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?

She’s done cyclists already.

How about vegans?

Sure thats why i sent my dds to college.
The ungrateful wagons went and got themselves big fancyass careers instead though.
1 did an arts degree and owns her own company now. Fs not even a husband. What a waste.
3rd is mid arts degree, her scholarship offer in vienna trumps any notion of a husband.
Im really dissapointed. I only sent them on mickey mouse degree courses to bag a Uni husband. None of this education, travel and careers malarky. They dont even do drugs ffs.
Utter waste of money.

I didn't get a degree, at least not the traditional way. I was able to study Chartered Marketing qualifications part time, funded by my employer to postgraduate diploma level 20 years ago. I have completely changed my view from thinking education is just to "get a job" to hoping my daughters will have the opportunities to study whatever they're interested in and not have to boil it down to a return on investment calculation. There has to be more to life surely! And it is vanishingly rare I even look at education/qualifications now when I'm hiring but everything gained during education and life shapes people's attitudes, motivations and behaviour which has a huge impact on how they view the world, are able to find happiness etc surely?

The intern for free generation is alive and kicking! My DC2 spent their 3rd year in unpaid placements, for high profile businesses! It's exploitation pure and simple. One ran a business with no paid staff, but 20+ interns at any given time, described as "artisans" on her social media!

It’s just so miserable to think of work only in relation to paycheck, not passion, fulfilment, enjoyment etc. I can’t even imagine viewing life in such simplistic terms. And I have friends who left well paid jobs to do creative ventures like carpentry and photography. I hope my DD finds a way of doing what she really loves, regardless of income.

So what you are saying then is that all of your children do actually have degrees, and the two who didn’t go straight from school found their careers blocked in their early 20s due to the lack of degree, and had to go back to studying part time while also working?

And your take away from that is not that your kids should have just gone to uni and got the CompSci degree in the first place, but that other people’s children shouldn’t go either, and cross their fingers they find an employer willing to fund a £30k degree later on?

I did a "BS" degree in business studies. Earnt £725k last year. I'm 99% sure the degree did me well

Now kindly take your shallow minded opinion and f off.

It’s a goady thread… but there is a ring of truth to it. I have lost count of the number of young people who I have worked with who have degrees they cannot use. Dance, forensics, media etc. I am sure there are people who are going to come and tell me how well they have done with said degrees but I suspect they are in the minority. Universities are businesses, they are after the money. Some kids would be far better off going on the apprenticeship schemes. A degree does not hold the sway it once used to. Of course a job is not everything- but it’s pretty important!

Degree gives you much more than subject knowledge.

My DD is going to do a BA in Fine Art. She has all A's and A*s in both her GCSE and Levels, thank you very much! She doing it because that's what she wants to do- not because she wasn't bright enough to do anything else and not because it's a soft degree- she could have done a medical degree if she wished, but she didn't want to.

The Arts are vital to our culture- after all, when everything is gone it's the Arts that remain- how do we know so much about about the ancient world and long lost civilisations? We find their cave paintings, decorated vases, mosaics, statues, jewellery, carvings etc.

Maybe she'll end up as a renowned artist, selling her work for millions of pounds, and maybe she won't. Who knows!

At least she'll have the chance rather than just getting a boring job to pay the bills like the OP thinks she should!

I have a BA in Business Studies (accounting and marketing) and I am now a chartered management accountant. The classmates I was closest to studied law or economics with accounting; they all qualified as chartered accountants. Two are now CFOs in organisations in the USA, another is the FD of a renewables company in Scotland.
My cousin studied what would now be seen as "exercise science". She heads up a sports programme for young people in our council area.
DD1 (23) has an arts degree in English and French. She is currently doing a postgrad to allow her to be an English teacher (her year in France gives her enough credits to dual qualify as a French teacher once she is qualified).
Are our degrees all BS?
DH's first degree was LLB but he has never used it (he took a couple of years out and then took another vocational degree under sponsorship and that has been his livelihood since 2022; which of his degrees is necessary?

I'll bite. Lots of people go to university to learn, not to get a specific job. A degree in politics is not "wasted" on someone who works in a shop instead of in the house of lords.

You're also mistaken. Many entry level management jobs want a business degree. You won't get far starting on the shop floor and working your way up.

A debt?
Sure some build up knwowldge and skills but if there is little chance of a job and you are young and already in massive debt before starting work, many have regrets at that point

Most people go to uni to get a better job but these days it does not always workout like that.

Dont take my word for it.
Sont forget 2 of our 3 kids did not have a degree when they left school at 16 with gcse's I think they were call and they are now in the top 5% pay wide as earning well in excess of 100k

From FT

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Employers as varied as the cereal maker Kellogg’s UK and the state government of Utah have stopped requiring degree-level qualifications. Companies including IBM and Accenture, meanwhile, have invested in hiring routes such as apprenticeships so new recruits can train on the job.

In the UK, the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) found the share of members requiring a 2:1 degree fell from three-quarters in 2014 to less than half in 2022. A separate analysis by website Totaljobs found just 22 per cent of UK entry-level adverts mentioned a degree this year, a decline of almost a third since 2019. Job postings that did not require a degree increased 90 per cent between 2021 and last year, according to LinkedIn.

https://www.ft.com/content/490b8aa2-99c2-497f-ab75-1f8c74215803**

The debt is only payable if earn over a threshold.

It’s a narrow world view to think only in terms of money.

i belueve that’s why things are such a mess as too many are only concerned with the pursuit of profit.

What is the "threshold - 60k? or is it a lot less than that?

Would you agree that many students leave uni with debts of around 30k?

What about the life experiences that you gain at university? Living away for three or four years teaches you independence and self-sufficiency. Getting a job after GCSEs and living at home with mum and dad is not the same.

Nothing wrong with vocational degrees or degrees purely done for the love of a subject. All teach useful skills and all give a young adult enjoyment, independence and life experience. I get that money makes it not worthwhile for many to pursue higher education but I actually think it's a shame to head off into 50+ years of full time work at 18. Being a student is a fabulous experience that everyone who wants it should have.

My parents wouldn't let me take up my offers to do Performing Arts, Drama or Creative Writing at university. My Dad's exact words 'what on earth would you do with a degree like that?' And what do I do - I'm a Performing Arts teacher who also write play scripts.😆The desire for my dad to know this fact is one of many reasons I wish he was still alive.

My degree is in English Literature. Almost certainly no more (and perhaps less) useful than what I really wanted to do but it satisfied my parents because it was a 'real subject' from a posh university.

So it's not necessarily university education you're against, but rather the cost of it?

So you've not read the thread/op. If you had you would have noted that it was not what you said.

I've read the entire thread.

Of course, more even.

People get into debt for cars, houses, Christmas even.

Education incl uni shouldn’t just be for those that can afford it.

There aren’t enough apprenticeships or internships available. That’s another matter.

I can't be arsed to read all of your posts @DistinguishedSocialCommentator because not only are you a generally goady poster, but you are clearly sadly lacking as well. You can't spell. You choose to post using at least (on the last count) three different user names, so I think you delight in having us all on.
And your posts display your general ignorance as well.
So I'm out.

(Arts graduate and successful business owner, now retired)

I'm still struggling to understand the point of your post to be honest.

My BIL has a degree is media studies (you know, the degree you think is the biggest waste of a degree that there is). He worked for the BBC for years and has also worked for several media and TV companies all over the world (currently Sydney). I have a medical degree - so does my dh but we don't earn anywhere near as much as he does with his "Mickey Mouse" degree.

And getting a degree is about so much more than what job you will do with it. It teaches you these things called transferable skills. If you want to do a job that just requires "A degree" then you might as well spend three years studying something you like and are interested in, rather than what the OP deems to be an acceptable degree.

Then there's the life skills you get from living away from home, learning to live on a tight budget, learning to balance studying with enjoying yourself, learning to look after yourself, to cook, to maintain friendships and relationships

Meeting people different to you.

This is an important thing imo.