The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Creeping credentialism > Comments

Creeping credentialism : Comments

By Mercurius Goldstein, published 14/7/2006

Universities are trying to make modern-day philosophers out of gormless middle-class children.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. All
Well said. We would not have the skill shortages we do if at least half of the school leavers sent to universities had a 'proper' and useful job, instead of barely making the grade in some useless, Mickey Mouse university degree, just so they can say,"When I was at uni'", and give a lift to their parents's egos
Posted by Leigh, Friday, 14 July 2006 10:58:50 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I'd have to say I agree with the thrust of the article - I know of one university that is re-assessing their physics degree largely because 75 per cent of the graduates failed.

I tend to think that the solution is not restricting access to the elites, rather, aiding the most number of people to actually enter university courses, while making them substantially more difficult.

This will have the effect of having large graduate intake initially in the first years of degrees and casting a wide net, while culling those that are only there to get a pretty piece of paper with their name on it.

It sounds expensive, but that needn't necessarily be the case.
If the first year classes are treated as more of a trial period and most of the funding is reserved for those who make the cut I'm sure a more effective system of higher learning can be attained.
Posted by TurnRightThenLeft, Friday, 14 July 2006 11:02:07 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Good article, and for once Leigh, I agree with you. I've got a mickey mouse degree, in Politics and History, but I have a passion for that and have used those skills in my professional life, the amount of students in my classes who couldn't givea rats and were, like you said, only there for their parents egos was astounding.

Our Universities should be there for the educational elite, not the middle class masses or financial elite. We seem to be going the way of the American college system, where all the white middle class kids go to college whether they deserve it or not, and the smart poor kids get a choice bewtween Maccas and the Marines.
Posted by Carl, Friday, 14 July 2006 11:06:34 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I find this post disappointing and a little misguided. The fact that “life” rather than tertiary educated individuals make highly valuable contributions to Australian society is no argument that education is futile. Education lifts the capacity and standards of those who undertake it. Raising education standards among the bulk of the workforce improves the capacity of the bulk of the workforce.

I don’t think anyone has ever suggested that holding a degree allows you to cruise through life without effort, commitment or “hard work, inspired intuition, social skills and not a small measure of rat cunning”. However, holding a degree allows you to enter industries that would be otherwise inaccessible, such as engineering, architecture, teaching, nursing, science, law and medicine to name but a few.

Parents (ideally) want their children to achieve and contribute more to society than they can. This is a form of social mobility that university education can and I would argue does contribute to. Broad scale education benefits all Australian’s. University is about more than getting a job and (if you pay attention) will provide you with more than just the wherewithal to enter the workforce.

Do you mind me asking what the "Mickie Mouse" qualifications are in?
Posted by Kveldulv, Friday, 14 July 2006 11:31:28 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Do they still have philosophy degrees at uni?

Can't show gormless folk how to use their brains now can we?

I have never met an expert on Mickey Mouse. Why would you study a an animated mouse?

Gormless folk have right to try their hand at brainy stuff, if they choose. Of course, that is unless this is really a mickey-mouse democracy.

Education in a democratic, capitalist society is the right of everybody who has the money. I think it should be the right of everybody. There is nothing more stimulating than being on night shift in a dirty meatworks with a BA (majoring in philosophy).
Posted by rancitas, Friday, 14 July 2006 3:15:34 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I have to agree as well. Sending more kids to get degrees that mean less is pointless. It is a difficult view to express without being accused of intellectual snobbery. I believe that people who genuinely are interested in pursuing tertiary education should have the opportunity, if they make the grade. Fully funding less places with higher standards is better than increasing the cost for students and allowing more people to enrol, especially for people from poorer backgrounds. And Carl, I think people who call History and Politics 'Mikey Mouse' degrees are mistaken (although must confess to being a Ancient History and Philosophy graduate myself) - the research and particularly analytical skills these degrees produce are of use in many circumstances where the subject matter is not. If you want my opinion on Mickey Mouse degrees, look at Marketing and HR - call me a snob but these subjects belong in the realms of colleges, not universities.
Posted by Nathan Joel, Friday, 14 July 2006 5:03:41 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy