Wow. I keep thinking I've seen the lamest, most pathetic degrees out there, but then I'm continually surprised just how low the education industry has sunk.
You can now get a degree in "Value Studies."
Apparently so after you graduate you can assess the value of your degree to be 0.
St. Reif cannot come down here and save us quickly enough.
Hey Captain (well, THIS Captain...)
ReplyDeleteI would like it if you did a post about the infamous "gaming jobs". I see a BUNCH of commercials now proclaiming hyped up promises of "you can make the next video game!" when in reality, getting into even a game TESTING job is a herculean task with little reward.
For reference, here is a funny comic about what being a game tester REALLY mean.
http://trenchescomic.com/
This goes back to the guiding principle of supply and demand. When youngin's (though I am arguably one) grow up they are preached by parents and counselors alike to "do what you LOVE" and a lot of youngin's LOVE videogames.
Thus, the seed is planted. The image that somewhere SOMEHOW there is a job just for THEM where all they do is play videogames all day and get PAID.
How many are fed this overstuffed lie? Thousands. My own cousin was going into such, and the classwork is BS, you could learn programming language on your own, make you own game and pull of a "Cave Story" **
But no, they go to college, get a certificate (I don't know if they have degrees in game making, but I would not be surprised if they did or did not) and then find out that either:
a. No one is hiring.
b. There are so many looking for this kind of job you have to start out LOW and even then LOWEST positions are so oversupplied that they make a dollar over minimum wage (read the text under the comic I linked) and work overtime in horrible conditions.
"Making the next great video game" is a hoax. Sure, SOMEone will make it, they're probably making their own games right now in their spare time (you know, when they aren't working at their REAL job), not getting "showing up" grades at some "game college" to learn in a month what an independent study reveals in a DAY.
** "Cave Story" is an 8-bit (well, it is reminiscent of NES/SNES) freeware game made by one guy over the span of 5 years that he made 99% by himself and then released for free. Many consider it one of the epitomes and paragons of independent game development. Played it myself, it was pretty good, but beyond any "game college" teaching to make.
-AmStrat
In a rational world, it would seem that way, BUT....
ReplyDeleteThere are a ton of gov't jobs that require a 4 year degree. Or give preference to applicants with one. And with the proliferation of alternative certification for teachers, the Value Studies major may be in the elementary school next to you.
Credential-ism gone wild.
BWAHAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting for the B.A. Self-Esteem degree.
- Jay
Schools and colleges are not so much about teaching hardcore subjects that sustain or grow wealth. They are about learning social skills, partying, and engaging in hardcore sex instead that grow misery. Either with teachers or students.
ReplyDeleteIt offers instruction or something in "Art & Aesthetics, Ethics & Political Theory, and Literature & Rhetoric" - and sex, of course. The subtext of the typical academic liberal screed is - sex, lots of sex, every type of sex. Berlin always was a centre for queer sex and perverted sex.
ReplyDeleteThe people who go there are dangerous. They are the half-baked environmentalists who have done us so much damage. Since they can afford to live for four years in Berlin, their parents are presumably wealthy. Which makes them all the more dangerous.
Another one to please the mental palate.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2011/08/29/living/bizarre-college-courses-mf/index.html?hpt=hp_bn8
How about Vaginal Studies?
ReplyDelete"Art & Aesthetics, Ethics & Political Theory, and Literature & Rhetoric"
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with these subjects. They're traditional, core humanities.
I know you're looking for an easy laugh on the lines of Trans Studies or Lady Gaga, but this ain't it, at least there's no reason it has to be a ridiculous, intrinsically worthless program.
Cennbeorc