Pros and Cons of an Arts Degree

[bubble sunglasses]

  I don't think this is a bad idea for a topic. People will have to support any negative [or positive] comments they make, so we have a discusison it can be constructive and useful, rather than get angry about imagined points of view.

[Eriny]

Pros:
- It's an extremely good launch pad for other degrees and a large range of professions. Things like teaching, psychology, etc. Harvard law school also recommends a liberal arts education before commencing a law degree and generally a broad undergraduate education is favoured overseas.
- You can be employed as a professional with an arts degree on its own. For example, journalism and other communications related jobs, jobs involving international relations, and a huge range of jobs in the public service sector.
- It is intellectually stimulating. The subjects are usually very interesting.
- It develops a range of skills such as writing, critical thinking, etc.
- When combined with another degree it is often the favored degree, often giving students a 'break' from dryer studies. It also compliments a wide range of degrees very nicely and helps with breadth of knowledge and skills as well as employment prospects.
-low contact hours means more flexiblity, which can be important if a student is involved in other activities such as part-time work.
- At the end of the day, you get the letters 'BA' after your name.
- The degree is cheaper than most others.
- It is easy enough to pass.


Cons:
- Employment opportunities are not great compared to other degrees. People applying for positions are usually very competitive.
- Low contact hours means that there is a lot of additional 'homework'. This work relies solely on self-motivation. It means that you more or less decide yourself how much you're going to get out of the course.
- Some people find the subjects offered to be 'wishy-washy', or even pointless.
- People often confuse 'arts' for 'art' as well as individual subject areas with other subjects. For instance, when I told people I took an anthropology course last semester, they started talking about Indiana Jones.
- It seems quite difficult to do well.
- Fellow students from other faculties seem to think that arts is a bludgy degree and will sometimes give you a hard time for it.

[brendan]

  I don't think this is a bad idea for a topic.

I made the exact same thread not too long ago: http://vcenotes.com/forum/index.php/topic,8171.msg102258.html#msg102258

but it was closed down by enwiabe because: "Closing this thread, because this will only stimulate negative discussion that gets out of hand and ends up in a flame war of some kind. Nipping this in the bud"

[brendan]

It's difficult to list out the pros and cons of the Arts degree for everyone, because everyone is different. One person's pro might be another's con.

Also as an individual you have to also look at the "counter-factual" what might have happened had you not done the BA?

Eriny says that "- At the end of the day, you get the letters 'BA' after your name.", yeah true, but what if the other option was having the letters MBBS after your name? Then it doesn't sound like much of a pro anymore.

If the alternative was not the MBBS but not attending university at all, then yes having a BA would be better than the alternative and hence a pro.

Eriny says that "It is intellectually stimulating. The subjects are usually very interesting." Again, it's not so easy to say that alone qualifies as a "pro" You have to look at the alternatives. Suppose a student was set on university study and was deciding between different degrees. Yes BA subjects might be interesting, but BSc subjects might be more interesting, etc.

- Some people find the subjects offered to be 'wishy-washy', or even pointless.

Is it true?

[ninwa]

- Some people find the subjects offered to be 'wishy-washy', or even pointless.

Is it true?

Yeah, but I think that's a con that applies to most disciplines. I could say that for my law degree too, when one of my subjects was basically the history of English law - learning about developments in law in the 1600's was pretty wishy-washy and pointless to me >_>

You just have to choose your majors and minors well.

[jess3254]

Eriny says that "- At the end of the day, you get the letters 'BA' after your name.", yeah true, but what if the other option was having the letters MBBS after your name? Then it doesn't sound like much of a pro anymore.

If the alternative was not the MBBS but not attending university at all, then yes having a BA would be better than the alternative and hence a pro.

Lol, an MBBS is absolutely useless if you don't want to practice medicine...
I don't really understand what you're saying.

[enwiabe]

It's difficult to list out the pros and cons of the Arts degree for everyone, because everyone is different. One person's pro might be another's con.

Also as an individual you have to also look at the "counter-factual" what might have happened had you not done the BA?

Eriny says that "- At the end of the day, you get the letters 'BA' after your name.", yeah true, but what if the other option was having the letters MBBS after your name? Then it doesn't sound like much of a pro anymore.

If the alternative was not the MBBS but not attending university at all, then yes having a BA would be better than the alternative and hence a pro.

Eriny says that "It is intellectually stimulating. The subjects are usually very interesting." Again, it's not so easy to say that alone qualifies as a "pro" You have to look at the alternatives. Suppose a student was set on university study and was deciding between different degrees. Yes BA subjects might be interesting, but BSc subjects might be more interesting, etc.

- Some people find the subjects offered to be 'wishy-washy', or even pointless.

Is it true?

FUNNILY ENOUGH, my dad has both an MBBS and a BA to his name... He did the BA after his MBBS for the intellectual stimulation. Go figure.

[Eriny]

- Some people find the subjects offered to be 'wishy-washy', or even pointless.

Is it true?

It's something some of my relatives say, but ultimately I think arts subjects are only as pointless as anything else. I've found that once one starts labeling something as 'pointless', soon enough everything seems rather pointless. I personally think that no knowledge is pointless. But even if it is pointless, I'm not sure how much it matters. I only mentioned it because it's a perception some people have and a genuine problem that some people have with the degree (which I don't personally agree with).

And yeah, individual preferences will change what is 'pro' or 'con'.

[amyminchin]

"All knowledge is precious, whether or not it serves the slightest bit of use"

[brendan]

Eriny says that "- At the end of the day, you get the letters 'BA' after your name.", yeah true, but what if the other option was having the letters MBBS after your name? Then it doesn't sound like much of a pro anymore.

If the alternative was not the MBBS but not attending university at all, then yes having a BA would be better than the alternative and hence a pro.

Lol, an MBBS is absolutely useless if you don't want to practice medicine...
I don't really understand what you're saying.

I'm saying that "having BA after your name" doesn't necessarily qualify as "pro". The decision that faces most people reading this thread would hardly be either (i) doing a BA or (ii) not attaining a bachelor's degree at all. You got to look at the alternatives. For example:
Having a BA after your name might be great but a LLB or BCom might be better etc.
Eriny says that "It develops a range of skills such as writing, critical thinking, etc." maybe true, but other degrees might do that as well or even better.

Also it's interesting to note that when eriny refers to a pro she phrases it like:

- It is intellectually stimulating. The subjects are usually very interesting.

but when she lists a con:

- Some people find the subjects offered to be 'wishy-washy', or even pointless.

[brendan]

arts is a bludgy degree

is it true?

[hard]

Also it's interesting to note that when eriny refers to a pro she phrases it like:

- It is intellectually stimulating. The subjects are usually very interesting.

but when she lists a con:

- Some people find the subjects offered to be 'wishy-washy', or even pointless.

i see that as more of a coincidence. Although, the way she has used it is quite effective.

[brendan]

i see that as more of a coincidence.

I'm not so sure of that:

Pros:
- It's an extremely good
- It is
- It develops a range of skills
- The degree is
- It is


Cons:
- Some people find
- People often confuse
- Fellow students from other faculties seem to think that

On a side note, I don't have the statistics, but from personal experience I think that philosophy students and law students tend to be the best critical thinkers. Might have little to do with the course and mostly critical thinkers self-selecting themselves into such courses but nevertheless having done part of a law degree, it does require a huge amount of critical thinking.

[hard]

i see that as more of a coincidence.

I'm not so sure of that:

Pros:
- It's an extremely good
- It is
- It develops a range of skills
- The degree is
- It is


Cons:
- Some people find
- People often confuse
- Fellow students from other faculties seem to think that

well then she's used it to her advantage.

[ninwa]

she's a naturally good writer so probably does these things subconsciously, can't blame her considering she is an arts student and presumably enjoys it, and therefore speaks for the pros from experience, hence her more assertive style of writing