AWESOME!! Can't wait for all the kids to graduate with a Bachelor's in Gender Studies!!

I have degrees in English, History, and Political Science.

My career pathway is, and has been, very well lit.

Perhaps a better strategy would be just to make it harder to get into college, period. If you make it hard enough that only people with drive make it in, then you increase the chances that the people coming out of school have the drive to be successful in life.

The most successful schools are the ones that are very hard--and therefore comes with some prestige--to get into.

This campus should just turn itself into a trade school.

English major here. CPA if that tells you anything. That's deceiving 'cause during my career I learned to use my degree to advance my career. One case I know, but English are very useful tools when applied to circumstances.

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Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
Does that mean no more "Women's Studies" degrees?

I studied women in college. Flunked the course....

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Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I have degrees in English, History, and Political Science.

My career pathway is, and has been, very well lit.

Perhaps a better strategy would be just to make it harder to get into college, period. If you make it hard enough that only people with drive make it in, then you increase the chances that the people coming out of school have the drive to be successful in life.

I share a degree with you, but I believe both of us have advanced degrees that have enabled our success.

The main issue is that there are too many students graduating with degrees that, by themselves, will not benefit them (and given the cost of education, could cripple them).

Take your average, 2.8-3.1 GPA student at this college with a degree in PoliSci. They have effectively eliminated their chances of getting into any decent postgraduate program, and have no fallback.

That is the fundamental problem. If you are a top student in even the worst college, you can succeed, but it is the average student that one should look to when adjusting programs.

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Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Perhaps a better strategy would be just to make it harder to get into college, period.

That's not how you fund an institution that outstrips inflation by two or three times.

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Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
Sounds like a great idea. Focus on vocations that are needed. This is the way a lot of German trade schools are set up.

Except that German trade school track education begins in high school, does it not?

We call those schools vo-tech, or trade schools, or union-sponsored/certified training, or career colleges. None of those institutions are universities with a capital U.

Maybe UWSP should be disassociated from UW (and the state larder), and be reinstituted as a private Stevens Point Career College. And the profs/teachers should be a shitload cheaper than uni profs.

As for too many uni dropouts and worthless degrees? Make STEM the only degrees that get any federal loans. No pass, no loan the next semester. If you fail one semester you can pay for the next one on your own; pass a semester on your own, and you can get loans again. Nothing is a grant or forgiven until you graduate with a STEM degree. Then tie forgiveness to military service (1:1 or 1:2, but max forgiveness is 75%; you should still have skin in the game). Nothing else but military service. [Nope, I wouldn’t have qualified under my own program.]

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Originally posted by Voshterkoff:

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Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Perhaps a better strategy would be just to make it harder to get into college, period.

That's not how you fund an institution that outstrips inflation by two or three times.

Higher education costs are what they are because federal money is too available and too cheap.

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Originally posted by onegeek:
Maybe UWSP should be disassociated from UW (and the state larder), and be reinstituted as a private Stevens Point Career College. And the profs/teachers should be a shitload cheaper than uni profs.

And probably a lot less Liberal....

flashguy

I think this probably a long time coming. Stevens Point is in pretty rural Northern WI. I imagine they've seen the writing on the wall. This really isn't just some SJW or University of Phoenix campus. It's a real school that has decent professors. I actually took some 300 level undergrad classes there one summer before transferring to the U of MN. My niece is currently pursuing a biology degree at the school. Probably unlikely anyone unfamiliar with the school would know, but they have one of the top rated Paper Science and Chemical Engineering programs in the country. With 100% job placement for graduates.

So while WI's Madison campus gets in the news a lot these extension schools kind of operate with their own expertise and competing goals. There's actually several other campuses that focus on a particular core degree program. So they kind of push you towards that extension if you're looking for a particular career path. That of course causes the smaller extensions to compete for a limited number of students who often want to stay living in the area. The nice part is the cost to attend the extensions is typically a lot less expensive than the main campus. At least 25-30 years ago it was.

We hve family in Florida, they have a friend with a BA in Ancient Middle East studies (or something akin to such). I asked what his job was, given that background, other than teaching the topic in high school. I think he escorts tours/dignitaries through Disney World. I haven't been able to connect how college prepared him for that vocation.

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Originally posted by craigcpa:
English major here. CPA if that tells you anything. That's deceiving 'cause during my career I learned to use my degree to advance my career. One case I know, but English are very useful tools when applied to circumstances.

Wisconsin requires a degree in accounting or related field with the appropriate accounting classes to become a CPA. I added accounting as a second major in my junior year because there were only two classes extra to get it vs. just having the necessary accounting classes to become a CPA. Other states have different requirements.

Did you take accounting classes? I can't imagine passing the CPA exam with out them.

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Originally posted by Hamden106:

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
Does that mean no more "Women's Studies" degrees?

I studied women in college. Flunked the course....

I enjoyed the homework though...

I don't see how a story about a small university campus eliminating some majors made the national news. No big deal. If you want a degree in those subjects, go somewhere else.

While degrees in history, English, philosophy and other social sciences and humanities may not provide a clear career path for everyone who majors in them, they do develop critical thinking, research and communication skills which can be useful in many types of employment. I think the bigger issue with college education is the cheapening of a degree's value since many schools have lowered standards and colleges seem to feel some obligation to let as many people as possible graduate. There is also a lot more free money to young people available for college, and many don't appreciate the opportunity and take it for granted, screwing off through school, getting inflated grades by professors pressured to achieve high passing rates and graduating without really learning anything.

I work at a UW Campus and this has actually been in the news about 3 months now. Interesting that is just finally hit on a more national scale.

One of the issues that the UW Campuses in Wisconsin are facing right now (except for UW Madison because of it's world reputation and huge donor base) is shifting demographics.

There was a boon of campuses built in this state in the 50s, 60s and 70s and it produced numerous medium to small colleges around - UW La Crosse, UW Eau Claire, UWGB, etc. To an extent they overbuilt. Now, people are having less kids in Wisconsin and there is a much smaller pool of 18 year kids that are going to college. All the UW campuses are going after an increasing smaller number of kids.

Might see more of this in the future. 20 years ago that would not have been even dreamed about in the UW system.

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
English major here. CPA if that tells you anything. That's deceiving 'cause during my career I learned to use my degree to advance my career. One case I know, but English are very useful tools when applied to circumstances.

My CPA brother’s undergrad degree is in History. That seems to have worked out OK.

Back then, university wasn’t seen as a trade school. If they want to be trade schools, call them that, give certificates of competency or whatever, not degrees.

Our culture seems to have a preference of latching on to names to obscure realities. I think that is called “marketing.”

Things were going along pretty well at colleges and universities before the federal government got into it. Maybe someone can come up with one example of an activity that the federal government didn’t make a pig’s breakfast of and at great expense.

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Originally posted by bobandmikako:....degrees in history, English, philosophy and other social sciences and humanities may not provide a clear career path for everyone who majors in them, they do develop critical thinking, research and communication skills which can be useful in many types of employment....

Maybe in Alabama. After 20 years teaching college in Silicon Valley I might suggest the primary focus of history, social science, humanities courses here is social justice-diversity-tolerance-equality. The end result is not critical thinking, rather brain washing to hate traditional American values.

I have posted a few times, a couple of years ago in the college's annual faculty training, the College Pres' hand picked student commented "it is more important in college to get and use political clout than it is to get and use marketable skills".

From my experience as an employer, if a recent graduate has a good GPA in a hard major, they'll make a great employee. I don't really care what the major was, I can teach them the business.

If the prospective employee has a good GPA in an easy major (sorry history majors but the best man in my wedding was a History major at Purdue and my engineering classes were just a weeeeeeeeee bit harder), it tells me nothing about the student. It's a crap shoot.

If the prospect has poor grades...well, no.

So, I'll hire a chemistry major with a 3.8 before I'll hire a Construction Management Major with a 2.8, even though I run a construction company.

A history major with a 3.8....I'd probably keep looking for candidates.

Same thing with post graduate degrees. MBA's are kind of a dime a dozen now. I'll take a JD with good grades over an MBA even if the position has nothing to do with legal.

Long way of saying, a degree to me when I hire is irrelevant. What I'm looking for is someone who has demonstrated that they can take on a challenging subject and excel in it. That they are responsible and dedicated to the task.

Easy majors don't tell me that. It only tells me that they were able to jump over a low bar.

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Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by bobandmikako:....degrees in history, English, philosophy and other social sciences and humanities may not provide a clear career path for everyone who majors in them, they do develop critical thinking, research and communication skills which can be useful in many types of employment....

Maybe in Alabama. After 20 years teaching college in Silicon Valley I might suggest the primary focus of history, social science, humanities courses here is social justice-diversity-tolerance-equality. The end result is not critical thinking, rather brain washing to hate traditional American values.

I have posted a few times, a couple of years ago in the college's annual faculty training, the College Pres' hand picked student commented "it is more important in college to get and use political clout than it is to get and use marketable skills".

I think there is a fundamental disconnect between the educational experiences of many forum members and the sad realities of the present educational system.

Education nowadays is not what it was even 10 years ago, let alone 30/40/50 years. Times have changed, and not for the better.

The university you attended may be in the same town as it was when you were a student in the 70’s, the required courses may have the same titles and numbering, the dorms and classrooms might be the same, even the graduation regalia might be identical... but the output, the content, and most important the education received is NOT the same.

I’m a millennial, albeit one who went to a military boarding school for high school. I can, with complete candor, state that my minor in History did not in any way teach me history that I did not already know, or even a way of approaching it from a different lens or perspective. Rather, every course was a look back at history using modern day norms and customs and attempting to make it all fit, which was exhausting and counterproductive. Trying to align Thermopylae and Lepanto (if they were even mentioned!) with BLM and microagressions is not a fun journey.

EDIT: In case many think I was mentally challenged for graduating with a degree in History that was so patently useless, I also majored in Finance and Accounting and minored in Economics.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: reloader-1,

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:


Long way of saying, a degree to me when I hire is irrelevant. What I'm looking for is someone who has demonstrated that they can take on a challenging subject and excel in it. That they are responsible and dedicated to the task.

Easy majors don't tell me that. It only tells me that they were able to jump over a low bar.

This was the real value of a college education, not the specific information or skill you might acquire, but the experience of thinking, planning, executing, pursuing, without much external direction or supervision. Take on a long term effort, stick to it, deal with whatever barriers pop up, persevere, use your head and available resources and complete the project successfully.

I graduated 50 years ago, a Finance major. I’d be tempted on a do over to major in poker. Of course, I might feel differently if I had made better use of what I learned, or at least was exposed to. Maybe I would have made better mistakes.