Because of this, I saw people with a degree as not only having the education, but going through something that proved they actually were capable of performing the tasks at hand.
However, it seems my view of college graduation is the exception instead of the norm. In fact, a few people told me that the idea of someone not graduating once they started something was absurd. I don't know if this is a cultural diffrence, if my college is just tougher than others (it's an avg ranked college, so that confuses me), or what.
For me the "Look in front of you, look to your left, look to your right, look behind you. Statistically, only one of you will graduate...." thing was true. Is this true for your college?
Do you see a degree as just a piece of paper, or something worth a damn? Also, what major did you have? I'm curious to see if this is because I had a technical major, and would like to know if the whole mentality just changed recently.
That said, I'm only a freshman, but we'll see what happens. When all the Comp Sci majors were sat down in a room for a simple orientation thing, they said "Look to your left, look to your right. One of those people isn't going to be here when you graduate." So it's getting better I suppose. I'm going to Arizona State University, if that matters at all.
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Naimah probably says this to all the girls:
1/3 graduating instead of 1/5 is not 'better' it is worse. The difficulty of obtaining a degree determines how much it is worth. Supply and demand, the more people that are able to get a degree the less professionals are goig to be paid.
O hay, lookit that. I'm not awake yet. Yeah, that's it.
There are 9, now.
Either one or none graduate medical biotech each year.
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Naimah still thinks SARS jokes are topical, as evidenced by:
1/3 graduating instead of 1/5 is not 'better' it is worse. The difficulty of obtaining a degree determines how much it is worth. Supply and demand, the more people that are able to get a degree the less professionals are goig to be paid.
It also necessitates a dilution of average graduate talent. More people getting the degree means that more stupid people are getting the degree. Well, not necessarily stupid, but less intelligent than otherwise.
That's why if you really want to differentiate yourself, you need to get a master's.
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. - John Kenneth Galbraith
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Karnaj stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
It also necessitates a dilution of average graduate talent. More people getting the degree means that more stupid people are getting the degree. Well, not necessarily stupid, but less intelligent than otherwise.That's why if you really want to differentiate yourself, you need to get a master's.
I've already decided I'll be going on to graduate school. Mainly for the reason you mentioned -- Bachelor's degrees are a dime a dozen nowadays.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
However, a lot of people are really there as part of a pre-med progression, too. It does make sense in that context.
I think another part of it is that college admissions are getting more picky. With more applicants to select from, they can select those who have a fairly good chance of finishing their majors.
Naimah, I wonder whose 'very stupid' people with advanced degrees think of you, since you probably can't speak their native language at all.
Two more semesters to go, I have low expectations for a couple of the people.
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Pvednes's unholy Backstreet Boys obsession manifested in:
There were 50 people doing medical biotech when I started.There are 9, now.
Either one or none graduate medical biotech each year.
Can I still order those genetically engineered zombies? 
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MorbId got all f'ed up on Angel Dust and wrote:
Sophomore in Molecular and Cellular biology here. Weed out classes definitely still exist; my MCB lecture this semester introduced itself as "probably the hardest class many of you have ever taken."However, a lot of people are really there as part of a pre-med progression, too. It does make sense in that context.
I think another part of it is that college admissions are getting more picky. With more applicants to select from, they can select those who have a fairly good chance of finishing their majors.
Naimah, I wonder whose 'very stupid' people with advanced degrees think of you, since you probably can't speak their native language at all.
Yea, but that dosn't matter because I'm not in their country. It pisses me off that people who have a known issue with communication, i.e. they can't, take jobs that revolve entirely around communicating complex ideas using spoken word. Just knowing how to do the problems isn't enough, you are required to be able to communicate it efficivly and clearly. I souldn't have to learn to interpret heavy Indian, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese accents in order to get the education that I am paying good money for.
In a sentance: Intelligance is only as worth while as your ability to communicate it.
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Peanut butter ass Shaq Naimah booooze lime pole over bench lick:
1/3 graduating instead of 1/5 is not 'better' it is worse. The difficulty of obtaining a degree determines how much it is worth. Supply and demand, the more people that are able to get a degree the less professionals are goig to be paid.
Are you suggesting we should start manufacturing obstacles to prevent people from obtaining a degree to make them worth more?
Should there be ladder style bloodsport before graduation to cull the physically weak and make the degree "worth more"?
HERE'S an idea! Let's deliberately teach the material poorly but keep the exams the same. Hire only untrained, low-level minds in the field to teach the courses. Almost nobody will graduate! What an incredibly valuable degree! Maradon! fucked around with this message on 09-25-2005 at 05:30 PM.
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Naimah had this to say about Robocop:
Yea, but that dosn't matter because I'm not in their country. It pisses me off that people who have a known issue with communication, i.e. they can't, take jobs that revolve entirely around communicating complex ideas using spoken word. Just knowing how to do the problems isn't enough, you are required to be able to communicate it efficivly and clearly. I souldn't have to learn to interpret heavy Indian, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese accents in order to get the education that I am paying good money for.In a sentance: Intelligance is only as worth while [This one might not be a mistake] as your ability to communicate it.
The irony is, you made several spelling mistakes and at least one grammar mistake in this post, thus making it more difficult to understand. 
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Ruvyen had this to say about Robocop:
The irony is, you made several spelling mistakes and at least one grammar mistake in this post, thus making it more difficult to understand.
But, you are ignoring the crux of the issue, I am not being paid to make these posts and as such do not have the same expectation of quality as a professional does.
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Naimah had this to say about Duck Tales:
But, you are ignoring the crux of the issue, I am not being paid to make these posts and as such do not have the same expectation of quality as a professional does.
That doesn't make you not an idiot.
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Snugglits's account was hax0red to write:
That doesn't make you not an idiot.
Does make me not indian which counts for something.
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Naimah had this to say about Jimmy Carter:
Does make me not indian which counts for something.
omfg racism
The good news is that the pendulum is swinging back towards academic standards at the college level. So, while I don't think courses should be a haze just for the sake of weeding people out, I do think there need to be basic standards of college level work enforced without exception.
But it's really the grad degrees these days where one should specialize.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
At a higher level, entrance is competitive, but that slacks off a bit once you're in; however, there are weed-out classes still, especially in engineering. I lived in the engineering dorm my first year; I'd estimate that half the kids from my wing (~30) have dropped out in the two years since then.
I definitely think that getting a degree at Cal Poly proves that you actually know how to do something, though, with the school's emphasis on "Learn by Doing" and vicious labs. While a bachelor's isn't at all uncommon nowadays, I still see it as a little more than a piece of paper (which, I freely admit, may just be me deluding myself into motivation). I do agree that postgraduate degrees are where the real specialization begins, and have contemplated the 4 + 1 program here...although I don't know if I'm gonna do it. We'll see. 
Some people are like Slinkys... Not really good for anything, But they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
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Jackman had this to say about Duck Tales:
Fortunatly I never needed College. I get by with my job and am relitivly happy. College is in my mind jsut a conformity factory, where you don't learn much other than how to think like everyone else who came before you.
Hahahahahahahahaahahahahahaahahahaahahaahahahahaha
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There was much rejoicing when Bloodsage said this:
Unfortunately, many undergrad programs are now having to fill in the basic education that used to be given in high school. What with the recent educational fad that self-esteem > learning, it's been left up to colleges to pick up the slack and teach students the basics of communications. Doubly unfortunately, there's also been a trend in colleges towards more touchy-feely relativism and away from requiring basic standards of workmanship, leading to grade-inflation at many places (and several failed experiments with doing away with grades entirely).The good news is that the pendulum is swinging back towards academic standards at the college level. So, while I don't think courses should be a haze just for the sake of weeding people out, I do think there need to be basic standards of college level work enforced without exception.
But it's really the grad degrees these days where one should specialize.
Take the engineering program at UIUC and say that again, I dare you.
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Verily, the chocolate bunny rabits doth run and play while Snugglits gently hums:
Take the engineering program at UIUC and say that again, I dare you.
Many != all. So, since you didn't know that, I think we can draw some conclusions about your supposedly ubar program. 
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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x--JackmanO-('-'Q) :
Fortunatly I never needed College. I get by with my job and am relitivly happy. College is in my mind jsut a conformity factory, where you don't learn much other than how to think like everyone else who came before you.
That's incredibly stupid.
I'm in the first semester of my freshman year, so all of my classes right now are just gen-eds. I am pretty sure I want to major in technical theater... from what I understand, there's not really any competitiveness involved so much as comradery. We are very rare and we are mostly men.
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Snugglits spewed forth this undeniable truth:
Take the engineering program at UIUC and say that again, I dare you.
For what it's worth, I'd wager that grade inflation isn't nearly as prominent in technical fields...but I'm just pulling that out of my ass. Possibly because a 3.0 for a business major at my school is "meh", while a 2.5 for an Aerospace Engineering student is pretty decent.
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Bloodsage had this to say about Punky Brewster:
Unfortunately, many undergrad programs are now having to fill in the basic education that used to be given in high school. What with the recent educational fad that self-esteem > learning, it's been left up to colleges to pick up the slack and teach students the basics of communications. Doubly unfortunately, there's also been a trend in colleges towards more touchy-feely relativism and away from requiring basic standards of workmanship, leading to grade-inflation at many places (and several failed experiments with doing away with grades entirely).The good news is that the pendulum is swinging back towards academic standards at the college level. So, while I don't think courses should be a haze just for the sake of weeding people out, I do think there need to be basic standards of college level work enforced without exception.
But it's really the grad degrees these days where one should specialize.
Similar issue here...it used to be that first year weeded out the men from the midgets. However, with the schools all geared towards getting kids good results in their VCE rather than actually teaching them, first year is now where the universities pick up the slack in actually teaching people how to learn.
Now it's second year that guts people.
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Naimah had this to say about Captain Planet:
Really the only major change that I would like to see in the college mentality is course drops. Once you take a course that course should be counted on your GPA in all but the most extreme cases, i.e. I was clinicly dead during a midterm. I see people taking large course loads at the beginning of a semester just to scope classes and see which ones they are capable of getting 4.0s in then dropping down to 12-14 hours. Course I doubt I will ever see the day when a drop is counted as 0.0 but that is just wishful thinking.
There are many other incidents where dropping a course is necessary.
In my time at state college, I've dropped three courses, all within a couple of weeks of the start of the semester. I dropped the first one because the teacher was obviously biased against males and, no matter what I did, I wasn't right. I tried doing a couple of assignments, still, and was given bad grades just because she didn't like men.
The second class I dropped was dropped because something came up that had to happen on Wednesday nights -- when my class was supposed to take place. I dropped this one after the first week and then took the class again the next semester and got an A.
The third class I dropped before it even started but after the semester started because the course looked to be totally different than what it was advertised as and was being taught over the net by a professor that was 3,000 miles away and not the professor here on campus.
In all three cases, I was at 12-14 credits and had to stay full time by adding another course after one was dropped. In none of the cases did I drop a course in an effort to boost my GPA.
As I said, there are many reasons that drops don't count against you. Hell...I'm paying for a service -- if I don't feel I'll get my money's worth out of said service (a class), why should I be penalized for dropping it? Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 09-26-2005 at 01:16 AM.
Like I said, it may just be me, but I have yet to see any sign that college is worthwhile. I'm only going for this piece of paper because you can't get a decent job without it.
EDIT: I suppose that for reference, I should include my experience with schools.
Community College of Southern Nevada - Three and a half years, left because I've taken all the classes here that will transfer over to other schools. Cheaper than university and the credits transfer.
University of Nevada Reno - One Year, left because the school was backwater and useless for an english program.
Nevada State College - Going for my English Major here, completing first semester here.
EDIT Part Deux - Now that I reexamine my transcripts and transfer credits, it's two and a half years of credit that transfers, not three. Ah well. Mooj fucked around with this message on 09-26-2005 at 03:32 AM.
And the semester before that, I dropped a class because I didn't like it.
College is about experimentation. From what I've seen, the people who drop out the most are the ones that are set in a major they don't really like and never veer from it, so they get burnt out and never find anything they're willing to stick out the whole four years for.
I know I probably would have dropped out a long time ago if I had to stay in HRM. 
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Naimah said this about your mom:
Really the only major change that I would like to see in the college mentality is course drops. Once you take a course that course should be counted on your GPA in all but the most extreme cases, i.e. I was clinicly dead during a midterm. I see people taking large course loads at the beginning of a semester just to scope classes and see which ones they are capable of getting 4.0s in then dropping down to 12-14 hours. Course I doubt I will ever see the day when a drop is counted as 0.0 but that is just wishful thinking.
What the fuck does it even matter? You're just spouting off elitist bullshit, you dumb piece of shit. Go back into your hole and stop posting.
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Led stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
Can I still order those genetically engineered zombies?
But of course!
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Snugglits had this to say about Reading Rainbow:
What the fuck does it even matter? You're just spouting off elitist bullshit, you dumb piece of shit. Go back into your hole and stop posting.
That's pretty much the default response to a Naimah post. 
It's not something people hear about.
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From the book of Snugglits, chapter 3, verse 16:
What the fuck does it even matter? You're just spouting off elitist bullshit, you dumb piece of shit. Go back into your hole and stop posting.
It is part of the problem with the college mentaility right now. It's ok to fail as long as you are willing to give up and try again. At some point people are going to reach a point where they are going to be forced to live with whatever screw ups they made and they won't be able to give up and try again.
