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ahahahahahahhahahaha, that's my dawg
this thread rules
I think the female attrition is due more to the usual suspects (married life and child bearing and raising) than any fear of working. Academia is also more conducive to being able to swing both roles of mother and professional.
ahahahahahahhahahaha, that's my dawg
this thread rules
It's not just about me, it's your at ude in general. Otherwise I would have said the "Jessica Lib Movement".
I know just as many men as women you think are wasting higher education rescources without a "clear vision of what they actually want to do". This goes back to the point a couple of people have mentioned that college has become a glorified trade school - it feels like the only people in college who are genuinely there to learn (God forbid) for the sake of becoming more knowledgable - not necessarily with a monetary payoff - are the people in arts, sciences, and humanities. Yes, people who want to don't want to be ignorant members of society are most definitely wasting space
Because it takes so much more time to take a refresher course than it did to get the degree in the first place? What's wrong with having a foundation to go back to? Educating someone is never a "waste" of resources.
I went to law school with women who said without equivocation that as soon as they were pregnant, they were done practicing law until their children were grown. Some in my class were angry at that sentiment, but I really don't understand the hostility and think it's badly misplaced. Any person who wishes to better him or herself by attaining degrees should do so. If they are more qualified than others to pursue those degrees, so be it. There's absolutely nothing that says that you must pursue a profession corresponding to a degree.
Does one need to practice law after attaining a law degree to have made such education worthwhile? A law degree is a great asset for one pursuing a career in business generally and specifically in areas such as real estate development and private equity. I am considering applying to an evening law school program for this very reason (or at a minimum picking up some legal casebooks/outlines that cover certain areas).
I think a law degree (or any other professional degree) is a worthwhile pursuit, regardless of what one chooses to do after graduation.
But I sense that SWC believes (as do many others, I suppose) that it is a waste of time and resources for the women who would prefer to be mothers to take up a seat in any educational environment if they don't intend to pursue a career after obtaining the degree. I think that's bogus for a number of reasons, many of them outlined eloquently by Jekka.
Frankly, people who pursue learning for the sake of learning are extremely valuable to our society, even if that value isn't expressed in purely economic terms. A stay-at-home mom who is well-educated is quite likely to instill in her children the virtues of learning (as opposed to the virtues of simply going through the motions with sufficient effort to obtain a degree). Working mothers are just as likely to do the same. But a woman who has the choice and decides to stay home with kids shouldn't be derided for her refusal to fulfill some chauvinistic belief concerning what one should or must do with a degree.
When I win the lotto on Saturday, my career as a professional student will begin.
Reading casebooks and outlines are no subs ute for law school if your desire is to think critically about the law the way a lawyer does. Law school is much more expensive and occupies much, much more time, but if that's what you're aiming to achieve, there is no comparison between the two options you propose. Law school is only superficially about learning the law; its about learning to think through legal problems and solve them, given some basic tools and research.
The process as a whole, not the substance of any particular course, is what makes law school valuable for those wanting to learn the law
Beautifully stated.
Of course I'm the new psycho feminist, so take it with a grain of salt. . .
If I could afford it, I would have a PhD in everything.
I don't think a stay-at-home mother is going to teach her kids graduate-level organic chemistry.
On the other hand, I sure could use a chemist that could come up with a new adhesive to economically bond urethane coated fabric to FRP and/or PE foam.
I would probably find a few things to focus on, but if I ever get the knid of funds where I never have to work another day in my life, I'll probably spend my time doing some kind of research.
If I could afford it, I would have a PhD in everything.
Oh, the joys it would be to build my own hurricane hunter.
Whatcha trying to make SWC?
You might have a look at this line of stuff Belzona
The thing is, I have no desire to practice as an attorney. My desire is to learn more about specific areas such as land use, real estate transactions and tax, and corporate formation and what not. I feel that given the tradeoffs, reading a few books would be more effective for my purposes than going back to school, though an evening program would make the full experience somewhat more attainable for myself.
You all are great encouragement for me to get back to school.
I'd think a law degree would be an asset for anyone. Nobody is above the law.
It's a marine application. Doesn't look exactly like what I'm looking for, but thanks for the link, I'll check them out.
If nothing more, I can give you the contact info for the local (San Antonio) rep to bounce your need off of. He's a chemical sort from UT (that might give you pause). I've used their products on a few applications in the industrial construction area and they always seem to have something that fits a particular problem we encounter.
I never said anything about taking the initiative to educate yourself. But tying up STATE resources with the knowledge that you will never return the taxpayers of the state the investment that they have made with public money is a waste of resources. If it weren't, schools wouldn't be offering reduced tuition and other incentives for people to get the out of school on time and out into the workforce.
PM his contact info. I'll dust off the ol' agriculturer/t-sip translator that I have sitting around here somewhere.
Well, what's the point of PhD programs in the humanities offered by state universities? Not everyone can be a prof, the room isn't likely there.
I never said that the degrees I was speaking of were in the humanities. I'm talking: organic chemistry & mechanical engineering (one of which was a PE). All at a particular state university in College Station, which would kind of like to see that $$$ come back at the very least in the form of some private application or teaching.
So, if a woman has a desire to be a stay-at-home mom rather than a working professional, she should be categorically excluded from professional schools? or should there be some requirement that anyone obtaining a professional degree from a state-funded ins ution be required to fulfill some professional/working requirement for a set period of time following graduation?
I'm not trying to put words in your mouth and perhaps your position is more nuanced than I'm understanding, but those strike me as the only two alternatives for ensuring efficient use of state educational resources, and neither strikes me as particularly pragmatic, given that many men who attend professional schools also choose not to enter the fields in which they are professionally degreed. Attending professional school should open opportunities for those who take up that challenge; it shouldn't create obligations to the state (unless you're proposing some sort of communist/socialist system).
I have my MBA and I'm a writer who works from home. When we have kids, I'll be a stay at home mom who just writes sometimes.
And Bonfire, I don't see how it's any of your business or anyone else's what I do with my degree.
I too considered going to law school just for the of it with no intent on ever practicing law. It's not my obligation, moral or otherwise to give back to society as you see fit.
Then perhaps the individual takes some time off and then comes back. It's not like women are the only ones who will leave a given occupation for a time and then come back.
Last edited by Peter; 12-12-2005 at 04:47 PM.
That doesn't say "act like a day care for young adults of either gender".The Eleventh Texas Legislature approved a joint resolution on November 1, 1866, accepting the terms of the federal government's Morrill Land-Grant College Act of July 2, 1862, which provided for the donation of public lands in a quan y equal to 30,000 acres for each senator and representative in Congress to a state for the establishment of at least one college "where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts."
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