Useless liberal arts

Captain Caveman · Post by **Captain Caveman** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:55 pm

I majored in English because I liked reading books. I had no foresight about career choices when I chose my major, nor did I have any aspirations that it would help me land my dream job. I just wanted to take classes in the subject I most enjoyed.

Fortunately, I found that English was not a "useless" major at all, but rather it afforded me considerable flexibility in career choices after college. I take it that the more "useful" majors are the ones that more strictly direct you into a certain professional field. Humanities majors are less career-focused, but ultimately much less limiting. I guess that's why so many of us end up in graduate or law school, studying something completely different from our undergraduate degree.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:58 pm

Me thinks me hath been hoodwinked. I told you about "The Other" as a show of good faith and you danced around my question.[/quote]

Mr. Sparkle · Post by **Mr. Sparkle** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:00 pm

LordMortis wrote:Me thinks me hath been hoodwinked. I told you about "The Other" as a show of good faith and you danced around my question.

Up to his usual lawyer tricks again.

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:04 pm

English was a very popular major. Back in the sixties.

Mr. Fed · Post by **Mr. Fed** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:06 pm

You assume that your conception of "the Other" is the same as any other conception/meaning of "the Other" that could be derived from this or any other "text"-object. In fact, you pressuppose that "the Other" has an observable and definable "meaning" and "significance" separable from your specific Western white male phalocentric straight monied hegemonic poopyhead (hereinafter "poopyhead") "perception" of it. In doing so, so perpetuate the autocratic and tyrannical attempt to impose poopyhead value/meaning perceptions/judgments onto others. You ignorant slut.

Kraegor · Post by **Kraegor** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:07 pm

/shrug.

dunno.

buddy of mine (had psych/sociology double major) had interviews with FBI and Air Marshal's

didnt ask him how he got hooked up.

yossar · Post by **yossar** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:14 pm

Kraegor wrote:/shrug.

dunno.

buddy of mine (had psych/sociology double major) had interviews with FBI and Air Marshal's

didnt ask him how he got hooked up.

They have regular recruiting just like any other job. Go to a job fair they're attending or check their website. I think they had a special information session at the Federal Building while I was working there (but it also could have been the CIA).

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:32 pm

You assume that your conception of "the Other" is the same as any other conception/meaning of "the Other" that could be derived from this or any other "text"-object. In fact, you pressuppose that "the Other" has an observable and definable "meaning" and "significance" separable from your specific Western white male phalocentric straight monied hegemonic poopyhead (hereinafter "poopyhead") "perception" of it. In doing so, so perpetuate the autocratic and tyrannical attempt to impose poopyhead value/meaning perceptions/judgments onto others. You ignorant slut.

I think you missed the other as being an existential kinda concept and not a postmodern kinda concept and now you're just being mean to mean. So whose the poopyhead? I really want to know what's wrong with talking about "the Other." And now I'm going to cry.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:41 pm

No vote. No knowledge is useless. I'd rather hire a genius with Critical Theory than a moron with a Business degree.

geezer · Post by **geezer** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:46 pm

Mr. Fed wrote:You assume that your conception of "the Other" is the same as any other conception/meaning of "the Other" that could be derived from this or any other "text"-object. In fact, you pressuppose that "the Other" has an observable and definable "meaning" and "significance" separable from your specific Western white male phalocentric straight monied hegemonic poopyhead (hereinafter "poopyhead") "perception" of it. In doing so, so perpetuate the autocratic and tyrannical attempt to impose poopyhead value/meaning perceptions/judgments onto others. You ignorant slut.

You made my brain hurt

Exodor · Post by **Exodor** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:51 pm

Blackhawk wrote:No knowledge is useless.

I'm not sure about that. If I was so inclined, I'm sure I could find endless information about Brad & Jen's breakup online.

Is that knowledge valuable?

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:58 pm

Exodor wrote:
Blackhawk wrote:No knowledge is useless.
I'm not sure about that. If I was so inclined, I'm sure I could find endless information about Brad & Jen's breakup online.

Is that knowledge valuable?

It is to people who write about it.

Meghan · Post by **Meghan** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:18 pm

Useless for what? The true value of education lies in the development of self reflection, discipline and critical thinking. All those fields listed can help in that process.

I've studied Latin, archeology, anthropology, critical theory, history, classics, liguistics, acting, voice, dance, costuming, biology and philosophy. I'm sorry I haven't spent more time on mathmatics. But I don't feel the poorer for what I have studied.

Sidenote: Librarianship is much cooler than lawyering, if you're wondering what to do for post-grad. Low stress, decent pay, nice work places. Librarians who understand computers are in particular demand. None of you bastards better apply for jobs I want, though.

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:21 pm

Well now I officially feel stupid.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:23 pm

Mr. Fed wrote:You assume that your conception of "the Other" is the same as any other conception/meaning of "the Other" that could be derived from this or any other "text"-object. In fact, you pressuppose that "the Other" has an observable and definable "meaning" and "significance" separable from your specific Western white male phalocentric straight monied hegemonic poopyhead (hereinafter "poopyhead") "perception" of it. In doing so, so perpetuate the autocratic and tyrannical attempt to impose poopyhead value/meaning perceptions/judgments onto others. You ignorant slut.

Nice try, but your own dime store pseudoneopost-feminist ethic is showing through like a black thong under white cotton pants. Why don't you just write "vagina vagina vagina vagina penis penis penis penis" and be done with it? That's what you're really saying. Go sell Gilligan and Tannen somewhere else; we're all stocked up here. And if you think I put that semi-colon in just to mock you, I did.

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:34 pm

What a tedious Grand Narrative y'all have constructed...

Grundbegriff · Post by **Grundbegriff** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 10:03 pm

Mr. Fed wrote:you pressuppose that "the Other" has an observable and definable "meaning" and "significance" separable from your specific Western white male phalocentric straight monied hegemonic poopyhead (hereinafter "poopyhead") "perception" of it.

Your mastery of Critical Legal Studies makes you a plum choice to represent the electoral holdouts in Ohio....

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 10:50 pm

Fireball1244 wrote:
Ironrod wrote:Wow, tough call. Those are all pretty useless for anything but teaching, which itself only perpetuates the production of impoverished intellectuals.
That's the actual point of universities, to create intellectuals (priests, journalists, writers, philosophers, jurists, scientists). The addition of "building an office cog" type stuff to college is a recent mutation, and not necessarily a good one.

I was right on the cusp of that change. My education came on the heels of the '60s generation. In both high school and college, there were still pass/fail, attendance-optional classes, the kind where you pushed the desks against the walls and sat in a circle on the floor, or played chess during math class. We took seriously the ideal of education for its own sake, of pursuing our curiosity. "Do what you love, and the money will follow", we believed.

The kids just 2 or 3 years behind me were the practical, career-oriented, money-focused, young Reaganauts who eventually conquered the world. Someday the pendulum will swing back. As you noted, the tilt toward career training is a recent phenomenon, and not something (like the simple joy of learning) that people embrace naturally.

Captain Caveman wrote:I majored in English because I liked reading books.

Quite a racket, eh? "You mean I can get a college degree for reading books and talking about them? Sign me up!" Of course, they make you read books nobody would ever choose to read. But context is good to have when you're reading the books you do care about.

If you know anyone who's hiring a good book reader, send me a PM.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 11:57 pm

This poll is useless without "Law" as a choice.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:00 am

Blackhawk wrote:No vote. No knowledge is useless. I'd rather hire a genius with Critical Theory than a moron with a Business degree.

Bingo. The dumbest person I ever met had a degree in electrical engineering.

He thought Nebraska was somewhere in Alabama.

Captain Caveman · Post by **Captain Caveman** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:02 am

Ironrod wrote: "You mean I can get a college degree for reading books and talking about them? Sign me up!"

I also got credit for a course on cinema where all we did was watch kick-ass movies like The Godfather. College freakin' ruled.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:16 am

Jeff V wrote:
Blackhawk wrote:No vote. No knowledge is useless. I'd rather hire a genius with Critical Theory than a moron with a Business degree.
Bingo. The dumbest person I ever met had a degree in electrical engineering.

He thought Nebraska was somewhere in Alabama.

Ironically both of which are nowhere I'd want to be.

I knew a to-be Computer Engineer (which is basically a fancy-lad name for a certain type of EE) who thought Colorado was the capitol of California. I watched a fight break out over this one.

Of course I was 13 at the time...

~Neal

Discalced · Post by **Discalced** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:01 pm

My ex-girlfriend thought Sacramento was the capitol of the United States. I dated her for the conversation.

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:49 pm

I guess "The Other" is Levinas? I thought it was Lyotard. So many 'L' names amongst European thinkers.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 1:15 pm

I guess "The Other" is Levinas?

"The Other" was around before Levinas. It is just a term he picked up in his "post-existential contemproary continental" style of philosophy.

I believe he came from a perioud surronded by other continental philosophers like Merlou Ponty, Foucault, Levistraus, Derrida, etc... I didn't take much time with the rest as Levinas really caught my fancy with his ethics as first philosophy perspective and not trying to write in some higher cryptic language as many contemporary writers (and especially philosophic writers) do. I also liked that he was really optomistic in his writing, something we don't have enough of.

I recommend Vis a Vis and The Levinas Reader as great sources.

I'm not familiar with Lyotard.

http://mythosandlogos.com/Levinas.html

Hey. Learn something new, every day. It looks like Levinas was more or less before Sartre as far as being contemporaries go. He also studied under Husserl and Heidigger which makes sense, but was something I did not know. That also makes not so much as post-existential but lateral to the existential movement.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 1:36 pm

Since I don't know where else to drop it, Sophie's World is one of the best books I've read in years.

It's not as dry as you might think - it's an very interesting book on how we've come to look at our world. It' pretty deep for a "children's story".

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 2:43 pm

It's not as dry as you might think - it's an very interesting book on how we've come to look at our world. It' pretty deep for a "children's story".

Three good books in children's story that used be current, but is now probably almost two decades old is Griffin and Sabine. It would definately be high on the "Critical Thinking" or whatever they call it studies. The series of books is an illustrated set of postcards and letters between two penpals, that gets very interesting IMO.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... 49-5610504

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Useless liberal arts

What is the most useless field of study?