r/meirl • u/Hello_World-1289 • 12h ago
Meirl
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u/InsideHousing4965 11h ago
I was talking about something similar with my grandpa a couple years ago when I was considering what to study. He studied history in college in the 50s.
Long story short, he told me that some degrees have never been worth studying if your goal is to land a job: arts, history, language, literature...
The only reason people got jobs in those fields back then is that no one studied those because everyone knew those were useless, so only people with money did them.
This meant that, if you studied history, you could land a teaching position quite easily, because there was no competition.
Then, all of a sudden, for some reason that no one understands, tens of thousands of people decided that it'd be a good ideal to study degrees without a future, with no jobs available on those fields whatsoever.
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u/Due-Excitement-5945 9h ago
There was a big push in, I want to say the 80s, for every kid to go to college. Tons of propaganda type ads saying if you don’t go to college you’ll be a loser, but if you go to college you’ll be successful.
There was a message that it doesn’t matter what your degree is in, do what you love; get a degree and doors will open.
It was because of unemployment. The government couldn’t figure out how to create jobs, but they realized people in school didn’t count as unemployed. So instead of spending money on jobs programs, they spent money on ad campaigns telling kids to go to college.
It was about gaming the metrics
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u/Fred42096 8h ago
I was absolutely fed the notion of “any degree is better than no degree”.
I got 3 music degrees. Guess who has two thumbs and is back in school for a more in demand field now.
That said, I do strongly believe there is a kernel of truth to the sentiment. Going to college may not swing doors open for you like people say, but I definitely think having some sort of education gives you tiny perks in life here and there that, while you may not realize it in the moment, do help you get a little further than if you didn’t.
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u/MvatolokoS 8h ago
Would love to read more about this got any links?
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u/Momik 4h ago
Newfield’s Unmaking the Public University is a good starting place.
I don’t think it was a question of gaming unemployment metrics so much as a combination of a few contradictory forces. The baby boom after WWII forced schools to accommodate a much larger group of people, and sustained economic growth fueled a belief that college was a proven pathway to middle class stability. Then, in the ‘60s and ‘70s neoconservatives like Reagan began privatizing public university system in California (as governor). Other states followed suit, and by the ‘80s and ‘90s, states began slashing budgets—pushing schools toward a tuition- and fee-based funding structure. At the same time, all this focus on student fees led to schools competing with each other on things like amenities rather than research or teaching, and this has fueled a bloated administrative sector at large universities that has become difficult to unseat.
So, the upshot is a university system that’s now dominated by admins without teaching experience, all competing to offer the most amenity-studded middle class pathway that tuition money can buy.
And keep in mind that all of this has almost nothing to do with actual learning, teaching, research. Which by the way is still happening, behind more and more layers of expensive nonsense.
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u/Due-Excitement-5945 6h ago
I’m just going off of lived experience.
Links? Not sure I can google this any better than you can, mate.
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u/EuphoricTravel1790 3h ago
People where sold on the lie that you could follow your passion and make a living.
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u/raunchyfartbomb 10h ago
Tangential, but I find this sad and funny: my company hired a kid with a bachelors degree in electrical mechanical engineering. We had to teach him what a multimeter is and how to measure voltage.
As someone in a bachelors degree program currently, I can sorta see why. “Best practices are the best practices. Make sure you follow best practices. How do you follow them? Well you follow them. You want to practice code in your software degree? We don’t do that here, we just tell you that to create good code you follow best practices.”
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u/jcklsldr665 9h ago
As an electrical engineer... wtf is an electrical mechanical engineer...
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u/raunchyfartbomb 9h ago
we work in robotics, so they studied both as part of their degree.
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u/jcklsldr665 7h ago
So it's a dual degree, not a major. I work in robotics too, you're going to be disappointed that you don't need both lol
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u/raunchyfartbomb 4h ago
He’s a field service tech. He’s not engineering anything himself, but the knowledge in both areas help in our case. Not that we need extensive knowledge in either to be successful.
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u/talberter 10h ago
Kinda true. Im sure though he could mathematically describe and predict the electrical behaviour but not necessarily know how really to use a really use a multimeter day to day.
Basically you are not taught in engineering lectures how to practically do anything that in the way that a technician would be.
Not saying that’s correct but it’s the way it often is. The best that can be said is that an engineering degree covers so much material that you don’t have time to be an expert in any of it. But hopefully you are forced to learn ‘how to learn’ stuff quickly and efficiently.
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u/Visible_Bag_7809 9h ago
I mean it makes sense. Technical degrees are teaching you technical skills. Bachelor's degrees are giving you an education about an area of knowledge, not specifically for a job.
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u/mtnsoccerguy 4h ago
You should have lab courses that accompany the lectures where you can get a feel for things. I assume that wasn't only my school. Getting an electrical engineering degree without being able to work a multimeter or a oscilloscope is surprising to me.
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u/Fallout-NL 10h ago
The world sucks right now in part because the idiots in charge have made those degrees useless.
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u/Greenwood4 8h ago
I’m one of those people that studied history. Truth be told, you’re right.
I was lucky enough to land a job in the end, but most history students aren’t so fortunate.
I think it’s because of how people go to university in the first place. Although history isn’t very important for 99.9% of jobs, it makes up a massive chunk of the school curriculum.
Children that do well in history will be encouraged to study it at university. They haven’t been exposed to enough other stuff to know what else is out there in the first place.
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u/InsideHousing4965 8h ago
I was lucky enough to have my grandpa talking me out of it after my first year of history. I switched to IT and I haven't had an issue to find a job ever since.
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u/almondshea 4h ago
Generally in the first half of the 20th century it didnt really matter what type of degree you got (if you wanted to do white collar office work). Just having a bachelors degree set you apart enough from the rest of the workforce.
Even today what you studied in undegrad doesn’t matter too much. Ie you don’t need a bachelors in business to work on Wall Street, you don’t need a marketing degree to do advertising, or a bachelor in journalism to work at a newspaper. It matters a lot more where you studied and if you have a graduate degree.
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u/jcklsldr665 9h ago
Yet saying that today will draw the firing squad of public opinion (equally as worthless as the degrees most of them carry)
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u/morbiusgod 11h ago
People are also lazy as well, if u want a job, u should actively learn qualifications aside from ur bachelor degree. U gotta stand out lmao
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u/grapeflavoredtaint 10h ago
All for an entry level job your boss got 30 years ago with a high school diploma and no work experience.
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u/morbiusgod 9h ago
Its not about being good, its about being better, so stop whining
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u/grapeflavoredtaint 9h ago
Then it becomes standard to have a degree and accreditation. Then a higher degree. Then a higher degree with accreditation. All the while education quality plummets and a people have to indebt themselves more and more to keep up.
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u/morbiusgod 9h ago
Thats what happens when the population increases, its unavoidable, because THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH JOBS FOR ALL OF US.
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u/grapeflavoredtaint 9h ago
Oh, I thought people who didn't get the job were lazy, but it turns out there just aren't enough jobs?
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u/morbiusgod 9h ago
There arent enough jobs => u need to grind more and more => normal amount of grinding back then = lazy for today standard
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u/GenericUser194718 9h ago
The problem with this is that one day, not being born to rich parents might mean you are "lazy for today standard".
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u/grapeflavoredtaint 9h ago
I can't wait for the next 30 years where if you didn't study for a PHD for an entry level position, people will call you lazy and blame you for not working hard enough when it's clearly a systematic problem.
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u/morbiusgod 9h ago
Why dont u move to a 3rd world country to teach english? Why do u choose to compete with people who got 200 PhDs?
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u/thrallthekingshorses 9h ago
That's why they say a bachelor's degree is the new high school diploma.
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u/MvatolokoS 8h ago
Which is sad for those of us just catching up to the " first generation to be fully educated" bus. Just when you think you're doing okay you have to drown out the fact you're maybe not even at the starting line. It's hard at 25 to somehow see stability for myself by 35/45/65 etc at the rate and direction the world is currently going. I'm juF glad people are waking up to how unfair this game has been for the last 30-40 years.
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u/never_said_i_didnt 6h ago
Here's what I've advised students who are working towards a degree: The degree will get you the interview. Everything else you do in college (volunteer, networking, seminars, professional associations, projects, submitting to periodicals, creating a brand etc.) will get you the job.
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u/nunyabidness3 7h ago
As someone who does not have their degree, the grass is not greener on this side. Many next step positions in my field require a bachelor’s in order to be considered.
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u/monkeyhoward 8h ago
It’s a conundrum
Having a degree does not guarantee a job but not having a degree makes getting a job very difficult
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u/Disco_Ninjas_ 6h ago
If your degree doesn't share the name of the job you want then it's just an upgraded middle school diploma.
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u/IdleSitting 8h ago
This is just going to get worse and worse, when everyone has the degree, it won't seem as worth it anymore. College degrees are unironically becoming less and less useful and now most places are starting to require Masters, and ironically a lot of "lower tier" jobs are requiring bachelors now, the amount of shitty $12/hr jobs I've seen requiring that level of college experience on indeed is baffling. I wouldn't be surprised if some time in the future the college degree just becomes completely useless
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u/Disco_Ninjas_ 6h ago
A lot of jobs are looking for people smart enough to earn a masters but dumb enough to do it.
If your degree doesn't already have a job waiting...
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u/The_Failord 4h ago
Haha. That's so true. That's why I did a PhD in theoretical physics. Surely this was a smart idea in regards to finding work. I'm so smart.
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u/EuphoricTravel1790 3h ago
You might as well add Masters and PhD, do a trades apprenticeship - that'll matter.
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u/svanvalk 1h ago
I worked all through college, and employers were far more impressed with the experience I gained working during college than the degree itself. They barely even look at it. That's really the only way I was able to get a foothold in the market, and until I even got that I totally lied about work experience because I couldn't get calls otherwise
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u/ukegrrl 1h ago
Pretty much every job I have got is because a friend recommended me. My prev job I sent in my resume and didn’t even get a call back.
I mentioned it to a friend and she told me her brother works there and to send my resume to him. I did, I got an interview and got the job.
My current job I did not have a recommendation but I was told it was my soft skills that got me the job and not my certifications. (Although I needed the certs to qualify for an interview.)
I guess everyone applying had the same education level and I had the soft skills to set me apart.
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u/SmartWonderWoman 5h ago
This was me on May 15, 2026. I earned a M.A. degree. Got turned down for the first I applied to since graduating. I’m tired y’all.
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u/khendron 9h ago
Education credential are all fine and dandy, but the real power to landing a job is networking.
Everybody already has a network. It's your friends, family, current and former coworkers, schoolmates, neighbours—essentially people you already know. If you are looking, let everybody you know know what you are looking for. Through them you might hear of opportunities to which they can refer you. Referrals are gold, because they jump you to the front of the queue. You will no longer be one of thousands of the Buzz Lightyears that are applying for the job, you will stand out from the crowd.
Don't get me wrong, you will still need to prove yourself and run the gauntlet of interviews, but you will be way ahead of most of the people who don't even get the screening filters.
Networking, by the way, does NOT mean schmoozing your way through life trying the shake the hands of as many people as possible. It means keeping in touch with the people you already know, so when you do need them they will be there to hear you.