college courses, often on day release from work. Some were always offered in the old polytechnics. And others have been introduced as society evolved, in the same way as some older subjects have gradually fallen out of favour.
We still need a wide range of subjects across arts and stem because it's the graduate level skills that contribute to work once graduates are employed.
We do need to be marketing all post-16 and post-18 options as being equally valued and valid choices. The problem is going to be that for children whose parents were first generation to go to university, those parents are likely to still be viewing uni as 'the best/most acceptable' route.

It's ok pals, it's arch instigator @DistinguishedSocialCommentator again. You'll see them pop up frequently talking utter shit.

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator

The biggest bS degree is 'Politics' - WTH!! Sadly, we know a few people whose children have done that and ended up running the family shop/business - total waste of a degree

There are other degrees just as crappy - they should be banned IMO

AIBU to think these degrees are a waste of time and often do not aid the person into a job in that field?

My first degree was in Politics. My Masters degree, in a different subject, IS my professional qualification. Without it I would be a paraprofessional and limited in my career progression. However, the organisation that I work for with my professional qualification operates in the field of public policy and social science research. I need both the professional skills I gained from my Masters degree and the subject knowledge gained in my first degree to be successful in my role.

I think you'll find that a large proportion of the people currently running the UK studied politics at university. Whether or not they are doing a good job is another debate but you cannot deny that their degree has absolutely led them into a successful career.

I think the value of degrees is (generally speaking) a very outdated concept now, but people are slow to catch on.

So are employers.

You could call a lot of degrees “BS”. What about an engineering graduate going and working as an accountant? Does that make the engineering degree BS?

If people want to go to university, they can. It’s a great experience, even if the degree doesn’t lead directly into a career.

I’m not sure why this worries you op.

This poster is 11/10 nuts.

"Thank you. However, its the way I and most of my family feel as well as people we know

Would you care to put a number on "plenty", please?"

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator would you care to put a number on "people we know"...

You're getting flamed, but YANBU. Uni degrees are a 'nice-to-have' for most, but unless you're going into a career where it's directly relevant and impacts your hireability, a degree is not a necessity and time spent actually working and earning money and experience can be more beneficial in the long run. I think the value of degrees is (generally speaking) a very outdated concept now, but people are slow to catch on.

Point provene, ie the types of degrees I mention rarely lead to a job in that field IMO

Over 60% ( some data suggests closer to 80%) of graduate employers don't request a particular degree subject.......this isn't the 'gotcha' you think it is......

There are other degrees just as crappy - they should be banned IMO

AIBU to think these degrees are a waste of time and often do not aid the person into a job in that field?

Tell me you know nothing about the UK graduate labour market without telling me you know nothing about the UK graduate labour market......