Pros and Cons of an Arts Degree

[bubble sunglasses]

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.

 
   Wait a minute. Those were Eriny's own particular cons, not intended to counter her pros.
  Just like, if an actuary says that people generally see his job as really dry, that's a lament in itself, not a con to be considered when thinking about studying Actuarial.   

[enwiabe]

I'm going to predict this now. In ~ 2 years time or less, Brendan takes a sub-machine gun into the arts building @ UoM and begins to "solve the problem" of "wasted taxpayer dollars" thereby cleansing his precious university of the vile scourge!

[brendan]

I'm going to predict this now. In ~ 2 years time or less, Brendan takes a sub-machine gun into the arts building @ UoM and begins to "solve the problem" of "wasted taxpayer dollars" thereby cleansing his precious university of the vile scourge!

That has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Completely off-topic post.

[costargh]

I'm going to predict this now. In ~ 2 years time or less, Brendan takes a sub-machine gun into the arts building @ UoM and begins to "solve the problem" of "wasted taxpayer dollars" thereby cleansing his precious university of the vile scourge!

That has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Completely off-topic post.

Delete post/Permanent ban I say!

[bubble sunglasses]

I'm going to predict this now. In ~ 2 years time or less, Brendan takes a sub-machine gun into the arts building @ UoM and begins to "solve the problem" of "wasted taxpayer dollars" thereby cleansing his precious university of the vile scourge!

He actually has some regard for the arts; many of the links he posts [other than those related to economics and finance] are drawn from areas rooted in [what we know in Australia as] Arts.

[costargh]

I'm going to predict this now. In ~ 2 years time or less, Brendan takes a sub-machine gun into the arts building @ UoM and begins to "solve the problem" of "wasted taxpayer dollars" thereby cleansing his precious university of the vile scourge!

He actually has some regard for the arts; many of the links he posts [other than those related to economics and finance] are drawn from areas rooted in [what we know in Australia as] Arts.

[bubble sunglasses]

I'm going to predict this now. In ~ 2 years time or less, Brendan takes a sub-machine gun into the arts building @ UoM and begins to "solve the problem" of "wasted taxpayer dollars" thereby cleansing his precious university of the vile scourge!

He actually has some regard for the arts; many of the links he posts [other than those related to economics and finance] are drawn from areas rooted in [what we know in Australia as] Arts.

 reminds me of the insightful question I asked here
 

 
C'mon guys, if someone *really* bags Arts we'll give it back to them in spades, but I wouldn't put Brendan's recent posts in this category. The stats on those still seeking a job after 4 months [if that's supposed to be a bad thing] showed arts graduates to be in the middle, out of those surveyed, and the "generic skills" article made me think about what generic skills I'll get and how different they'd be if I was doing somebody else. And as for the esoteric Arts subjects, *I* think the some of the titles are funny/cool, they might be a factor in me choosing to do those subjects
 
   

[Eriny]

With my list, I can see how it may come across as biased, and I'm not bothered by the insinuation that I am biased. I am quite obviously biased. I'm not trying to persuade people to study arts degrees or anything though, I don't really care. The list was based on nothing but my own experience and stuff I've been told. On both 'pro' and 'con' I provided both factual information and perceptual information on points that I think are relevant enough to bring up. If it's insufficient, add to the list (or take stuff away, for that matter).

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.

 
   Wait a minute. Those were Eriny's own particular cons, not intended to counter her pros.
  Just like, if an actuary says that people generally see his job as really dry, that's a lament in itself, not a con to be considered when thinking about studying Actuarial.   

That.

Also,

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.

That's not really a steadfast rule. What about:
- 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.
- It seems quite difficult to do well.
i.e. half my cons list? I think the language I'm using has more to do with the nature of each point than anything else. As for the pros, well, I defy anyone who says that they've finished an arts degree without becoming a better writer, and also in my defence, I use lots of words like 'usually' and 'can be' (as opposed to 'is'), and 'often', and 'generally'. I don't make any guarantees.

arts is a bludgy degree

is it true?

If it were, that would be a 'pro', wouldn't it? But all I wrote in that list was that it was easy enough to pass. If you want to do more than that, then it's just as much work as any other degree. However, as I mentioned, because it is perceived to be a bludgy degree, people have the tendency to undermine the work an arts student does actually do. This is a bad thing, hence it was put in the 'con' list.

[brendan]

i didn't say that...

[Eriny]

sorry. So many quote tags! 'Tis fixed.