For being furious at DH telling DSD that my degree isn't a real degree?

[TooFarGone]

So DH is sat down with his DD taking about careers etc. He says to her "these days, you need a job that pays at least £20k a year but at the same time, you don't want to be stressing yourself out with difficult degrees and stuff. You want to enjoy your time at uni. That's why I think nursing would be ideal for you! you get to go to uni, you don't have to do a difficult degree and you get a well paid job at the end of it!".

So DSD says "But isn't a degree in nursing going to be just as difficult?" and he replied "no course not, they call it a degree but its not like a real degree".

I'm furious as I worked bloody hard to get my degree and he knows this. It isn't an "easy option" at all. I had it out with him and he apologised for upsetting me but still maintains that nursing is an easy alternative to doing a "real" degree.

I agree there are nurses out there for whom nursing is not a vocation, just as there are teachers, which is what my degree is. I wonder if the op dh would feel the same about teaching....hmm I might have to take great exception to anyone saying my degree which I did at Cambridge University and specialised in Chemical and Environmental Geography and Education was just a vocational degree.

I meant vocational degree in terms of it prepares you for a specific job/role, as opposed to a "pure" subject after which you may be lucky to get a job in the current economy. The more I think about this the more I think the OP dh is being a sexist prat.

I agree with the previous poster - what are his achievements that he gets to talk down other degrees etc? It could be that he was trying to distinguish between vocational and academic degrees, but wording it really, REALLY badly. He might also be trying to tell her not to go for a degree where you're working your arse off all the time, and never get to have fun while at university. I totally agree that a big part of university is doing stupid stuff and learning about life, rather than just sitting in a library for three years.

Well I certainly couldn't do a nursing degree..... it should be just as respected as others to be honest.

I thought that Business studies had the second highest rate of graduate unemployment after leisure and tourism?

I don't think there is a point in doing a vocational course unless it is required for the job - optician, pharmacist, teacher and so on.

Niceguy, you are completely wrong about Philosophy and Politics.

A PPE is considered to be one of the most academic degrees you can study. They are certainly not soft subjects.

Why are philosophy and politcs degrees considered to be 'soft' degrees? What are 'soft' degrees anyway?

Milly, I think that's because many business degrees will accept students with very low A level grades on them.

I think a clever person is far more use in business than one who's got lower qualifications and has studied business.

I agree with IB. Surely the respected degrees are ones like dentistry, philosophy, pharmacy, chemistry, French (so either traditional academic or required to join a profession), and the 'soft' degrees are things like Media Studies, business studies and cultural studies?

Physics graduates have a surprisingly low employment rate (or rather, surprising til you've met a few), and media studies rather a good employment rate, along with Geographers.

Nothing soft about Philosophy

"Tell him if its not a real degree does he want someone with a fecking Arts degree helping out with his next surgery? Or perhaps a 21 year old with a degree in Media Studies delivering his next kid?"

Babies are delivered by midwives, not nurses, aren't they?

The grades that Universities will accept someone to do a degree is often dependent on the univeristy, not the degree. I had to get A's to study teaching at Cambridge, but only needed 2 x Grade E's at some Unis. That is just an arbitary thing.

Miswives are nurses first then they top up to be midwifes, at least that was the traditonal route, so they are more qualified not less.

My neice is a midwife, she has never been a nurse.

That's what I thought sparkle.

I thought you could do a degree in Midwifery without being a nurse first? Maybe that's a newer route though, and there's probably quite a lot in common with the nursing degree.

I know a couple of people who did straight midwifery degreees too though. Either way, nurses don't deliver babies.

Would he be giving the same advice if she was a ds rather than a dd? Sexist prat. Tell dsd to take no notice of him. How academic is she and what does she want to do?

and I would always rather have a nurse with a nusring degree caring for my ds than someone with a physics or philosophy degree

I'm still interested to know what this careers adviser father does himself.

me too

I have a friend with a PhD in physics. She's working in finance these days. Lovely girl and nothing like the stereotype physicist you're imagining.

She'd be a crap nurse though. It's a vocation and a completely different skill set. Not better or worse, just very different.

I've never met a nurse I thought was a waste to physics either, come to think of it. Then again, it'd be a strange world if we were all the same.

If DSD is seriously trying to choose between physics and nursing would she consider something more along the lines of radiotherapist / medical physicist? Might be a middle way (although I suspect the harder aspects of both)

Media degrees aren't bollocks either. A lot of people who do them don't go on to work in the media because it's very very hard to get into, not because the degree in itself is rubbish. There is certainly a problem with perception. I did media A-Level and learned some of the most important things I have ever learned in my life. For one, am I not surprised about all the shit going down in the media at the moment as I learned about that at age 16-18. It shouldn't be seen as a soft option, learning about how the media operate should be bloody compulsory.

Interestingly on another matter, perhaps it should be illegal to discriminate against potential employees on the basis of which university they went to, given that nearly all degrees are going to cost £9k, all those costing £9k must be the same quality, aren't they? AREN'T THEY? :)

Sorry, £9k a year I meant there.

Why would your DH try to limit her aspirations to a job paying about 20k a year? Or an "easy" degree? (Whether the easy title or not is justified!)

Your OH has some very odd ideas, tbh.

He's talking bollocks.

If you are of the mindset that university is to be the most fun possible, she should absolutely avoid nursing. Something like History, with minimum contact hours, a few essays then a final dissertation with exams, gives you much more party time that nursing, where you have the same level of studying but very strict practical hours and actual work to do.

Nursing is really hard. Maybe not academically, but will be physically and emotionally more draining than almost any other course. Is your husband a total muppet?