Malema completes his honours degree

One would expect that in a forum that is supposed to be full of highly educated Engineering graduates who scoffs at humanities degrees and are sought after all over the globe that everyone understands the difference between an honours and an honourary degree.

More things are overrated here, more than I ever thought.
 
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As a humanities lecturer I agree that a BA is fairly useless for the majority of students. The paradox is that you need to be extremely intelligent to make a real difference in a field such as philosophy. I worked as a tutor and assistant lecturer in a philosophy department and the academic staff were stupid smart. Eventually I realised I wasn't smart enough to hack it and quit.

Really getting to grips with some of the more challenging aspects of philosophy is every bit as hard as engineering. The problem is the kids who gravitate towards humanities degrees are mostly those who barely got admitted to university. They then proceed to barely pass the majority of their modules and leave university with a (barely) degree, but no appreciable skills. They care about getting a degree and not much else.

If I had my way, they would raise the admission criteria for humanities degrees and admit only the brightest students who really show an interest in the field. Unfortunately, we live in a society where a piece of paper is more valuable than the actual education you are supposed to receive at university.
 
thechamp said:
One would expect that in a forum that is supposed to be full of highly educated Engineering graduates who scoffs at humanities degrees and are sought after all over the globe that everyone understands the difference between an honours and an honourary degree.

More things are overrated here, more than I ever thought.
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In the forums defense their is probably only one person on here st....... silly enough to not understand that.
 
Nicodeamus said:
I am all for having as much education as possible, but I never understood why people stay so long at University and become a professional student of sort. There is a time to start working as well.

I don't think that a BA degree is worth anything these days. I myself do like to read philosophy and other BA subjects for my own leasure, but it does seems to be something that most people can understand only by reading themselves.
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I share the same opinion. I often recomend to students to evaluate their decisons using the Risk-Reward principle. A BA degree is a high risk as you correctly said.
 
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cn@ said:
Waiting for the usual crowd of engineers to saunter in and demean the Humanities as lesser studies.
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I'm in the engineering field and I'm impressed with Julius for doing this. Unless you're studying women's rights and living in your parent's basement, I don't see why any school of study should be demeaned. He's in politics, philosophy is a pretty good thing to be acquainted with I would think. A fair bit better than leading a political party with a theology degree.
 
saturnz said:
Whats this fascination for wanting to be a slave?

Working is really over rated
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It is not being a slave, there is a point where one has to grow up as well, I have continuously been studying since I left University either through courses, reading or my masters degree and I do like learning more. However there is a time to turn your theory into practice too or you risk becoming detached from the real world.
 
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Frikkie5000 said:
As a humanities lecturer I agree that a BA is fairly useless for the majority of students. The paradox is that you need to be extremely intelligent to make a real difference in a field such as philosophy. I worked as a tutor and assistant lecturer in a philosophy department and the academic staff were stupid smart. Eventually I realised I wasn't smart enough to hack it and quit.

Really getting to grips with some of the more challenging aspects of philosophy is every bit as hard as engineering. The problem is the kids who gravitate towards humanities degrees are mostly those who barely got admitted to university. They then proceed to barely pass the majority of their modules and leave university with a (barely) degree, but no appreciable skills. They care about getting a degree and not much else.

If I had my way, they would raise the admission criteria for humanities degrees and admit only the brightest students who really show an interest in the field. Unfortunately, we live in a society where a piece of paper is more valuable than the actual education you are supposed to receive at university.
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In the past Brains were not as valuable in the economy. If you had a mathematics or theoretical physics degree in the 1940s then you were most likely going to end up being a teacher or a researcher. Fast forward to today and you find that all the smart kids are going where the money is, which is unfortunately in technology. The economy is heavily demanded on abstract thinking and brains, since most of the developed world is a service sector, this trend is most likely to continue.

As a result, the humanities are in a crisis, firstly they can't get the top of the class to apply and secondly, we have been sold this idea that you need to go to University to be a success in life, where in reality most kids simply do not have the potential to be there and are better of starting their own companies, or working from the get go.

I would for one have loved to study history or roman and greek philosophy, but the reality is that it doesn't prepare you for a job at all.
 
Voicy said:
I'm in the engineering field and I'm impressed with Julius for doing this. Unless you're studying women's rights and living in your parent's basement, I don't see why any school of study should be demeaned. He's in politics, philosophy is a pretty good thing to be acquainted with I would think. A fair bit better than leading a political party with a theology degree.
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I congratulate him, but a philosopher in charge of anything does scare me a bit, most of the atrocities in human history were done by madmen who rational arguments.
 
Tikkop said:
All men must serve.
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Such is the nature of things. Accept it.

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Nicodeamus said:
It is not being a slave, there is a point where one has to grow up as well, I have continuously been studying since I left University either through courses, reading or my masters degree and I do like learning more. However there is a time to turn your theory into practice too or you risk becoming detached from the real world.
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But you don't have to be a cog in the machine
 
The irony of him getting a degree while the EFF actively try and prevent others from getting theirs.
 
Frikkie5000 said:
If I had my way, they would raise the admission criteria for humanities degrees and admit only the brightest students who really show an interest in the field. Unfortunately, we live in a society where a piece of paper is more valuable than the actual education you are supposed to receive at university.
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Interesting. So in humanities, the brightest students who graduated with high marks are more succesful in life?

In my engineering field, its the direct opposite. At CSIR mining, civil engineering research, the brightest graduates were good in fundamental science however, it was the "average" graduates who took that fundamental science forward into engineering design criteria. Further more, you needed technicians in development of engineering methodologies. That left me with the conclusion that you need clever, smart and hardworking people. If you have all three, you are one of the few brilliant scientists/engineers I've met.
 
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dlk001 said:
In my engineering field, its the direct opposite. At CSIR mining, civil engineering research, the brightest graduates were good in fundamental science however, it was the "average" graduates who took that fundamental science forward into engineering design criteria. That left me with the conclusion that you need clever and smart people.
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ah yes, here the make up facts brigade enters again

have you got any proof to back this up?
 
dlk001 said:
Ask any person who worked at CSIR Mining/Civil research. In fact, you can call the Director or email Navin Singh at CSIR mining hub. Ask him if he disagrees with this.
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so no statistical survey has been done, no real measurable distinction between average and not average, and no real distinction between cleever and smart people, just what people think....

got it
 
saturnz said:
so no statistical survey has been done, no real measurable distinction between average and not average, and no real distinction between cleever and smart people, just what people think....

got it
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Note that I said "In my engineering field, its the direct opposite" and its my opinion and "left me with the conclusion..."

So lets leave it as my opinion based on what I observe in my field.

Do you have a relevant study, statistical survey you may qoute yourself? It will help with the discussions.
 
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