Comments | first_seventhe: [30Days]: A Ramble On Academia

first_seventhe

[30Days]: A Ramble On Academia

Nov 06, 2010 20:06

WHAT YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT ACADEMIA.

Well, okay.

I am going to separate this out into two parts: some big, fundamental things that I think need discussing, and some smaller, within-the-system, more reasonable things I think are relevant.

It's going to become a ramble and I am sure there are a lot of things I am going to miss. I have definitely ( Read more... )

grad school, academia, feel free to disagree, meme: 30 days of hilarity, minoring in alcoholism, feel free to comment, epic battles: sev vs the university of a, majoring in life, 30 days of posting

Comments 4

sissyhiyah November 7 2010, 03:28:15 UTC

Oh my God, I could kiss you for this.

(The comment has been removed)

first_seventhe November 7 2010, 16:21:02 UTC

I think the arts have a place, and I think there are better ways to encourage young people to contribute to them than making them go through a four-year plug-and-play college program and come out -- under so much pressure and competition? I think?

I mean, I remember in high school senior year when I was under pressure to be a music major (flute performance!) I went to visit a couple schools, and they were like you're going to have to practice 7 hours a day to get anywhere. It's a full-time job, practicing. and I was like, no, I will not ENJOY it anymore. Same with photography: you starve for years shooting portraits for your friends and making a pittance before you can really start to have any kind of income based on your art.

I think there are such better ways we can do this!

red_mage_jerry November 9 2010, 12:24:40 UTC

For the students who fall into #4, this is the responsibility of the secondary school systems! There are plenty of self-supporting, interesting, secure jobs out there that do not require a college degree....BUT, in order to break into those fields, you generally need some sort of background or experience anyway! And the secondary schools don't offer that, unless they're tech schools, which.....there aren't enough of.

Now, granted, many of these jobs are mechanical in nature. But many aren't, as well.

first_seventhe November 9 2010, 13:18:34 UTC

Agreed! I think some of this got brought up over in the Dreamwidth thread (silly two-journal system, sorry!) but I am definitely in agreement. But I also think

(A) these options could/should be made more obvious to students who (a) might feel a lot of pressure to go to college when they don't want to or (b) don't know these options exist and would be really interested in them

(B) we need to de-stigmatize things like tech schools; those degrees are complex in their own way and those jobs require a level of skill that's difficult and respectable. We shouldn't be looking down on people with two-year degrees, but it happens, and it does a lot. No wonder nobody wants to go there.

(C) Experience, like you said, is a really good point. You get into this vicious circle - can't get hired without experience, can't get experience without being hired. And it's super important. SO how can we help out there? (I don't know; question to the masses and the air, I guess.)