Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Is History the most pointless subject to do a degree in?

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Sure its interesting but it would be better just to read Wikipedia than wasting time and money doing a degree in it.

There is much more scope to learn about and you could use the time and money to get a worthwhile degree.

Anyone else agree?

And where does Wikipedia get its info from?

Reply 101

Asterisk49

Im gonna give the definite answer here.

Womens studies is more pointless.

No job oppurtunity except maybe teacher of womens studies.

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Reply 102

the bear

i think that soft furnishing studies is more pointless than History.

Reply 103

Arketec

"It is a good point that wikipedia must get its information from historians, journalists etc. But does that mean you should go to university so you can contribute to wikipedia?"
"Though there is a good argument, and it applies to all essay based degrees. You could just pick up the books, read them yourself, write what you think 1066 and all that"
"Why pay to do so with like minded people, in this case historians? No matter how important you may think your lecturer is and how ever many letters he has after his name he is still just someone who one day picked up a book and thought -this is good why don't I pay, to, get paid, by going to do this, with other like minded people. People like me who like writing about history.

I can't believe I just edited that piece of ****.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 104

LexiswasmyNexis

Original post by Arketec

It is a good point that wikipedia must get its information from historians, journalists etc and therefore you should go to university to be able to contribute to wikipedia.
Though there is a good argument and it applies to all essay based degrees that you could just pick up the books, read them yourself and then write about what you think about 1066 and all that . Why pay to do so with like minded people? In this case historians-no matter how important you may think your lecturer is and how ever many letters he has after his name he is still just someone who one day picked up a book and thought this is good why don't I pay to get paid by going to do this with other people like me by writing about it.

Paragraphs and punctuation will make your posts much easier to follow.

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Reply 105

Arketec

Original post by LexiswasmyNexis

Paragraphs and punctuation will make your posts much easier to follow.

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With a name like that I'll take your word for it.

Reply 106

LexiswasmyNexis

Original post by Arketec

With a name like that I'll take your word for it.

Thanks.

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Reply 107

Arketec

That's okay but what is Lexis? some sort of latin for script or something. And what is Nexis? Latin for the end or something?

Reply 108

LexiswasmyNexis

Original post by Arketec

That's okay but what is Lexis? some sort of latin for script or something. And what is Nexis? Latin for the end or something?

Does it really matter?

LexisLibrary is a legal database. It used to be called the 'Lexis Nexis'. I never got along with it (am fine with it now). I would say that it will be the end if me.

So it is a pun. Law geeks bloody love it.

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Reply 109

Toblerone1

Actually, a history degree isn't teaching you just history. You have to have a certain skill set, and be prepared to hone it, to be good at arts and humanities subjects, and this is what the employers value, not your knowledge of tudor history. In particular they value the ability to:

write clear, concise, grammatically correct and accurately spelt prose
read large quantities of text quickly, accurately and critically
classify evidence precisely and assess its value and reliability
argue logically, consistently and sceptically
marshal various sorts of evidence to support a logical argument.

A lot of sciences on the other hand require the ability to recall and apply a large quantity of facts without critically analysing or contextualising them, that's what the philosophy of science is for.

To be honest, my boyfriend is an outstanding maths student but he would struggle with some of these tasks, he's a slow reader and his powers of verbal reasoning are fairly poor to average.

Somebody who is great at science and great at the arts is clearly the most talented individual.

Reply 110

louisahoyle

Original post by RtGOAT

You're argument is stupid.

Anyone who can read can learn just as much, and then some, as a history grad.

The same cannot be said of a STEM subject, sure it maybe possible to learn it off the internet but it is a damn sight harder then simply reading. Not to mention any job in a STEM field would require a relevant degree. A history degree would only be a requisite to become a professor and in doing so the worthless cylce goes on.

oh dear god, you're either very deluded or have never studied history at a high level. It's not simply 'reading', you have to work out several different factors about an event or why it occurred and argue which you feel was the most important. Not only do you get good essay writing skills, you also get skills in arguing a point (used in law), organisation of points, time management (as you have to do this all timed), memory skills from memorising dates and above all it helps you learn wider issues and mistakes made by people in the past, and help you and people as a whole learn from these events. Without history we would never learn from past mistakes- which is essential in careers in the government and especially politics.

Reply 111

exhistorystudent

Did a History degree, have got a good job out of it (Not History related, obviously). But if I could choose again I would do a different degree I think.