A court ruling that I agree with regarding jobs and degrees

[Baron von Lotsov]

One of my anxieties is the job advert that specifies you must have a degree. It sometimes doesn’t even matter what it is in as long as it is vaguely related to the job. For example, if you were doing something to do with engineering then acceptable degrees would be maths, physics, computer science, mechanical engineering and maybe even chemistry. One example that really pi$$es me off no end is a son of a friend of my parents who is “In computers” (not physically sitting inside the box mind you) and he has a degree in French! OK that’s a pi$$ser in itself, as I hated French lessons more than even art classes. What is the real sting is that “Oh, and he earns £100 000 a year”. Anyway, this absurdity is going to come to an abrupt end, (an error has occurred and the system is rebooting). Check this out.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/j...#disqus_thread

Expect greater competition and cheaper professional services as a result. This is also what Hayek was very much against as well. Degrees and professional qualifications are licences, and they are a very damaging form of protectionism. That’s why an IP lawyer charges £300/hour. We all pay for this, not just the ones who pay directly, since the prodcuts they produce cost more as well.

[youngian]

The IT head at my previous firm viewed Computer science degrees as worthless and always looked how much practical experience and interest applicants could demonstrate as the bottom line.

Professions and skilled trades should have qualifiactions but how many 'must have a degree' jobs could be done by starting at 16 and doing theory part-time through apprenticeships?

So many kids are only doing degrees because they have to get their foot in the door . In other words forced to borrow huge amounts just to get an interview for a half decent job.

[BCG Jason]

Degrees and professional qualifications are licences, and they are a very damaging form of protectionism.

I agree with BVL here, they are basically making people pay for training so that can only get into a profession and find themselves already in debt.

[internetcynic]

But thats how its always worked, you think this is new?

How and why do you think medieval Guilds were formed, and what they were for?

Knowledge, power and money, three forms of the same thing. Get one, you can get the other two. if you dont have any of them, you're stuffed.

In Victorian and pre-Victorian times you bought jobs, eg the Governor of Highgate Prison job would have cost you £100, but the potential for making money was colossal. Prisoners had to pay for everything, food,clothes, easier conditions, private cells, no shackles, visits, and it all went into the Governors pockets (well most of it).

Whats the difference between buying a job and buying the training to get you the job?

[Baron von Lotsov]

The IT head at my previous firm viewed Computer science degrees as worthless and always looked how much practical experience and interest applicants could demonstrate as the bottom line.

Professions and skilled trades should have qualifiactions but how many 'must have a degree' jobs could be done by starting at 16 and doing theory part-time through apprenticeships?

So many kids are only doing degrees because they have to get their foot in the door . In other words forced to borrow huge amounts just to get an interview for a half decent job.

I don't even learn part time per se. What I tend to do is that if I come up with a problem I'll probably spend up to a day researching it. The Internet has resulted in fast information. There is this theory that the more useful something is the more easily the brain remembers it. You can't possibly remember everything, so it has a kind of filtering system. That's why I do it the way I do, because everything I need to find out has an immediate use. If it is a particularly big problem I'll do it in chucks, so I'll have an initial stab at it, sit on it for a day or two and then go back and do some more. I often find I'll be simultaneously working on two problems, as in the big problem interspersed with more mundane things. If I were a computer I'd be a multithreading system!

[Baron von Lotsov]

But thats how its always worked, you think this is new?

How and why do you think medieval Guilds were formed, and what they were for?

Knowledge, power and money, three forms of the same thing. Get one, you can get the other two. if you dont have any of them, you're stuffed.

In Victorian and pre-Victorian times you bought jobs, eg the Governor of Highgate Prison job would have cost you £100, but the potential for making money was colossal. Prisoners had to pay for everything, food,clothes, easier conditions, private cells, no shackles, visits, and it all went into the Governors pockets (well most of it).

Whats the difference between buying a job and buying the training to get you the job?

That's interesting what you say. I once heard that the record business worked a bit like that. What you have is large chunks of money moving between the different companies, so if you were the small guy and wanted to participate in the business you would not have enough money to play the game. It worked like, if you were small you would lose it all, but if you were big you would make a fortune. It's a rather convoluted form of protectionism to keep the competition out.

[BCG Jason]

But thats how its always worked, you think this is new?

How and why do you think medieval Guilds were formed, and what they were for?

Knowledge, power and money, three forms of the same thing. Get one, you can get the other two. if you dont have any of them, you're stuffed.

In Victorian and pre-Victorian times you bought jobs, eg the Governor of Highgate Prison job would have cost you £100, but the potential for making money was colossal. Prisoners had to pay for everything, food,clothes, easier conditions, private cells, no shackles, visits, and it all went into the Governors pockets (well most of it).

Whats the difference between buying a job and buying the training to get you the job?

I don't disagree with what you say yet with the Victorian example that sounds like a job for the wealthy but you need a system to help get people on their feet after getting an education that won't help them and already in debt, how about they pay a small fee to show interest (£100) and pay more as you get a job and the training increases in complexity. That way if no jobs people can't get conned into paying loads for courses with no demand and also the emphasis is then on the trainers to make sure they have the right aptitude.

[Geoffrey Collier]

Baron von Lotsov: What would you do with the medical services? Would you like to see more economies made by closing down the Royal Colleges?
I suppose that we could see a revival of the Barber-Surgeon. The learned societies are here to stay: Medicine, Law, Dentistry, etc. It is they who determine the professional standards, and the discipline of members. Legal challenges can result in compensation awards of several millions of pounds; one of £8.5, million was made only last week. The Luddites failed against the proto-industrialists; against the combined strength of professional societies and the financial corporations, who very largely determine the final shape of the legislation which relates to them, I fear that yours is a hopeless cause. What are you offering the population as a reward or incentive for their support?

[Baron von Lotsov]

Baron von Lotsov: What would you do with the medical services? Would you like to see more economies made by closing down the Royal Colleges?
I suppose that we could see a revival of the Barber-Surgeon. The learned societies are here to stay: Medicine, Law, Dentistry, etc. It is they who determine the professional standards, and the discipline of members. Legal challenges can result in compensation awards of several millions of pounds; one of £8.5, million was made only last week. The Luddites failed against the proto-industrialists; against the combined strength of professional societies and the financial corporations, who very largely determine the final shape of the legislation which relates to them, I fear that yours is a hopeless cause. What are you offering the population as a reward or incentive for their support?

It should be the customer who decides. Obviously if I were going to have some sort of operation I would make certain the person doing it was competent. Actually the best way is word of mouth. Not all surgeons with qualifications are any good. My trusted family doctor was the one who sorted it out for me. He knew who was who. Oh and if you think the GMC is any good then think again.

[Cannydc]

Another race to the bottom commences.

If it isn't this vile government telling us to work longer for less, so we can 'compete' with slave labour in China, next they tell us that despite all the tiger economies 'up-skilling' their workforces through further education, we should forget that nonsense so kids can again be used as factory fodder as they know no better.