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

[DistinguishedSocialCommentator]

Hello
I come from a background/culture where education is seen as very important and going to a university is a must (My parents came to England in 1962)

Yes, more and more jobs are seeking degrees and often even when not necessary. There are many professions where you must have a degree to join the course training

However, what I and my family call BS degrees, to name but a few

Arts
Studio Fine arts
Arth History
Business studies
Exercise Science
Fashion

I cant see what jobs they will get as there must be other routes, less intensive and extensive to get the job they want

When I've talked about mickey-mouse degrees at parties etc and not be aware that some parents children or they may have studied them, they start to defend the indefensible.
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?

Thank you asnd I did not expect everyone to agree especially those with one of the degrees I mentioned plus 'Media Studies.'

Yes, some will get work in the line of work they studied for and decent money but most won't.

So apprenticeships or a degree in a subject where there are plenty of jobs is the way forward

You and your Media degrees hate 🙄

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.

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.

Many thanks, exactly how I feel hence my thread. However, you've put it across in a more concise manner and exactly to the point

As I said in my OP, we are not from England. I guess all parents want their kids to do better than they did, but 2 of our three kids never went to uni and the one that did is earning less than the two that did not. Thy left school at 16 (all three in their 30's) and started from the bottom in computers/IT. as the days/months/years went on and they moved from job to job, employers noted their skills/talaents and recent years employers have paid most of their fees in computer-related degrees and I won't say how much they earn but they are now in the top 5% of earners in England

Our kids were not interested in uni and we agreed, the one that was is a dentist and recently training up to be an orthodontist

IMO, many of the comments have just targeted me with rudeness etc but failed to see the point - EG, whats the point of massive debts when there may be little chance of a job at the end of it.

@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.

'What's the point of massive debts with no job at the end of it?'

Depends if you are meaning from an individuals POV or a UK taxpayers POV?

Well spotted! So the OP doesn't even have a degree... figures!

Would you mind if I messaged you privately. 17 year old son wants to study this at uni? . Thanks

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator could you tell me where you are getting information on the graduate labour market seeing as though you speak so confidently about it?

It doesn't seem to tally with my sources of information.....

There's this bloke called Jurgen Klopp and he took a degree in sports science. From what I've heard, he seems to be doing OK.

it's a long life, you may have a better chance of training for new career if wanted if you have a degree to start with. degrees open up options.

Well done, you’ve managed to insult anyone reading this who happens to have one of these degrees. Who the hell are you to say that some degrees as Mickey Mouse?
I do agree that a degree in itself isn’t necessarily everything and plenty of people will be successful without one. But that doesn’t make a degree pointless

And so what if they are? Some people will be 'successful' in the traditional sense and some won't. What about personal enrichment and fulfilment? Or is it just all about the money?!

You don’t “value education” you value the status certain degrees can bring. It’s elitism, it’s snobbery and it’s uncalled for!
Just for context I have a degree in forensic psychology and a degree in mental health nursing - both of which I use in my career. Someone who has a degree in politics or business studies works just as hard to gain their just as valuable qualifications as someone who does a degree in something you think is ‘valuable and worthwhile’

There are FAR more STEM graduates compared to STEM jobs out there. I did a Maths degree and struggled for years to get a basic office job. So my degree was pretty “useless”.

Do you think there are a huge number of STEM jobs out there and a huge shortage of jobs for them? Only a tiny percentage of jobs are STEM type jobs and it can actually be harder to get a corporate type job with one of those degrees as there is a perception you’ll leave and try to get into your field of subject at some point.

How utterly rude and uninformed!

My goodness @DistinguishedSocialCommentator - everything you've written on this site in the last week just smacks of you think you know everything better than anybody, ever! You don't. In fact, you simply come across as somebody who is smug. Do you actually talk to people in the real world like you do people on here? If so, I'm really surprised you're not given short shrift!
Your comments on the Royal Family and what others believe about them, your comments on education, doesn't matter what the subject is, you simply think you're better than everybody else.
I wonder how you manage to walk through doorways when your head is so big.
Stop being a snob, stop boring everybody with your pointless views and, basically, just take some time out to consider why you feel the need to educate people (who haven't asked to be educated by you!).

This is something my son is interested in. May I please private message you? Thanks

For many of them, it is nothing to do with their degree subject. It's their network, their family networks, their school networks and the stupid clubs like the Bullingdon & the Oxford Union and the like which they were part of at uni. That's how most of the top guys got into power.

no one gives a shit how you and most of your family feel though mate

Seriously you couldnt

I agree OP, so many bullshit degrees, and I expect most of the people giving you a hard time on this thread either have bullshit degrees themselves or their DC are doing film studies or other such nonsense. University is an industry now though, so some people are making a great deal of money out of bullshit degrees.

i’ve told mine, unless there’s a very specific career path they want to take or they want to do a good solid STEM subject, to not bother with university and get a job/apprenticeship. If they start after school or college on a decent apprenticeship, by the time their mates have left university with shit degrees not worth the paper they’re written on, and are working in Costa with £60000 debt they’ll never pay off, they’ll be on good money with even better earning potential.

They probably are given short shrift, and that's why they have so much time to spend on writing ill-informed, nonsense posts on MN!!