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British entrepreneur Simon Dolan says, "Degrees are worthless"

Reply 20

zubz91

20

in this whole thread, no one has mentioned an engineering degree as being useful. Why is that? :confused:

Who?

I know full well that the degree I want to do an uni (anthropology) isn't relevant to the business world, however as someone else said I'm pursuing it because I think it's an interesting subject and I like to learn (sorry to sound cheesy!). Also, I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life, so not going to uni would probably just mean I spent everyday lounging round the house doing nothing whereas by going, at least I'm finding out more about the options open to me.

Reply 23

Electronica

14

What he's saying is partially true. People need only do a degree if they need a degree for what they want to do in life - even if it is studying for the rest of their life and not actually getting a permanent job at the end. If they've not sussed that out, it's a very bad idea going to university (for the sake of it).

Reply 24

Pete_91

11

Confirmation bias comes to mind.

Reply 25

Jimbo1234

20

Original post by Dee Leigh

What do you think?

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/leading-british-entrepreneur-simon-dolan--degrees-are-worthless.html

Very true. Most people with a degree won't earn more than £25k in their lifetime, thus don't warrant getting a degree.

Reply 26

Casshern1456

18

He said something about formerly "only the smartest, most intellectual people go to university" and now a lot of people go to university, I think people work hard and get equal opportunity to pursue a higher education which is why so many people go to university. Also, the fact the UK is creating more jobs in the tertiary sector in banking, finance, accounting means we do need the graduate, he doesn't know anything and is not is a situation where he can comment - fair does to him, he succeeded in his business but many hundredths of self-employed entrepreneur would have failed meanwhile.

A degree is useful as much of the effort you put into it.

Reply 27

t0ffee

8

Studying for my degree is worth a lot to me.

Job market wise it's just academic inflation. City trading 40 years ago was what dumb public school kids did if they didn't do well in their ALevels. Now look at it...

Reply 28

Manitude

20

I think I'd rather take the average £400k additional lifetime earnings from my degree.
Or at least I think it's around that figure for physics.

Reply 29

t0ffee

8

Original post by Electronica

What he's saying is partially true. People need only do a degree if they need a degree for what they want to do in life - even if it is studying for the rest of their life and not actually getting a permanent job at the end. If they've not sussed that out, it's a very bad idea going to university (for the sake of it).

I disagree. At 17 (UCAS time) no one can be expected to have a clear idea of what they want to do in life that'll be consistent with how they'll feel at 25 or 30.

Reply 30

Left Hand Drive

18

Well he does have a fantastic second name

Reply 31

HighestKungFu

13

His comment is worthless.

By his logic what's to stop the countless millionaires who do have degrees using the exact same rhetoric? It's like saying "you don't need to have green eyes to be a millionaire, I'm living proof!" The only comment of value was that universities have offered 'soft' and 'Mickey Mouse' degrees that need to be scraped, however otherwise a degree is an excellent investment in personal development, expanding one's learning, meeting people from all over the world, networking, and gaining CONFIDENCE.

The usefulness of a degree is what YOU make it. The same applies to every other aspect of life. For every millionaire school leaver there are thousands that are stuck in menial jobs moving sideways and backwards.

This is a classic case of someone with an intellectual inferiority complex attacking people with degrees by using materialism as the primary measure of self-worth.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 32

karateworm

11

I'm doing Sociology, so he might be have a point.

I'm so going to be unemployed.

Reply 33

Electronica

14

Original post by t0ffee

I disagree. At 17 (UCAS time) no one can be expected to have a clear idea of what they want to do in life that'll be consistent with how they'll feel at 25 or 30.

I agree with you. Not everyone should be applying to university at 17...

Reply 34

uttamo

10

Degrees are worthless, which is why 99% the world leaders, politicians, scientists, businessmen have degrees, and 99% of benefit cheats, welfare-sucking scum don't...

Reply 35

Friend0007

15

the sciences are the reason why he is so rich, so he owes to us that study and have studied these degrees and what weve contributed to society.

idiot guy.

but i agree some degrees are just terrible.

Reply 36

avupa

I'd understand why 'degrees as a whole' aren't worthless a few years back when the price was just 3k per year, but now that it's gone up to 9k a year + extra 'hidden costs', I'm not so certain I'd still agree with that stance for quite a number of degrees.

You would have around enough for the deposit for a pretty decent house with 27k+, or at least a decent sum to invest with and grow over the years. And it's not like there aren't different routes for work and general success - of course, that isn't the case so much in this country as a result of government intervention, meaning it's much more difficult then it could be (Germany's system for example). But of course, uni has become a rite of passage in this country so I guess it's foolish to say this. You have to doss around for 3 years and waste tax payers money if you want to feel 'complete' these days.

I just hope it doesn't all turn out like the US system now that the cost of uni ed has gone quite high (which it probably won't given how loans are paid back albiet, but still). Where quite a number of students borrowed 10s of 1000s and sometimes even 100k+ dollars for their degrees and 'uni experience', only to find out that doing all that won't guarantee them a 'high tier' job, and end up instead working low skilled jobs for years on end waiting tables.

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.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 37

electriic_ink

15

ITT unremarkable man says controversial thing to get his book in the news, man succeeds.

Reply 38

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......

Reply 39

oo00oo

10

Original post by Dee Leigh

Another thing that is often pointed out is this: graduates tend to earn more over a lifetime than non-graduates, so a degree can't be totally useless.

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.

(edited 12 years ago)

British entrepreneur Simon Dolan says, "Degrees are worthless"

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