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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think my degree is as good as anyone elses?

431 replies

SecretSlattern · 20/12/2009 20:29

I started off in 2004 doing a NVQ 3 in Early Years Care and Education, 3 months after having DD. I qualified 9 months later, with 2 level 3 qualifications and worked for a bit in day nurseries, pre-schools and after school clubs before studying a Foundation Degree in Early Years Childcare and Education.

At the start of the second year of my FD, I discovered I was pg with DS but continued on anyway and had him 2 weeks before the end of the course. I graduated from Uni in 2008, six weeks after having DS.

I finally went back to finish the last year of my BA (hons) in Early Childhood Studies. I now have 2 DCs, one of which is constantly in and out of hospital, and have now discovered I am pg with DC3. The timing is pretty shit, but there you go. DC3 is due in May, the same month that I am due to finish my degree (although will still have to write my dissertation, which I have done before so am confident I can do it again).

However, when telling a friend of mine what I was up to (hadn't spoken in a while), she sniffed, pulled a face and basically said it wouldn't matter if I didn't finish my degree because it isn't a proper degree anyway. "What can you do with a degree in kids?" was the question I was asked.

I actually intend to go on in the future and do a PGCE in primary, specialising in early years. AIBU to think that just because my degree is "in kids" it doesn't make it any less of a degree? I still go to uni, still have to do a mahoosive amount of work, same as any other undergrad.

OP posts:
bibbitybobbitysantahat · 20/12/2009 23:05

My degree is in Drama. The most poncetastic subject of all! And, I have no trouble whatsoever acknowledging that other degrees are way harder to acquire than mine.

timelordvictorious · 20/12/2009 23:18

LeQueen - I also have an English degree, from a Russell Group uni, and did VERY little work to get it. I have also been assured that it is looked upon highly by academic institutions.

I am now doing a GDL, and am stunned by the amount of work required!

carriedababi · 20/12/2009 23:19

of course they are not all equal.

but very well done.

such a shame how so many people do not value the early years.

i was talking to people about our choices for dds preschooling, one of the places has eyp, most people said whats the point in that!
so i see what you mean op.

Quattrocento · 20/12/2009 23:21

He he I remember the complete and utter shock of GDL after an English degree ... Sympathies. Although cases about snails in bottles of ginger beer are strangely fascinating after years spent in fiction.

You will of course have to come outside with me to beat Wilf up for those gross insults ...

scottishmummy · 20/12/2009 23:22

Donoghue v Stevenson know it and love it well.there is a wee plaque too

Ronaldinhio · 20/12/2009 23:26

now that takes me back ladies

scottishmummy · 20/12/2009 23:27

went there looked paid homage

Kristingle · 20/12/2009 23:29

congratulations on your degree SS and on your children . and good luck with your career plans

your friend is rude and probably jealous

LOL at this thread,particularly at the intellectual snob with the degree in engineering

scottishmummy · 20/12/2009 23:31

yes we all digress,ss really well done. i had no children at uni and found it demanding

RockinSockBunnies · 20/12/2009 23:33

TimeLord - where are you doing the GDL? I have tonnes of notes if you need them at all - I did mine at College of Law last year and am now doing the LPC.

timelordvictorious · 20/12/2009 23:38

I'm doing it at Oxford Brookes, Rockin. Thank you, that is very kind of you. (I'm CATable, I think, or my email is hayley dot buckley at gmail dot com) Doing it part time as I am still freelance editing/proofreading, and looking after a toddler, but good lord it's hard.

Good fun though.

katnkittens · 20/12/2009 23:39

SS I just wanted to say I'm in the same position and can't decide what to do!!

Different degree but I am due DC4 in May which would be exactly the time I should be sitting 5 really hard imo exams....

Thinking I'm going to defer for a year.

Good luck with your degree, I know how hard it is studying with DCs especially when you have a lot of hours to put in.

Good luck xxx

megapixels · 20/12/2009 23:43

No I don't think that all degrees are equal at all.

scottishmummy · 20/12/2009 23:51

degrees dont have to be same,content and curriculum differ it is what you do with it and your suitability to chosen discipline that guides career and fulfilment

Frizbe · 20/12/2009 23:58

Congrats with finally getting your degree finished. Those who are lucky enough to start and finish their degrees within three years don't often realise how much sacrific and effort goes into completing a degree part time, let alone when you have children!!
I have friends who are long term accidemics, who do not realise how hard life can be with both study and kids. As an employer (whose also studied) I'd like to think I can sympathise. Go girl!!

Tortington · 21/12/2009 00:57

yes much congrats. i did mine with 3 kids under 5yo. i went to a crap uni, i got a mediocre degree in a generic subject - but i am so very very proud of myself. It is such hard work. well done you

JaneS · 21/12/2009 00:59

You're not being unreasonable. Bloody hell - to get through a degree with all that going on, clearly you're pretty good!

For what it's worth, I have frequently had people tell me that what I'm studying is useless, that it's an easy course, that it's a waste of time, that it's academically unexciting, etc. etc., so I know exactly how you feel. It's rubbish but someone will always be there to say these things. I have two degrees from Oxbridge in English, so I honestly don't think it's just you and your subject, I think some people just enjoy putting others down.

Ignore them, and enjoy what you're achieving, I say.

JaneS · 21/12/2009 01:10

(Wish you could edit posts here!)

Meant to say above, I don't honestly think all degrees are equal in terms of content and rigor. But what you make of them is up to you. Some of the responses here don't seem to acknowledge that. Some degree courses have less content and train applicants less well than others, it's true - but OP doesn't really describe that situation. She's referring to someone belittling the whole subject, if I read it correctly?

spookycharlotte121 · 21/12/2009 01:12

have read the first two pages of this thread and I think your friends views and some of the views on this thread are rufe and ignorant.

How can anyone judge for starters when they have very little insight into what is involved in the degree.

I get constantly critocized that im not doing a "proper" degree. Im studying Landscape and garden design. I get told that its just gloryfied gardening and anyone could do it. Thing is they couldnt. There is a whole lot more involved than you would imagine.
We have to have vast experiance in using CAD programmes and be able to do detailed hand drawings as well.
there is science involved with soil structures etc.
The plant knowledge we are required to have is never ending.
the list goes on.... legislations..... planning.... construction.

People just think its digging a hole a plonking a plant in which is really annoying because its not!

I also am tking extra time to do work involved in sustainable development of garden design which is facinating and will also prove very useful in the future as we need to become more concious of our impact on the planet.

people just dont understand the level of scope in some subjects and will critocize untill the cows come home. theyre still happy to get you to look after their kids though and use your services and expertise!

Like someone else said.... some rocket scientists wouldnt have a chance in hell of doing a degree in childcare. Its what suits you thats important.

btw my sister is in this catagory. she is studying nursing which she isnt even doing as a degree but still thinks it is faaaaar superior to my degree.

sorry for the waffle!

edam · 21/12/2009 01:17

I think it's the old lazy prejudice about "women's work" - because children couldn't possibly be worthy of study, could they? ? added to lazy prejudice about newer types of courses.

Bet the Victorians had snobs who looked down on Eng Lit - 'good gracious, anyone with brains would be studying Classics'! And presumably engineering was once regarded as a mickey mouse subject for those who couldn't manage physics.

edam · 21/12/2009 01:19

Oh, and I have met a couple of real-life rocket scientists who tell me it's not really all that hard... 'well, it's not brain surgery' one of them said.

Oddly enough have met some brain surgeons too and none of them ever said, well, it's not rocket science...

JaneS · 21/12/2009 01:22

Reading through everything (whew, that took ages): there are two basic issues.

One is that degrees differ in terms of how specialized they are and how transferable are the skills you learn. That's an ok trade-off for most of us, I guess.

The second thing is, what do we think of degrees that are watered-down versions of the real thing? Do we think that a degree in French from Oxford is going to be as useful as a degree in Continental Studies, Marketing and Management from, say, Harper Adams College? (Neither degree is a real example, btw, so don't jump down my throat).

It seems from what OP says, that her degree is closer to the first case. She's specialized - a doctor or Psychologist would generalize far more. But, unlike the second case, OP's degree is coherent.

Well ... that's what I reckon, I'll be quiet now!

cathcat · 21/12/2009 01:27

OP, well done on your studies.

Sadly even within the same profession there are prejudices about how you got there. In my first job my colleague was surprised to find we were on the same payscale, even though we were both in our first year of the job. She had a degree and a PGCE while I had done the 4 year course to get a degree. She said to me "I thought I would get more money as I have a proper degree" Nice!

nappyaddict · 21/12/2009 01:29

YABU - Does she understand that you've done the top up year to make it into a BA? I wouldn't call a foundation degree a proper degree but would call a BA a proper degree iyswim.

nooka · 21/12/2009 04:34

But LittleRedDragon your thinking is exactly the same. the degree from the funny place with the funny title might actually be much more useful if you were intending to join say an Anglo-French marketing company. And if it was run by an ex-Poly (highly likely) it might well have very strong links with companies of that nature, with internships etc. In which case it could be a highly useful degree. Of course the Oxford one is likely to be far more academic, but that's not always the point. I would say it was a lazy assumption to assume that a broader degree was watered down, or that a traditional university was better than a new one.

My dh did his Masters at Southbank (ex poly) which has always had a very strong connection with industry. As a result the business aspects of his course were very good. They also were more up to date about what skills were likely to be useful and marketable (given that many of their lecturers were part time, with the other half in the industry and therefore also involved in recruitment). He did say that the academic side was pretty weak (he'd covered the approach previously in his degree) but there was certainly plenty of work, and it's a well regarded masters in it's field. But then far more masters degrees are vocational in any case. Personally I think it is a bit sad that degree courses have become so vocational - I certainly had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at 18.

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