Suspicious of someone's qualifications.

When did he do his degree? The cold war is something that might have been touched on in politics courses 30+ years ago but would be considered history now.

I have a science degree, I studied a teeny tiny subsection of the overall topic in great depth that's what all degrees are really at least in the UK where you specialise fairly early and the higher levels degree you have the more you specialise. In other countries you can have a more rounded approach taking semesters in other topics alongside your major, I believe Scotland and America both have systems like that.

@YNK have you ever thought of taking an OU course if you are interested in the subject, you don't require any formal qualifications and they even offer free short course on many topics through the Open learn website.

😂 I've got a similar degree and some people love to begin 'debates' with me as soon as they find out. No thank you. I just laugh it off and feign ignorance. I only want to talk about degree specialism when I'm being paid - not when I meet a random person in the pub.

And I didn't study everything either. He might just not be bothered about getting into debates?

@YNK So just to be clear on this, you attended his degree ceremony but you don't believe he has a degree?

What an odd question. History is vast! Economics degrees primarily focus on the theory of economics such as macro and micro economics and politics teaches the theory behind the major typos of political systems. There’s no reason to have learnt about the Cold War. He might have but it’s completely normal not to have done this. You also attended his ceremony so how on earth could he have been lying. You can’t just show up to a ceremony and ask for a robe! You receive credits for each passed subject and the correct number is needed to graduate. I assure you that Uni’s check that students have graduated.

i assume that you don’t have a degree yourself or you would know that generalist degrees don’t cover everything to do with a topic area. Why are you trying to find proof that he didn’t deserve his degree? I assume that he doesn’t want to answer questions as he knows he’s being quizzed or he’s long since lost any interest in the area. Leave him alone and accept that he did get and deserve his degree.

Glad you're reassured about his qualifications.

Of course, for him to have set your Spidey senses off like this, he may just be a gobshite! Always good to be wary of them, regardless of their academic past.

A whole module of my degree covered the Chinese agrarian economy circa 600 BCE, and I couldn’t tell you anything meaningful about that almost 20 years later, let alone an area I didn’t study. In fact, what I learned most from my degree is how little knowledge a degree actually gives you and how irrelevant most of it is to what you’ll do with the rest of your life. If he completed his degree years ago then not only will he probably have forgotten most of the stuff he studied, but he probably just wants to talk about more relevant things.

True.😱

I mean, I’d class a basic knowledge of the Cold War under general knowledge, but if you were asking detailed specialist questions about the Cuban missile crisis because you were testing him, that’s a bit daft. I have four degrees in Eng Lit, including a doctorate, have published award-winning research and taught at universities for 25 years, but I’m a modernist who works mostly on women’s writing. If you asked me questions about eighteenth-century prosody, Arthurian romances or early slave narratives, I’d be falling back on undergraduate knowledge.

Nothing like studying a subject in detail to absolutely kill your interest in it. He's probably telling the truth that he didn't cover the Cold War, and then after completing his studies ran as far from politics and history as he could and doesn't even read it as leisure any more. Probably nothing worse to him than history and politics talk at a social occasion - especially if he senses that someone is trying to judge his knowledge.

I have a first class BSc in theoretical physics, I doubt I'd come close to passing A Level physics these days. Forgotten all of it and no longer find it that interesting like I did in school.

He makes passive aggressive jokes and refuses to seriously engage in any meaningful way whenever a conversation touches on the subject.

As a Politics and History degree-haver, I can confirm that this is the best way to retain sanity. Especially with anyone looking for a debate!

Surely you realise he can’t have studied the history of everything to do with politics and economics?

Why do you even care?

I studied french as part of my degree and can barely speak a word of it now

It’s like you have assumed he must know everything to do with politic and economics because he did a degree, a long time ago. Which is ridiculous.

Why are you trying to catch him out? And don’t say you weren’t. If you want to know something about the cold war you would Google it rather than speaking to a relative you aren’t that close to anymore.

Why are you nitpicking about this? @YNK

I hardly remember most of the technical details of my MSc and I graduated with Merit.

Also i did choose specialist subjects / modules of course and didnt touch others.

I just want to know what you wanted to (related to the Cold War?) that you contacted a not-local family member that you don’t even like, instead of googling.

Also if you want to know something just go to Chatgpt and ask.

It will give you a better answer than someone who didn't do the subject 20 years ago.

My first degree was an MA in politics and international relations. I remember very little except "plucky little Malta"😂

Why does it matter to you?

Oh course it’s possible 🤣
What an odd thing to ask!

Where did he do his degree? Some are masters courses and some universities you get a free masters (oxbridge lol )