The common denominator is the drive...or is that; "putt"?
Drive for show, Putt for dough.
Is the saying I'm familiar with.
Getting a Uni degree
- Thread starter Mr. Fabulous
- Start date
Drive for show, Putt for dough.
Is the saying I'm familiar with.
It's a bit of a fallacy.
Of course; being an excellent putter is a mandatory requirement to be in the top echelon.
But; very hard to win tournaments from in the trees.
I managed to make it as far as I wanted to go in my career without a uni degree and where it is otherwise the norm to have one. I am now studying for my Master's on my own terms and am finding the learning experience very satisfying and complimentary to the experience I gained while working. Would it have helped me to do this course early on in my career? Probably yes career progression wise, but I would have had to sacrifice a whole lot of time with my young family at the time to do it, so overall probably no from a balanced life perspective.
I have found many people consider university purely as a training ground for a particular job, and not somewhere you learn for the pleasure of it. I remember a pharmacist colleague expressing complete surprise at my decision to study for a Bachelor of Science... "why would you do that, what kind of JOB could that possibly get you". As opposed to her highly specific pharmacy degree.
I didn't have a plan for a particular job! I just wanted to study something that interested me. And that is what I will be passing on to my kids, I won't push them to do university to get a job, I will encourage them to go to expand their minds and learn for learning's sake. If that results in a job, great, if not, I still wouldn't consider time spent at university as a waste.
I didn't have a plan for a particular job! I just wanted to study something that interested me. And that is what I will be passing on to my kids, I won't push them to do university to get a job, I will encourage them to go to expand their minds and learn for learning's sake. If that results in a job, great, if not, I still wouldn't consider time spent at university as a waste.
I am one of these people.
Uni is the training ground. Employers don't want to spend time training staff to high levels of competency only to have them leave after a couple of years- the solution is to have someone else train them ie uni or TAFE. It saves the employer $ each student comes out with a highly developed skillset and the competition is for skilled staff. I pick and choose appropriate cpd partly because it is compulsory and partly for interest.
The only issues with uni are user issues, rather than university as a system of education.
I know a plethora of graduates who did one of two things. They either did it for the lifestyle and breezed through, or did it on the assumption of a 6 figure income straight off the bat.
All are now recovering from the fall back to reality.
University is great if you are willing to really work hard and be the best. For the others its a waste of my taxes and your time.
I know a plethora of graduates who did one of two things. They either did it for the lifestyle and breezed through, or did it on the assumption of a 6 figure income straight off the bat.
All are now recovering from the fall back to reality.
University is great if you are willing to really work hard and be the best. For the others its a waste of my taxes and your time.
Probably because it is so heavily subsidised by taxpayers people don't want to pay for someone else's study for pleasure.
Good luck to you if you are paying full fees though.
Of course there is, and we are one of the most highly educated populations in the world. However we don't have limitless resources.
Do you think we should subsidise tertiary education for hobbies or peoples "pleasure"? I would be astounded if you or anyone did.
Like I said, people should go for their life if they are happy to pay for it.
No, I certainly don't expect anyone to subsidise me if I choose to study for pleasure, but you'd be surprised how many people do! I've had many an argument over such things. If my kids also choose to study for pleasure I expect that I would be the only one 'subsidising' them, and cognisant of the good fortune in having the ability to do so.
This appears to be a heated debate! It's quite a sensitive topic and I'm sure amongst the apathetic few there are going to be those who feel strongly for and against the notion of the necessity of a tertiary education, albeit a free education.
In every society you need highly trained members to do the jobs that require the years of nerding it up, education and training.
Doctors, vets, dentists, engineers, scientists.
Let's not forget all the brains behind the heavy medical and biotech research. Australia is very much on the forefront on the international level for research.
On the other hand; some jobs the graduation certificate is merely an entry ticket to the workforce, just another line to put in the CV to say you're more qualified for the job. In those cases, you may be better off getting you're hands dirty and working your way up from the bottom with 3 -5 years extra experience and income.
Needless to say, I believe university is a great opportunity to go if you have the support and financial ability. Not everyone may be enjoying it or may have found their calling but I believe many find it a time to develop other aspects of their life, social networking, lifelong friendships and all that other hoohah that you can't put a $ value next to.
In every society you need highly trained members to do the jobs that require the years of nerding it up, education and training.
Doctors, vets, dentists, engineers, scientists.
Let's not forget all the brains behind the heavy medical and biotech research. Australia is very much on the forefront on the international level for research.
On the other hand; some jobs the graduation certificate is merely an entry ticket to the workforce, just another line to put in the CV to say you're more qualified for the job. In those cases, you may be better off getting you're hands dirty and working your way up from the bottom with 3 -5 years extra experience and income.
Needless to say, I believe university is a great opportunity to go if you have the support and financial ability. Not everyone may be enjoying it or may have found their calling but I believe many find it a time to develop other aspects of their life, social networking, lifelong friendships and all that other hoohah that you can't put a $ value next to.
Unfortunately, once the subsidies are put in place, it is very hard to take them away because folks just assume it as their right, not their privilege...like a lot of other things we enjoy in our life these days..
I would characterise our 'success stories' in the area of biotech/medical research as pockets of genius and luck coinciding to produce results. Compared to our peers our research output and ability to capitalise on it are rather poor, we can't seem to get the large amounts of public *and* private money required going into research and the product development that might stem from it.
On the original topic, I can see universities becoming more targeted in their training in the future, and less effort being put into 'generic' (e.g arts, science etc.) courses. There might be some merit/benefit for individuals in just doing a university course, but I think the squeeze on funding is going to lead to some really difficult choices and cutting back of some of the more esoteric faculties.
If I had to do University over again nowadays, I would have skipped the science degree and just gone straight into engineering, some of the scholarships offered by organisations are quite generous and all but guarantee a job at the end of it.
True, I've debated at length with people who consider tertiary education to be a 'human right' and as such it should be free to everyone. I think more along the lines of limited resources and user pays *waiting for the flames*
My science degree wasn't generic (majoring in geology) and I got a job at the end but plenty of fellow geologists are desperately looking for work now that the boom has subsided. Many are probably regretting the time spent getting their degrees.
If your aim is a job, then getting a generic degree doesn't train you for anything specific and has resulted in it often being a minimum qualification for jobs which could be done with barely a high school certificate. I still think it's worth doing for many other reasons, but I agree that taxpayers should not be subsidising such choices.
No flames from here.
When I have started (never completed) uni courses as an adult I have always paid up front, it wouldn't occur to me to do it any other way.
Late last year I enrolled in a Cert IV which qualifies me to do the job I've been doing for the past 13 years. It was heavily subsidised by Ed Qld but still cost me $600, the same as one unit at Uni, and about the same workload as one uni unit. You should have heard all the whining from my colleagues about how there is no way they would pay that much to do a course or put in the effort even if it was free. My boss is also aware of all the whining from my juniors. I consider my job to be quite safe from any more of Premier Newman's job cuts.
It depends on what that population does with their education. If everyone takes a decade to study whatever tickles their fancy I suspect our productivity will drop significantly.
By education, do you mean up to a certain level, such as high school leaving age?
I'm confused, are you saying free education (ie fully subsidised) is a right or a privilege? I think education should be free till the end of secondary school, beyond that it's user pays.
