<p>Sakky, if all you want is a credential, then you should go to the University of Phoenix or someplace like that. People who don’t acquire the actual academic knowledge usually get found out pretty quickly during an interview – or later when it turns out that they don’t actually possess the skills to do the job for which they were hired. Or worst case, when they try to advance beyond the internship or entry-level position which they got based on connections. Longterm, deciding you’d rather than have connections than an education is a very risky strategy.</p>
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<p>Why would MIT athletes be less interested in this course than typical MIT students? MIT students, athletes or otherwise, have to take substantial amounts of math regardless of major, so they should not be afraid of math that may be used in such a course.</p>
<p>Um, I never said that MIT athletes would be less interested in this particular course. What I said is that I don’t see any reason why they would be particularly appealing to them (relative to other MIT students). This is not a stereotypical [‘athletic</a> creampuff course’](<a href=“http://michiganzone.blogspot.com/2007/05/jim-harbaugh-disses-michigan.html]'athletic”>http://michiganzone.blogspot.com/2007/05/jim-harbaugh-disses-michigan.html) that other schools may offer to provide their athletes with an easy way to maintain their academic eligibility. </p>
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<p>The implication is that what people want is a name-brand credential, which, truth be told, is largely determined by the admissions office. The truth is The hardest step in earning a degree from most name-brand schools is simply getting admitted in the first place. </p>
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<p>I must fundamentally disagree with that premise, for the simple reason is that the vast majority of people will not pursue a career that is highly related to their major. Let’s face it - most polisci majors do not become professional political scientists, most psych majors do not become professional psychologists, most sociology majors do not become professional sociologists, most history majors do not become professional historians, most English majors do not become professional professional literary critics/analysts. They pursue those majors because they realize that many employers demand degrees, and they have to major in something. </p>
<p>The core of the problem is the aforementioned fact that many employers demand degrees for many decent jobs, even if the degree is unrelated to the job at hand. I’ve worked at several companies where every one of the receptionists had at least bachelor’s degrees, with some holding graduate degrees. Indeed, you couldn’t even secure an interview for a receptionist position at those firms without a degree. It doesn’t matter that the job responsibilities do not actually require the knowledge requisite in a college degree, and you certainly can’t sit the hiring managers down and reason with them that the job doesn’t really require somebody who has studied literary criticism or comparative literature (as per the graduate specialties of several of the receptionists who were hired) to file paperwork and manage appointments. The only thing that matters is that the firm holds power over potential hirees, and they wield that power to decide who they want to interview. If they decide that they demand degrees, then that’s what you must provide. </p>
<p>We can also surely think of the flip side of the coin. Surely we can all think of plenty of people who studied hard and truly mastered their topic…yet still can’t garner a desirable job, often times because they lack the networking contacts. Frankly, who cares how well you’ve done in your major if you can’t get the job that you desire? I know numerous people who did quite well in college (GPA=3.5+) who are nevertheless stuck working mundane jobs at the local mall because that’s the best that they can get. </p>
<p>In a perfect world, employers would only demand educational levels that are actually relevant to the responsibilities of the jobs they are offering. In a perfect world, every student who studied hard and performed well in their major would have a desirable and relevant career waiting for them upon graduation. Regrettably, we don’t live in that perfect world. Instead, we live in a world where employers routinely demand degrees for positions that do not actually require such education (and for positions that 20-30 years ago used to be filled by high school graduates). We live in a world characterized by a fundamental mismatch between the academic majors chosen by the bulk of college students and the types of jobs that the economy actually generates.</p>
<p>“you couldn’t even secure an interview for a receptionist position at those firms without a degree.”</p>
<p>This is the case at my employer. We just went through a receptionist job search, and all the interviewees were not only BA holders, but most went to strong public flagship schools. We want someone who is smart and literate, comfortable interacting in person and in writing with professors and graduate students. We want someone who is reliable and has good judgment. If we introduce a surprise like a new software system, we want someone who masters it easily. There are a lot of high school dropouts who might fit the bill, but liberal arts BA holders from good schools are a much safer bet.</p>
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<p>Indeed, but none of those traits are closely aligned with the curricula taught by the academic programs that many college students pursue today. For example, other than as a proxy for general intelligence, it’s not at all clear to me what having a master’s degree in French Literature specifically has to do with any of those mentioned traits, yet that master’s degree in French Literature is precisely what one of the receptionists at my old employer held. </p>
<p>Which only serves to reinforce my general point: most people won’t actually use most of the specific actual academic knowledge that they develop in college. Hence, frankly, for the purposes of her career, it doesn’t really matter if that receptionist in question never actually learned the underlying themes of Rimbaud and Moliere as well as she does, because, frankly, she never uses that knowledge on her job. {Note, it might matter in terms of her own personal intellectual curiosity, but it doesn’t matter for the actual job.} What matters is that she has the degree.</p>