How serious do you take school?

[atoga]

Dude, cognitive science is a burgeoning field in terms of programming and neuroscience, and a background in analytic philosophy is critical to it. Incidentally, do you even know what analytic philosophy is? And at the same time, you think archaeology is useful?

[Thor Kaufman]

My education is just a ticket to four more years of cushy life before I have to join the workforce and stuff. I'm specializing analytic/linguistic philosophy, plus psych and cognitive science, and while I am enjoying so far I have been dissatisfied with most of my university experience. Most humanities are taught in a fairly bullshit, high school, no questions asked sorta way, and are full of whiny bohemian dipshits who I don't really jibe with (I go to UofT). So, in conclusion, I value my education only slightly, but I think of it more as a hobby than anything else - even though I CAN get a job with what I'm studying (that's right), it's not like my GPA matters, since I'm not going on to grad school to become a prof, and I'm enjoying what I'm taking enough for work to not be a hassle.

sounds good, it's the right state of mind as well in my opinion
studying because you might get a job but hating the subject is what chumps do

I'm studying psychology and it's pretty bueno, not too much work and I'm interested and good in that stuff, anyway, so all the better

I don't really care what job I might do later, as long as it's fun and somehow useful, hopefully I find my idea how to make some million fast, so I won't have to focus on working for a living too much
I might as well end up a chick psychologist, or something, howeva

[vendetta]

Anyways, I was re-appraising my education choices and possibly jumping into an Archaeology degree or possibly continuing with the Engineering.

I'm really fucking tired of engineering though.

Damn, I just registered for my civil eng classes and yuck do they suck. Statics, design graphics, thermodynamics anybody?

At least it's only 4 days a week, I get Monday off. I hope it gets better soon.

[Fa11lloutfan_15]

Does Law/Jurisprudence count to the Humanities?

[atoga]

Yeah. Law is just a collection of philosophy courses IIRC (pre-grad school).

[OnTheBounce]

Yeah. Law is just a collection of philosophy courses IIRC (pre-grad school).

Not necessarily, but most pre-law students do their undergraduate work in Philosophy, although they tend to concentrate on things like Rhetoric and informal Logic.

Sad thing is that most lawyers learn those rules only to break them...

BTW, MFG may think Philosophy is a ticket to a "space cadet job", but there is a lot more that you can do w/a that type of degree than what Atoga mentioned. For instance, who do you think sets up the rules or organ transplants? If you guessed "a panel of doctors and philosophers" go to the pantry and get yourself a cookie. (One of my professors had a job w/the AMA for years doing just that, he was also shoulder-to-shoulder w/Frank Zappa during that whole battle w/the PMRC back in the '80s, too...) All that work in bioethics? Yep, that's Philosophers, too, although most of them have minors in Biology or a similar field.

So there.

OTB

PS MFG, don't end up like a girl I dated back in college. She studied Anthropology -- which is what Archaeologists do their undergrad work in -- and got herself a job digging up old pueblos in Arizona after graduation. She then came to the startling realization that archaeology was hard, dirty work and it precluded her from going to the club on Friday nights. She was going for her second batchelor's when I met her. In secondary education that time around...

[Fa11lloutfan_15]

Yeah. Law is just a collection of philosophy courses IIRC (pre-grad school).

That sounds terribly odd to me. Are you talking about Canada now? Because with "Law" I mean that of, for example, http://www.law.cam.ac.uk/

[atoga]

Yeah, what lawyers study is almsot entirely philosophy for background when they're doing their undergrad, and the example you provide seems to encompass what most law schools are like around here. Like OTB said, there's a lot of rhetoric and logic courses involved, plus ethics (though moreso applied business/environmental ethics than abstract stuff like meta-ethics). And most philosophy majors who go further after their bachelor's degree do go on to law school... since a philosophy degree won't teach you actual court procedure or anything like that.

[Fa11lloutfan_15]

I don't think Law (at Cambridge that is) encompasses any Philsophy courses, with the possible exception of Jurisprudence, which of course overlaps Philosophy quite a bit, but is still not taught at the Faculty of Philosophy, nor does it go under the Philosophy "caption". Isn't it the American/Canadian system you are aiming at here? Philosophical, Rhetorical and Logical preparatory courses sounds more like A/A1-level than undergraduate, as far as the British system is concerned. Well, nevermind. Thanks anyway.

[Frater Perdurabo]

I don't think Law (at Cambridge that is) encompasses any Philsophy courses, with the possible exception of Jurisprudence, which of course overlaps Philosophy quite a bit, but is still not taught at the Faculty of Philosophy, nor does it go under the Philosophy "caption". Isn't it the American/Canadian system you are aiming at here? Philosophical, Rhetorical and Logical preparatory courses sounds more like A/A1-level than undergraduate, as far as the British system is concerned. Well, nevermind. Thanks anyway.

I doubt that there will be much Philosophy involved. I am going to study Law in UCL (www.ucl.ac.uk) coming up autumn. They told me that they were going to send me a preparatory reading list (yes, a LIST, and the term hasn't even started), so once I get that I could tell you what it involves, since I doubt that Cambridge and UCL Law courses will differ a lot.

Anyway, when I was in school, I never really worked hard consistantly, just did enough so that the teachers would get off my back, however, when it came to exams, I started doing a lot of work. As a result of that, I finished with a regular Academic diploma, while all of those "hard workers" got their Honour's and all. Then when the results came, I had triple A (AAA in A2 and 2 B's in As) and got to a much better uni than all of those other "consistent hard workers". Hah! That showed those morons.

[Mandalorian FaLLouT GoD]

Yeah. Law is just a collection of philosophy courses IIRC (pre-grad school).

Not necessarily, but most pre-law students do their undergraduate work in Philosophy, although they tend to concentrate on things like Rhetoric and informal Logic.

Sad thing is that most lawyers learn those rules only to break them...

BTW, MFG may think Philosophy is a ticket to a "space cadet job", but there is a lot more that you can do w/a that type of degree than what Atoga mentioned. For instance, who do you think sets up the rules or organ transplants? If you guessed "a panel of doctors and philosophers" go to the pantry and get yourself a cookie. (One of my professors had a job w/the AMA for years doing just that, he was also shoulder-to-shoulder w/Frank Zappa during that whole battle w/the PMRC back in the '80s, too...) All that work in bioethics? Yep, that's Philosophers, too, although most of them have minors in Biology or a similar field.

So there.

OTB

PS MFG, don't end up like a girl I dated back in college. She studied Anthropology -- which is what Archaeologists do their undergrad work in -- and got herself a job digging up old pueblos in Arizona after graduation. She then came to the startling realization that archaeology was hard, dirty work and it precluded her from going to the club on Friday nights. She was going for her second batchelor's when I met her. In secondary education that time around...

It'll be interesting but its something I've wanted to do since I was a kid.
I found a school that offered an Archaeology degree so my whole undergrad studies are in civilizations and languages. It's a bit different from the whole Anthropology thing, which is what I wasn't going to take.

I really have no interest in going to the club on Friday nights, so I'm sure that's the least of my problems. I was hoping to get in at a museum or some such place.

Not that it matters quite yet since I applied too late for a seat, so the plan will have to wait.

Anyways, I was re-appraising my education choices and possibly jumping into an Archaeology degree or possibly continuing with the Engineering.

I'm really fucking tired of engineering though.

Damn, I just registered for my civil eng classes and yuck do they suck. Statics, design graphics, thermodynamics anybody?

At least it's only 4 days a week, I get Monday off. I hope it gets better soon.

Meh, I never found it hard. And it was mildly interesting. But after a while, the whole process just started to grate on me.
Civil Engineering is supposed to be alot easier than the Mechanical Engineering I took.
But that could be wrong because I hear lots of things.


And thanks for the clarification of the relevance of a philosophy degree.

Most of the people I know who went for philosophy weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, so assumptions were made.

[OnTheBounce]

It'll be interesting but its something I've wanted to do since I was a kid.

Sounds like all the reason in the world to do it. Nothing sucks more than a job you hate, even if you are "makin' bank".

And thanks for the clarification of the relevance of a philosophy degree...Most of the people I know who went for philosophy weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, so assumptions were made.

Yes, some people do use the field as an out, but that's the case with a lot of them, like Psychology, and my old major -- which I'll get back to once I'm done with "OTB's Army Carreer Mk II" -- History. However, that can be used to your advantage since you'll look so much better than your competitors once it comes time to face up to economic realities and get a -- :dramatic organ music: -- JOB...

Anyway, glad to have been of service.

Cheers,

OTB

[the guardian]

Nothing sucks more than a job you hate, even if you are "makin' bank".
OTB

Say, how do you respond to people who tell you they're going for a job they hate so that they could have money and do fun stuff on the side, or later? Because I'm always a bit stumped whenever I hear that.

[OnTheBounce]

Say, how do you respond to people who tell you they're going for a job they hate so that they could have money and do fun stuff on the side, or later? Because I'm always a bit stumped whenever I hear that.

I caution them that it's easy to loose sight of what you're after. It's easy to get stuck in the same trap that Sisyphus was, rolling that boulder up the hill every day only to have it roll back down. By the time they get that boulder up to the top they may discover that the experience has ruined whatever enjoyment you might have derived from what you were working toward. What you do changes you, no matter what it is. If you're doing something you hate you're likely to find that you've been warped by years of doing something that was -- I'm hesitant to say it, but I can't think of a better term-- "soul destroying".

To a certain extent I'm doing things right now with an eye toward improving my lot in the future. However, I couldn't do what I'm doing right now w/o at least liking some aspects of what I do. Fortunately there's an aspect of me that absolutely loves what I'm doing, and so I don't have to blast myself out of bed in the morning w/C-4 before I go outside and motivate troops for Physical Training...

OTB

[Thor Kaufman]

Nothing sucks more than a job you hate, even if you are "makin' bank".
OTB

Say, how do you respond to people who tell you they're going for a job they hate so that they could have money and do fun stuff on the side, or later? Because I'm always a bit stumped whenever I hear that.

If you steer towards a clear goal and don't get lost in the sea of shitty work, it's ok I guess as long as that phase is not too long?

Not the most clever thing to do, though, maybe.

[the guardian]

I caution them... "soul destroying".

Now that was a great thing to say and explain, but I'll probably be going, "well... it's like that sys... sys... that guy with the rock, see? So he pushes it, and stuff change, you know? Buy me another beer, I'll explain things better"

[OnTheBounce]

Well, once they've given you your beer you could always mention that life has no "stop" or "pause" buttons. Best to take advantage of what you can today, since you may not live to see tomorrow...

Best to get the free beer first, though. They may be overcome w/morbid thoughts of their own mortality once you've made your point.

OTB

[Mandalorian FaLLouT GoD]

I always laugh, on the inside, when people are compelled to tell me their "life plans". Or if they ask me mine.

Life is too short to make some kind of high hopes, life plans.
I have expectations in the long run, and if they don't come about, then I can probably explain it by choices made through out my life.
But these delusions of grandeur people make, are only bound for failure.

Live the life you would like to live, don't, in general, live your life for the future.
You could die any time after the second you read this.

[Megatron]

so why do you laugh on the inside. shouldn't you guffaw loudly and make great humour at such a thing, pointing out the flaw in the way they live?

I think it's better to have some backup for the future. If you lived life to the max everyday, it'd just make those days less exciting so I'll just live it how it goes, pretty shitty and boring. Ah, delicious hope.

[OnTheBounce]

I always laugh, on the inside, when people are compelled to tell me their "life plans".

Why is it that people feel compelled to do this on airplanes to total strangers coupled w/their life's history?

Of course, being bilingual I use that to dissuade people from conversation. I only speak English/German when it's convenient.

Personally, my life hasn't turned out anything like I thought it would. At pretty much every stage my plans have run aground on the nasty, lurking shoals of reality. Still, I can't complain since I'm basically happy with my life, I don't mind what I'm doing, and I've got an eye on a distant plan. Will I ever get there? Who knows?

::mumbles something about the point of a journey::

OTB