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?

I didn't think of that. They might be too "out there" a concept to be real degrees for OP. Guess they'll just have to suffer.

My goodness you come across as "working class but worthy" horrible expression but it does sum up your attitude that education is very linear. How boring if people only studied "useful" subjects. I know a couple of very successful (if you measure success by wealth) barristers that went to drama school. Would hate to sit next to you at a dinner party, so dull when all one knows about is work.

What jobs hire these magically ‘highly knowledgeable and intelligent’ 16-year-olds?

Maybe the OP has access to super secret labour market information that the rest of us don't know about.....

And drama school would probably be excellent training for the public speaking bits of that job

Bachelor's in Business Administration.
Speak 4 languages and learn 2 more. Plus I'm now doing coding courses on a long run. Are you calling us waste of time? Plus I studied back home. And educational system there is more intense than in UK. Plus I assume you can only speak English?

FFS, opinions like this drive me nuts! What knowledge to you have of the current grad labour market? What measure do you use to determine value? What does graduate success look like to you? Salary? Job title? Perceived status?
this is ill informed and incredibly condescending. I hope your own children receive expert advice when considering their future pathways and not just your ‘opinion’!

Supermarkets and the like. Which is fine, but it'll take quite some time working there to match OPs (magic) children's earnings.

Hahahahahaha course you could 🥴🥴 We arent talking a pin and ink ffs we are talking amazing art work by VERY talented people. They earn alot of money because of their skill. You sound like a complete dick to be honest

With a history of art degree you can get on the list to be king

I know I must be a complete philistine, but history of art sounds like absolute torture to me! (Not eligible for regency in any event!)

The OP is just a reactionary prick who throws bad opinions round like confetti. I think the patented Mumsnet tinkly laugh and head toss is the best response.

Clearly your parents didn’t succeed in instilling empathy in you. What a silly, snobby comment.

Yes, you are being unreasonable.

I studied English. I also got a place to do law but turned it down. The writing and analytical skills help me to this day. That’s what I do for a living, I write.

It also helped me see the world through the eyes of hundreds of different authors, people at all different points in history.

Something I think you might need…

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

We need to be able to communicate with each other clearly though, and I’m afraid I’m finding your posts borderline illiterate. If you’re going to sneer at other people’s degrees I think you ought to get your sentences together a bit better.

Not sure what you’d make of my degree. On the one hand it was the study of two dead languages so the ultimate in BS in your view I suspect. Then again it has been for centuries considered the epitome of a solid education, and still opens many doors. I got a first because I was good at it, and went on to a very well respected professional career.

Read the link from MN, the OP. And stop being deliberately obtuse as if they were that good at that age, they would have been earning to excellent amounts then. Are you saying that 16 year olds are not intelligent job wise, not all of them but a good percentage??

Read and inc you and the others that were chatting a load of... re student debts.
Read the op just like I said, not every job with a degree pays any decent money and a lot of ex uni students are in the same plight - Read up the one that said on 30k you pay back " 16 pounds a month" its in this/my thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5032523-to-be-in-this-job-and-feel-poor

fedippp · 20/03/2024 14:22
I trained for seven years, reasonably large student loan etc, to end up age 35 on 58k, and barely anything left at the end of the month!!! Mortgage is 1300 for a 2 bed semi, (up from 800 last year). Student loans are still hundreds a month. I have a car on finance as I couldn’t save house deposit and car deposit, need car for work. I eat beans on toast 3 nights a week. I feel like an idiot. I missed out on so much in my twenties to get into a decent job that I thought paid well and it seems to have been a waste of time! Does anyone else feel this way? I feel so disheartened.

OP you have a very snobby and narrow-minded view. Any point of view other than your own, is not automatically incorrect.

Yes I am a 'BS' degree graduate - a double whammy: Communications and Media! Horror!

I am profoundly deaf and for the industry I wanted to work in, getting on the employment ladder would have been nigh on impossible without my degree. For context, getting any job was hard - I even got refused a fruit picking job due to my deafness.

With my degree I got a demanding, high-salary marketing role in London with the biggest media agency. The job application required a degree and I was able to demonstrate how my course was related in the interview presentation. And no, it wasn't about Disney films.

Doing a degree in 'communications' was also deliberately ironic, to show employers I could nail communications despite my deafness.

University also taught me independence, and was the best time of my life!

Read the op just like I said, not every job with a degree pays any decent money and a lot of ex uni students are in the same plight - Read up the one that said on 30k you pay back " 16 pounds a month" its in this/my thread

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator I was the poster that explained a graduate earning 30K year year will pay around £16 month in repayments.

You've mentioned this a few times...please can you explain why you think this is wrong? These are figures quoted by the SLC and the government.

That poster sounds like she took a degree that led directly to a profession. So not sure how that is at all relevant to any point you’re trying to make?

And £58k is decent money for most people, although not in MN-land!

Thank you for owning up

So you are saying the FM I have quoted in the link has their figures mixed up and they are not paying "hundreds a month" re their student loans???

Please do share as I've posted a link from a concerned FM re that amouth they are paying back on what appears to be an ok salary but the hundreds a month does have a massive negative impact on the FM

Why is that FM not paying 16 quid a month?

Many thanks

Why is that FM not paying 16 quid a month?

Because they aren’t earning £30k

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator with the post you linked the huge likelihood is that she entered into either the legal or medical professions and I am leaning much more towards the former.
The salary she earns is a fair amount and the issue is of COL as well plus high mortgage rates

Why is that FM not paying 16 quid a month?

Because she earns £58K.......

What you don't appear to have grasped is that student loan repayments are calculated on what you earn not what you borrow.
Someone earing £30K will pay back between £16-20 per month providing they started after 2012 (the exact amount will depend on what plan they are on a it varies between year of entry and country)

Oh, And there was nothing for me to 'own up' to. My name was right there and i have continued to comment on the thread.

Also that poster is not just paying back a student loan but also a career development loan.......