Is higher Education a waste of time?

[Solachica]

[Trini do]

- I'm not US registered. Ok will admit, should not have given u that link - but that's basically what a dietetic technician's qualifications are and what their job entails. Like urself - I was trained in d hospital - can't "learn" what I did from classes or a book - well at least not everything. Chartered accountant - is that a very boring job? No, seriously.


Aurea

It is an extremely boring job..

[Aurea]

It is an extremely boring job..

Oh,oh. Ok I done now. Nice chattin with u trini.

Aurea

[Aurea]

Sola, what so funny gyul ()

Aurea

[Sirius]

Sirus, why do people pursure phds in fields not related to medicine/science?
And when they get it what do they do?
How much are actually performing research?

What can one do with a phd in accounting, art, literature, languages, history etc ?

The only justification is academic pursuit and they spend most of their youth doing it....and when they get it..the easiest option is to hide( i mean teach sorry).. and not face the rat race because where would you place them, everybody can't be president or an impotent director/member of an audit committee..


How much more will they earn compared if they had a masters degree is the same dicipline ??
Is it worth the extra years??

I see you are viewing the PhD strictly in terms of getting a job. Remember that PhD stands for Doctor of Philosophy. One has to for starters be driven by a quest for knowledge. One pursues it because one simply wants to obtain it. These sorts of people want to know they achieved the highest level of academia; it's a personal drive. Nobody can measure the worth of the extra years other than the person dedicating those extra years. Not everybody is satisfied by the same criteria, after all.

There is a concept known as the sphere of knowledge. That is, all the knowledge of the world. To earn qualifications such as a PhD - or an MPhil for that matter (Master of Philosophy) - one must contribute new knowledge to expand that sphere. Being a researcher is part of the process, whether one chooses to continue being a researcher upon earning the title or not.

I am also completely baffled by your continued blanket statements that really have little to no grounding. Why are you bashing the teaching profession? I am no PhD holder but I am a degree holder and a lecturer on a part time basis. Now it is no hiding profession so I don't know where you got that from. You have to be constantly accessible to all your students. You have to spend time preparing and correcting exams and assignments, preparing lecture slides and sample material, dealing with administrative issues and meeting deadlines. You become an advisor too, and your reputation spreads like wildfire because you're not an anonymous Joe behind a desk; you're a known figure the students will talk about both in good and bad light - it is impossible to meet every single student's expectations simultaneously.

That said, let me tell you that it is one of the most fulfilling things I have done. There is an immense satisfaction in knowing you have imparted knowledge and even on the most stress filled days you cannot help but smile when a student gets that "AHA!" moment. The pay's not bad either; hour for hour it's better than my day job. It's not about the pay though: I can never call either a rat race because I will never enter a career that feels like I am going in to a job. When that day comes, I know it is time to move on.

Back to the topic of higher education. I work in Information Technology. I worked toward professional designation and I got it; I worked toward my degree and I got it. Here's the fundamental difference between them: The degree teaches you how to think, innovate and create, not just how to carry out tasks according to some standard.

What I am trying to say Trini do is that not everything is about the money. Some people work toward a higher calling than that. They work to do something that they want to do...that they love to do. To them, going for a PhD is not about if they can make more money after. The PhD in itself, to the PhD holder, is worth far more than any pay cheque.

[kemist]

kemist, i agree with you but one can obtain a phd in almost any field/area of study.
Will you say all phds are equal and all share the same burden of taking mankind forward?

All PhD's are not equal. To get a PhD in any field, one must propose, do & finish a novel study, then defend their thesis. So with respect to the challenges, the workload and self-development, PhD's cannot be equated to each other, not even within the same subject. With respect to job opportunities, some PhD's are more in demand than others.

'taking mankind forward' is a matter of perspective. E.g. People who have interest in art would see its development as something that takes art forward and hence also, mankind