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A comment on US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate degrees. Parent comment

Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by ianmobbs on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @01:14PM (#24630370)
> > And so it's not clear to me whether universities as we recognize them will continue to exist if we continue to view them as a jobs programs.

> They could not. And that's a good thing. Humanities are a mess just for the reason that they take tuition and time from students and leave them hanging out to dray, after they graduate with no direct job prospects (i.e. a way to make a living).

Why is that a good thing? Just because the humanities don't funnel into jobs the way STEM does doesn't mean that they should cease to exist. Every book you've read, movie you've watched, song you've listened to, play you've seen, etc. has been a direct result of our journey through the humanities, and I'm positive nobody thinks those forms of entertainment should just "cease to exist". It's the same thing for countless other fields of study universities offer. The problem is not that these fields don't have the ROI of STEM, it's that the cost of education is way too fucking high.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by andreilys on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @01:27PM (#24630565)
Every book you've read, movie you've watched, song you've listened to, play you've seen, etc. has been a direct result of our journey through the humanities, and I'm positive nobody thinks those forms of entertainment should just "cease to exist".

Ah yes, but how many of these would require obtaining a 4-year degree with 6-figure debt?

In the words of Matt Damon from Good Will Hunting “You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.”

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by triceratops on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @01:55PM (#24630914)
Maybe we should question why colleges charge 6-figures for an education like that. Instead of trying to get rid of it entirely.
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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by andreilys on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @02:27PM (#24631265)
You’d learn more about the humanities by traveling for a year, than spending 4 years being lectured to by ivory tower academics.

Perhaps we should allow the Peace Corps to grant 4-year degrees? I feel like that would give you the best of both worlds.

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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by triceratops on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @02:56PM (#24631564)
> You’d learn more about the humanities by traveling for a year

What exactly do you think "the humanities" are?

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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by andreilys on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @03:14PM (#24631762)
Spending 4 years learning to write essays that align with the views of your professors
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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by triceratops on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @03:45PM (#24632077)
Nope, that's not it. Try again.
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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by lc9er on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @01:42PM (#24630735)
And yet he attended Harvard, until acting picked up. You also kind of reinforced the actual point he was making - the preppy douchebag didn’t actually understand the material he was quoting. Rather, he had just memorized a bunch of stuff, which without comprehension, provides little value.
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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by andreilys on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @02:26PM (#24631242)
Yes and unfortunately thats the humanities education that most students get. How to game the system through rote memorization in order to get a high GPA so they can get into grad school.

Sure there are exceptions to the rule, just like how there are people who have contributed greatly to the humanities without stepping foot in a degree granting institution.

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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by deathgrips on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @01:42PM (#24630743)
Did Shakespeare have a four year humanities degree?
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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by ianmobbs on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @02:57PM (#24642328)
Although no attendance records for the period survive, most biographers agree that Shakespeare was probably educated at the King's New School in Stratford,[19][20][21] a free school chartered in 1553,[22] about a quarter-mile (400 m) from his home. Grammar schools varied in quality during the Elizabethan era, but grammar school curricula were largely similar: the basic Latin text was standardised by royal decree,[23][24] and the school would have provided an intensive education in grammar based upon Latin classical authors.[25]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare#Early_life

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Re:US college enrollments are falling, except for graduate d... by triceratops on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @01:58PM (#24630946)
Newton did. If a BA and MA count as humanities degrees.
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