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British entrepreneur Simon Dolan says, "Degrees are worthless"
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someone with a GCSE education should not be able to speak on education policy. He had no choice but to be an entrepeneur or a shelf stacker.
I.e teaching jobs bring GREAT social benefits!
I.e teaching jobs bring GREAT social benefits!
Original post by Goku101
Please tell me Mr Dolan, how do i get into medicine to one day become a surgeon without a degree? surely if degrees are worthless there must be another way to become a barrister. Or perhaps i might be able to somehow gain the knowledge of how an aircraft/spacecraft works, or how the universe came into existence and in its current state because i don't need a degree do achieve this do i Mr Dolan? perhaps i might be able to design a new computer and build one from scratch and perhaps let you use it to post another comment saying degrees are worthless.
Oh wait......
Oh wait......
I'm fairly sure he's talking in the context of maximising income.
Many people feel that getting a degree is a sure way to maximise income, and all he's saying is that if what you really care about is making as much money as you can, then a degree is a fairly fruitless endeavour, not least because it involves 4-6 + years of not earning at the very beginning of your adult life.
If you have a passion for classics, or you just WANT to become a surgeon and nothing else, then of course a degree is not worthless.
But if you want to be an entrepreneur who takes their pittance and turns it into an empire, then the statistics would appear to show that a degree is pretty useless.
Original post by oo00oo
and that's not even considering the fact that people who get jobs from the age of 16 have 6 extra years to work than you do, thereby reducing the effect.
How does it reduce the effect?
Original post by Aspiringlawstudent
Who?
were you speaking to me?
Original post by zubz91
were you speaking to me?
No; 'who?' as in I've never heard of the person this quote is attributed to.
Well it is in my case lol. Currently doing an Economics degree that I hate, Yeah it has good career prospects but what's the point when it's just so tedious 
Original post by Aspiringlawstudent
No; 'who?' as in I've never heard of the person this quote is attributed to.
Ah i see, cool
Many degrees aren't worthless because you need them to get into a profession. Without an accredited Psychology degree/conversion course, you cannot become a psychologist. Same goes for law degrees, Dentistry, Medicine etc.
Graduate salaries are significantly higher on average; we aren't all fortunate enough to pull off investments and make millions.
Graduate salaries are significantly higher on average; we aren't all fortunate enough to pull off investments and make millions.
a few of the points he makes in that are valid, but the idea that degrees are worthless is the wrong one.
what needs to change is the attitude that a degree is a gateway to higher wages, better employability and all that jazz, and focus on the fact that a degree is a tool to help you develop the SKILLS to get those higher paid wages and employability.
after all, my physical degree in maths is no more valuable than an honorary degree bestowed upon someone else.
The skills I learned in managing deadlines, analysing and solving problems, working in teams etc is what makes me employable. That can be replicated with work experience, but finding a job that focuses on strengthening these talents at age 16-18 can be quite the difficult task, which is why university is an excellent option.
Of course when you take a course which involves very little of this, then you're going to struggle to find a job without showing employers in some way how you have these skills.
I say that as a general rule for graduates of unnamed degrees trying to find work in an unrelated field of course. Obviously doctors, lawyers, dentists, veterinarians etc all the way to psychologists, economists, mathematicians, physicists etc need their degree as the knowledge gained is pertinent to the jobs they do, but for the vast majority of graduates, going into the field that their degree "naturally" leads on to is not the target at the start of their courses.
what needs to change is the attitude that a degree is a gateway to higher wages, better employability and all that jazz, and focus on the fact that a degree is a tool to help you develop the SKILLS to get those higher paid wages and employability.
after all, my physical degree in maths is no more valuable than an honorary degree bestowed upon someone else.
The skills I learned in managing deadlines, analysing and solving problems, working in teams etc is what makes me employable. That can be replicated with work experience, but finding a job that focuses on strengthening these talents at age 16-18 can be quite the difficult task, which is why university is an excellent option.
Of course when you take a course which involves very little of this, then you're going to struggle to find a job without showing employers in some way how you have these skills.
I say that as a general rule for graduates of unnamed degrees trying to find work in an unrelated field of course. Obviously doctors, lawyers, dentists, veterinarians etc all the way to psychologists, economists, mathematicians, physicists etc need their degree as the knowledge gained is pertinent to the jobs they do, but for the vast majority of graduates, going into the field that their degree "naturally" leads on to is not the target at the start of their courses.
He seems confused.
There are worthless degrees, certainly - but to say that the entire institution is itself devoid of value appears infantile.
There are worthless degrees, certainly - but to say that the entire institution is itself devoid of value appears infantile.
Original post by oo00oo
Aye, around £100,000 more over a lifetime... which, if you're lucky enough to live to the age of 80 and start work aged, say, 22 after a 4 year degree, accumulates you around £1,700 more per year, or £32 a week.
Big woop. So if you have a degree, you can have an extra half-tank of petrol per week, or maybe a night at the cinema through the week or something.
It's nothing to write home about, and that's not even considering the fact that people who get jobs from the age of 16 have 6 extra years to work than you do, thereby reducing the effect.
It's really nothing to write home about.
Big woop. So if you have a degree, you can have an extra half-tank of petrol per week, or maybe a night at the cinema through the week or something.
It's nothing to write home about, and that's not even considering the fact that people who get jobs from the age of 16 have 6 extra years to work than you do, thereby reducing the effect.
It's really nothing to write home about.
Your almost as bad as Simon Dolan.
Like many posters have said, it all depends on what degree you have, from where, how you use it and what you make of it.
Yes, some degrees are actually worthless as they have no added value. Many degrees can double or quadruple your income or even more and therefore have value and are worth the time & effort.
I graduated about 3 years ago as a Mechanical Engineer and yes I make far more than the 25 year old average. If I did my degree 5 times over it would still be worth it.
Original post by avupa
Which of course results in something akin to the Occupy movement, where misinformed hippies blame all their troubles on capitalism, ignoring the fact that it's the government moreso for not providing alternative ways of developing ones skills and potential for jobs - or in other words, apprenticeships and etc.
Societal expectations can be cruel.
Which of course results in something akin to the Occupy movement, where misinformed hippies blame all their troubles on capitalism, ignoring the fact that it's the government moreso for not providing alternative ways of developing ones skills and potential for jobs - or in other words, apprenticeships and etc.
Societal expectations can be cruel.
If you can't see how corporate power and wealth have a strong power over even western democracy then you're blind- cash for dinners with PM scandal recently? You can't separate capitalism and government.
The criticism I put forward is that capitalist mentality only values degrees/knowledge that can lead to increased production/good jobs- not knowledge in general.
And those hippies are unhappy about gigantic wealth disparity, extortion and oppression- and they have a point.
Original post by Baller
Only someone with a degree would understand it's value
(unless you did media studies or sociology, in which case your still stupid
).
(unless you did media studies or sociology, in which case your still stupid
).lol my sociologist friend can spell.
(I know that was tongue in cheek btw :P )
Original post by zubz91
in this whole thread, no one has mentioned an engineering degree as being useful. Why is that?
Because engineering is massively overlooked despite being one of the most rigorous, demanding and useful fields in academia, industry and the economy.
Original post by oo00oo
Aye, around £100,000 more over a lifetime... which, if you're lucky enough to live to the age of 80 and start work aged, say, 22 after a 4 year degree, accumulates you around £1,700 more per year, or £32 a week.
Big woop. So if you have a degree, you can have an extra half-tank of petrol per week, or maybe a night at the cinema through the week or something.
It's nothing to write home about, and that's not even considering the fact that people who get jobs from the age of 16 have 6 extra years to work than you do, thereby reducing the effect.
It's really nothing to write home about.
Big woop. So if you have a degree, you can have an extra half-tank of petrol per week, or maybe a night at the cinema through the week or something.
It's nothing to write home about, and that's not even considering the fact that people who get jobs from the age of 16 have 6 extra years to work than you do, thereby reducing the effect.
It's really nothing to write home about.
Leaving aside whether or not you actually earn this amount extra or not, if it is true then I'd say that's a pretty good deal.
If someone said to me : "Here - head off to a place full of young people for three years - you'll get to study something (anything) you're interested in, meet lot of new people, have lots of free time for sports and socialisaing. Oh, and when you finish, we'll give you an £1700 a year for the rest of your life."
I'd say that was a pretty good offer.
Original post by Keckers
Because engineering is massively overlooked despite being one of the most rigorous, demanding and useful fields in academia, industry and the economy.
Is it overlooked only by TSR or the whole world lol?
I think his words have been put wholly out of context, ffs he obviously doesnt mean degrees that are prerequisites to certain professions, I think he means courses where the career path is not obvious like an English degree or a Geography degree
Except when you're going in for a career which requires you to have a degree, yeah? I think I'd want my pharmacist to have a degree before they started doling out various cocktails of medicines.
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