Unpopular opinions you hold

[Undertoad]

Awesome. We here in the USA would like to remind our denied British applicants -- no, I say, friends -- that our universities are open to their applications. We are looking for the best and brightest to join our society. For some, it will be substantially financially rewarding. You may match the diversity needs and receive financial aid as well. Please forward applications to Shawnee123.

[DanaC]

*chuckles*

I might say at this point that the idea of scanning applicants on those grounds is only a suggestion right now. Blair is desperately peddling about looking for a legacy......anything to blanket out the Iraq debacle......so tres bizarre ideas are suddenly gaining currency atthe moment. Watch this space.

As a local Labour politician I probably shouldn't say stuff like that....but hey I'm amongst friends right?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by DanaC

There's an idea floating around Whitehall at the moment to introduce some kind of check on university applicants to see if their parents have a degree.....idea being to try and increase the number of kids from lower income/less educated households getting into uni. Fucking studid idea if ever I heard one. Please for God's sake someone shoot our PM. Y'know we used to have a really good uni system over here. Any student who wanted to go to uni and had the a-levels to get in, was entitled to a grant to assist with living expenses and their tuition fees were covered by the state. It worked. It only stopped working when people got this idea that half the population should be attending university......brilliant...now a degree is worth what an a-level used to be and will just about get you a job in middle-management. Meanwhile the huge number of people who've been persuaded to get that degree whowould otherwise not, have encumbered themselves with huge debts.

Well that sounds exactly like a form of Afirmative Action to me.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

You may match the diversity needs and receive financial aid as well. Please forward applications to Shawnee123.

HEY! I just saw this and all I can say is

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by grant

I actually think having the market value of a degree fall is a good thing. It just means that the baseline educational level of our population is rising. The bad thing is that academic standards are also being lowered.

Depends on what your degree is in. The goal is to pick something that will be marketable for years after you finish.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by DanaC

There's an idea floating around Whitehall at the moment to introduce some kind of check on university applicants to see if their parents have a degree.....idea being to try and increase the number of kids from lower income/less educated households getting into uni. Fucking studid idea if ever I heard one.

~snip

There is a question on the FAFSA asking level of education completed by parents. We don't use it. Some states and institutions have aid for the first-generation college student.

Sigh...today I heard a woman complaining about one of our pell policies, stating she didn't know about it because she's a single mother. Freaking WHAT? For one thing, she signed the damn office app saying she read and understood all policies (and this policy is a big deal so it's written not only in our policies and procedures manual but everywhere else we can find some space to publish it.) And what the hell does her single mothering have to do with it anyway? I would have handed her a condom and sent her on her merry way. Poor downtrodden girl.

[DanaC]

Well that sounds exactly like a form of Afirmative Action to me

It's a rather twisted version of it. Whether or not someone's parent has a degree is no indicator of socio-economic status (the thing they are supposedly trying to balance out). We have a generation of working class graduates who were able to get a degree because of grants, aid and encouragement.....many of them have not then gone on to join the economic middle class. We still have a problem in the UK with children from low socio economic backgrounds having low expectations and not taking advantage of educational opportunities. The answer to that is to make it more accessible. Instead we have removed many of the forms of assistance that were in place, replaced them with loans and freed the universities up to charge pretty much what they like; consequently, right now a new student can expect to take on approximately £7000 per year in debt. Over the next couple of years that is likely to rise to about £14000 per year. That is likely to put a lot of workingclass kids off attending university and will also put a lot of mature students off as well.

Having made university gradually more difficult to access financially over the last fifteen years, the government's bright idea is to encourage universities not to take as many kids whose parents have a degree and to take on more first generation graduates.....in which case, what the fuck was the point of helping, encouraging and assisting a generation of working class teenagers to attend university twenty years ago....? Many of them were first generation graduates.

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

The goal is to pick something that will be marketable for years after you finish.

I don't believe that at all. I mean that's what most people think, but most people also think that going to Uni is supposed to teach you how to do something. Which is not true; if you want skill training go to a technical or professional school.

What students should pursue is something they're passionate about, not what will, in theory, make them the most bank. Unless the student doesn't mind doing something they might hate for the next 30-40 years.

A Bachelor's degree is just about enough time and effort for many people to figure out what they're passionate about, if they're lucky.

My unpopular opinion for this post: Law and Medicine are no worse or better fields than Plumbing; they all require technical qualifications.

[melidasaur]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Depends on what your degree is in. The goal is to pick something that will be marketable for years after you finish.

Unfortunately, people confuse marketable with profitable - and many students choose majors based on where they will make the most bucks. Nothing wrong with that, but you end up with professionals who have no passion for their profession but more passion for the bottom line. Hence why there are too many lawyers and doctors.

And I can gripe about too many lawyers... I am one and wish that there were less of them to deal with!

[Sheldonrs]

I have a degree in Elementary Education that I'll never use. Anyone want to buy it from me? It's at a good price and I can discount it further since it was obtained in New Jersey!

[jinx]

Evolution thru natural selection counts for human beings too.

Every decision that you've made up to this point, have led you to this point.

[Spexxvet]

The US should go to war as a truly last resort.

When the US must go to war, stick with what we do well. That means invade, take care of the reason for the invasion, and get the hell out. We don't have an obligation to rebuild. That only encourages countries to provoke us to invade, because they want new infrastructure. If the problem returns, or if another problem pops up, invade again - hell, we're good at it, aren't we? Then get the hell out before any military personnel get killed.

Exactly.

Jinx, a lot of people has issues with dependent origination and accountability... we live in a society of "it's not really my fault" and it is a sickness we need to get rid of ASAP because it will be the root of our downfall. It is killing our education system and that will rot our whole nation(s).
We must always own our actions and decisions. Sure, some things are harder for some than others... that has NOTHING to do with accountability, how hard something is means squat.

[Bullitt]

That the relationship is over and married by 24, 5 kids by 30 is not a good idea.
(unpopular with my now ex girlfriend)

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by melidasaur

Hence why there are too many lawyers and doctors.

Well there may very well be to many lawyers, but we need more docotors. There are not enough people going into medicine anymore because there are to many lawyers.