Dissatisfaction with democracy 'at record high'

[scooterscot]

Went to uni before tuition fees became a thing, so there was no 'our family can afford to send our kids to uni crap'. Time as a electronic engineer undergraduate was great, wouldn't change it... got to spend time studying something that I had a natural affinity for. Then went on to do a Masters in operational research, less exciting but the point would be that both experiences facilitated my working career and then some.

Study if you have interest and an economic needs for those skills. If you're going for the experience of uni, it's a waste of everyones time and energy.

[MasterBait]

Unelected faceless Peers in the House of Lords
Money sucking unelected royals
Party with 43.6% of the vote gets a huge majority in parliament

Yep that's democracy in the UK for you

[Cirrus]

What we actually need is a more representative form of democracy

There is a supermassive reason why this is a ridiculous idea.

You

You got a chance to influence things and you voted Brexit.

I doubt they'll be trying any representative forms of democracy again in our lifetimes...

[original PM]

Completely agree.

Of all my friends, the one in the best situation is the one who didn't go to uni, started working in IT when he was 18 and worked his way up to a 120k job. Still as passionate of his job as in his first day. Never been unemployed.

On the opposite side, there's my depressed friend with 2 MSc and a PhD in Biology, after not finding work for 1 year he now works in a food factory doing some bulltulip 50 hours/week QA job for probably 35-40k.

I myself would probably not go to uni if I could go back in time. NOTHING I studied turned out to be useful in real life (if we exclude those 2-3 times at the pub quiz)

I did Astrophysics - finished about 25 years ago.

Never needed it for any role I have applied for and much of what I learned has since been shown to be either wrong or at best an approximation of the truth.

I am not sure but I feel this concept of 'you must have a degree' is actually made up by people who want a lot of people in debt so they have to work and as such you can offer lower salaries due to competition and people's desperate desire to pay off their debts.

Not saying having a degree is bad but you need to see it as a means to an end - it's like with GCSE's - get the grades you need for what you want to study at a-level or go into training, get an apprenticeship etc , then at the next level get the grades/qualifications you need to get to the next level.

Doing a degree for the sake of doing a degree with no idea of what you actually want to do can be a waste of money - not always, but it can be.

[NotAllThere]

When 40% of the population have a degree, it's obvious it won't be advantageous.

I was interested to hear that some employers prefer a masters over a PhD as a PhD is too specialised.

I proofread one PhD thesis that was essentially a write-up of pilot project using Tableau. I'm not convinced that it's hard to get a PhD - at least in some disciplines.

[original PM]

There is a supermassive reason why this is a ridiculous idea.

You

You got a chance to influence things and you voted Brexit.

I doubt they'll be trying any representative forms of democracy again in our lifetimes...

You know there are books you can read which help you through the change process.

It can be scary heading off into the unknown but you can prepare and actually make it an interesting journey.

Or you can hide in the corner saying everything new is bad and the old way is the best and only way if you want.

Who Moved My Cheese? - Wikipedia

[PCTNN]

When 40% of the population have a degree, it's obvious it won't be advantageous.

And that's why now people doing a trade are much better off. More and more people go to uni and don't actually know how to use a tool. And then you end up spending tons of money for a renovation that any average Joe could do himself 40 years ago.

I was interested to hear that some employers prefer a masters over a PhD as a PhD is too specialised.

Real reason is: most people who do a masters do it because they want to know more about a specific subject; most people who do a PhD are people who couldn't find a job after the masters so they say oh well I might as well just delaying working for another 3-4 years. No wonder employers avoid PhD graduates like the plague.

[original PM]

How long does it take to get a PhD?

So if for example you start Uni at 18 - do a 4 year BSc, then a 2? year MSc and then another 4 years at PhD level - does this mean you are coming out at 28 without ever worked a day in your life - but with an expectation that you will walk into any job at a high level and expect people to listen to you?

Not supposing to find most people with PhD's end up in academia.

Not all mind you but most....

[PCTNN]

Doing a degree for the sake of doing a degree with no idea of what you actually want to do can be a waste of money - not always, but it can be.

I think the whole educational system is broken. How can a teenager know what they want to do with their lives? Lots of them will end up choosing a degree purely because of parental pressure. Some others will choose something they think they're going to like but hey they're teenagers so next day they'll have changed their minds already.

Very utopic idea but I'd be all up for letting the kids go experience the real world for a few years, get a few jobs, find out what you like and don't like. Then if you want you can go to uni. No big difference between going to uni at 18 vs going at say 23.

[scooterscot]

So if for example you start Uni at 18 - do a 4 year BSc, then a 2? year MSc and then another 4 years at PhD level - does this mean you are coming out at 28 without ever worked a day in your life...

That made me smile. Nearly every German graduate I've met in the office are around 27-29 year old mark. Their 1st year in the work place. Then they moan endlessly at my high rate and in the same breath look at me with astonishment as I explain the vlookup function to them , they whip out the notepad and write it down. No wonder Germany has a falling birth rate.