[NetBehaviour] naughty boy

Fri Aug 21 07:16:43 CEST 2009

Web development and translations, most web stuff though.

20 aug 2009 kl. 22.51 skrev Alan Sondheim:

>
>
> Yes yes! What sort of business?
>
> Alan -
>
>
> On Thu, 20 Aug 2009, Yvonne Martinsson wrote:
>
>> Ahhh! someone who knows what it's like to have a degree that is a bit
>> too much, probably. I too have a degree, a PhD, and since I got it
>> I've been mostly unemployed, except for a semester teaching English
>> grammar which is not my field. Employers tell me that my education is
>> a luxury they cannot afford, so here I am trying to build a business
>> of my own instead, which isn't easy these days.
>>
>> So the question is, why get an education? Except for the benefits of
>> personal development, how do you survive afterwards? And isn't it
>> strange strange that society invests in your long-term education and
>> then don't want to profit from it, or it at least take advantage of
>> your knowledge? Fortunately, there is the internet so your knowledge
>> isn't lost, but maybe everything else as how are you going to pay the
>> rent?
>>
>> Yvonne
>> http://freewheelin.nu
>>
>>
>> 18 aug 2009 kl. 18.16 skrev james morris:
>>
>>>
>>> why a degree might be a waste of time and money
>>> ===============================================
>>>       in improving employment prospects
>>>       =================================
>>>
>>> james morris    eighteenth of august two thousand and nine
>>> ------------    ------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> sour grapes
>>> ===========
>>>
>>> i studied fine art at university and graduated at the age
>>> of 26. before my degree i never had a permanant job. i had
>>> summer work on farms in my immediate vicinity from the age
>>> of 13. i got work from recruitment agencies after
>>> a-levels. i also studied computers prior to the art
>>> degree.
>>>
>>> since graduating, eight years ago, i have had one
>>> permanant job. it was in a factory operating moulding
>>> machines. unfortunately, they required me to operate a
>>> machine i disliked much much more than the other machines
>>> so i refused to operate it. they sacked me for gross
>>> misconduct. looking back i was niave to think the fact i
>>> could already operate over half the machines, and in
>>> practical terms knew the basics of setting them, was
>>> enough to protect my job.
>>>
>>> so i went back to the agencies and now, in these present
>>> times of 'financial crisis' i would place myself somewhere
>>> below the bottom wrung of the ladder. i don't know where i
>>> will be working from day to day. i might get called up
>>> anywhere between five in the morning or half ten at night.
>>> sometimes i need to start immediately, other times for the
>>> following day. if i was paid any less for the work i do,
>>> it would by law be illegal.
>>>
>>>
>>> serial killer
>>> =============
>>>
>>> the other week i worked at three different companies in as
>>> many days. then i watched a tv programme about a serial
>>> killer. the psychologiest mentioned, when talking about
>>> the profiles of serial killers, that they often drift from
>>> job to job. so let's be clear here, i'm no serial killer.
>>>
>>>
>>> something else
>>> ==============
>>>
>>> i keep coming across articles in the tabloids about people
>>> out of work. sometimes they have been through higher
>>> education, or are studying at degree level. the last
>>> article i read trumpeted about how many jobs were out
>>> there waiting to be filled. they were all in supermarkets
>>> or fast food chains.
>>>
>>> some of the people complained they could not afford to
>>> live on the benefits paid to them. admittedly, from the
>>> sound of it, they had all done much more than me to find a
>>> job. but i'm working and they're not. i went to an agency
>>> and they did not. although the work the agency provides me
>>> pays only the minimum nation wage, and i'm rarely working
>>> more than four days a week, it is still more money than
>>> i'd have by claiming benefits.
>>>
>>> so why don't people who have been out work for months, who
>>> complain about struggling on benefits, just go straight to
>>> an agency? because they don't want to start work at 6am?
>>> because they don't want to do manual labour? because they
>>> don't want to work on the factory floor or in a
>>> wharehouse? because it's not enough money? or just for
>>> fear that they'll end up stuck there?
>>>
>>> possibly they fear their lack of experience in low paid
>>> manual labour/factory/wharehouse work would be a
>>> disadvantage? don't be silly, for in this line of work,
>>> it's no more a disadvantage than only having the most
>>> basic grasp of english.
>>>
>>>
>>> waste of time degrees
>>> =====================
>>>
>>> one of the people mentioned in the tabloid article was
>>> studying 'creative music technology'. how many jobs out
>>> there are there where such an education would be a real
>>> practical advantage? how many students were enrolled on
>>> that course? how many universtities provide that same
>>> course? how many other similar courses does each
>>> university provide? do the maths and then look for the
>>> jobs. that is, how many jobs would specifically require a
>>> 'creative music technology' graduate?
>>>
>>> oh yes i know, what you study is irrelevant, it shows
>>> employers you have at minimum, a nearly half functioning
>>> brain.
>>>
>>>
>>> the education conspiracy
>>> ========================
>>>
>>> don't fool yourself into believing universities are places
>>> of learning. like any institution in these modern times
>>> anything that they claim to be is just a front for making
>>> money. universities are about making money for the people
>>> who own them (whoever they may be), and if that gets in
>>> the way of genuine real world education, so be it.
>>>
>>> well they are a business and not a charity ok.
>>>
>>> so how can we get more young misguided people onto our
>>> books and paying us wads of cash? ah ha, let's give them
>>> what they want: fun degrees that pretend to be educational
>>> but are really just playing in the sand. go on mr, play
>>> with the computer and make some noises. ooh, wee, that's
>>> good! excellent! have yourself a first!
>>>
>>> you want to study art? yes? come right in, you'll get by
>>> with a fully disfunctional brain, and to be honest,
>>> that'll probably be a distinct advantage. creative
>>> writing? yes, come along. fire breathing and juggling,
>>> yeah sure we can do that! battlestar galactica studies?
>>> coming soon!
>>>
>>> and of course the fact that universites are really about
>>> making money for their owners, et al, really is the
>>> propagating factor of these stupid-arsed courses of study.
>>> when one university sees another doing these dumbed down
>>> courses designed for popular appeal, they fear potential
>>> students will smell the sweetness and go over to the
>>> competition, so they have to implement these crappy
>>> worthless courses also. and as everybody knows, a bit of
>>> competition is healthy.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> right on
>>> ========
>>>
>>> unfortunately for the poor unsuspecting students barely
>>> out of their nappies, how well you do in the employment
>>> market (excuse me while i vomit) is more about who you
>>> know and how much shit you can talk or how much confidence
>>> you exude or how much brown nosing you're capable of. the
>>> government may claim to desire to provide better
>>> oppurtunites for the working class youth, but unless these
>>> youth lack even the slightest hint of self doubt they'll
>>> get nowhere. i mean if they're like me and were utterly
>>> unconfident and getting a degree was something to get me
>>> the hell out of the imprisonment of living with my parents
>>> in a 'idylic village' in the middle of nowhere... it won't
>>> improve your job prospects, but you probably will find it
>>> worthwhile in terms of your personal
>>> development/recovery/induction into the social world...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> end motes
>>> =========
>>>
>>> i hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as i've enjoyed
>>> writing it as fast as i can and without a spell checker.
>>> such is the attitude of a factory working open source
>>> software developping website designing disillusioned art
>>> graduate.
>>>
>>> don't let your new found identity as a 'human resource'
>>> get you down.
>>>
>>>  x x x
>>>
>>>
>>> end notes
>>> =========
>>>
>>> don't get me wrong, if i was not owing thirteen thousand
>>> pounds (and counting) to the student loans company i would
>>> not feel the slightest pang of regret for studying fine
>>> art at degree level. maybe if i had gone from school
>>> straight into employment i might have progressed further
>>> along the career ladder and learnt practical skills
>>> valuable to the employment market (eurrgh). i probably
>>> would still be interested in the things i am interested
>>> in. but perhaps the attitudes within the workforce i would
>>> have encountered, instead of those at colleges and then
>>> university, would have made me an entirely different
>>> person. i don't fucking know, it's too late to change it
>>> now. there's no turning back.
>>> _______________________________________________
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