Petition to get student loans for postgrad study

Karnam

raymond wrote:

What is the point in a postgraduate degree in arts other than to avoid getting a real job ?

I can understand postgrad and masters for research esp medical but not arty stuff its a waste of taxpayers money in my opinion.

not everyone does MAs and PHDs to become researchers and lecturers. many do it just to gain more knowledge and to push themselves further. and surely an educated public is why the govt. funds education for anyone upto graduate level. why not for post grads as well? afterall we all wanna learn.

pinkfluffybabe

raymond wrote:

What is the point in a postgraduate degree in arts other than to avoid getting a real job ?

I can understand postgrad and masters for research esp medical but not arty stuff its a waste of taxpayers money in my opinion.

Arty stuff as you put it encompasses subjects like politics, geography, history, town planning, and many others. Important subjects which provide people with an understanding about the world we live in. Postgraduate study is a necessary these days to get a job in many fields, as the 'university for all' attitude of the government means that having a degree isn't enough any more.

If we didn't have postgraduates, we would have no one to teach new undergraduates, and no one to bring in much needed cash to Universities.

People should be supported to learn, not accused of trying to avoid real work.

I am currently studying a Masters in Social Policy and funnily enough I have a full time real job and I have paid for my studies myself.

tr3mor

pinkfluffybabe wrote:

People should be supported to learn, not accused of trying to avoid real work.

But then who pays the taxes to pay for the people learning?

Karnam

no one pays for post graduates to study.

most of them are self funded through thier own employment (where most of us are playing NI and income tax)

ollyshaw

Getting a PhD is a lot of hard work, it does not really increase your jobs prospects either. However if you want to lecture it is the only way.

Olly

NOWSE

eryn_kathleen wrote:

Masters and doctoral degrees are keeping Universities open. PhD students attract funding. Overseas PG students pay huge fees.

My daughter is presently at Uni studying for a masters and more than half of the students are from overseas. The overseas stutents have been grouped with British students for the purpose of completing joint studies. This has put added pressure on the British students as they are having to compile and write the reports as the overseas students all have English, as a second language and are not capable of writing the reports.
My daughter has taken out a career development loan to fund her masters. I don't see why she should be providing support to the overseas students whilst the Uni rakes in the fees.

JuliaJolie

raymond wrote:

What is the point in a postgraduate degree in arts other than to avoid getting a real job ?

I can understand postgrad and masters for research esp medical but not arty stuff its a waste of taxpayers money in my opinion.

:mad:

Wow...What an unbelievable display of sheer ignorance. Postgraduate study is an advanced level of study, and should be encouraged, no matter what the intellectual field.

If research could be carried out in the arts in private, then by using that "logic", you can certainly say the same for scientific education. No? Correct, due to the lack of available resources etc. Unless one were rich enough to fund their own research, whether scientific or artistic, a person would invest in postgraduate study or studentships.

To say that further study in the arts is pointless is a typically narrow-minded, short-sighted school of thought. I'm pretty embarrassed that this sort of snobbery still exists in this day and age; perhaps in my younger age-group I'm not exposed to this sort of relic rhetoric, but then my middle-eastern, middle-aged parents (my father a psychiatrist, my mother a masters graduate in political science) don't share such antiquated, ill-informed prejudices.

You think the only contributions to society come from science-educated individuals? We're not talking about flippant, dilettante-esque PhDs in Brazilian Waxing for God's sake...from your bafflingly sweeping statement I get the feeling that if confronted with a person entitled "Dr", you would primitively assume they were only a "Dr" of the medical kind.

Sorry for such a vitriolic diatribe, but ignorance is my one and only pet peeve. I promise I'm usually quite nice.

“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.” - Robert Motherwell

JuliaJolie

raymond wrote:

What is the point in a postgraduate degree in arts other than to avoid getting a real job ?

I can understand postgrad and masters for research esp medical but not arty stuff its a waste of taxpayers money in my opinion.

:mad:

Wow...What an unbelievable display of sheer ignorance. Postgraduate study is an advanced level of study, and should be encouraged, no matter what the intellectual field.

If research could be carried out in the arts in private, then by using that "logic", you can certainly say the same for scientific education. No? Correct, due to the lack of available resources etc. Unless one were rich enough to fund their own research, whether scientific or artistic, a person would invest in postgraduate study or studentships.

To say that further study in the arts is pointless is a typically narrow-minded, short-sighted school of thought. I'm pretty embarrassed that this sort of snobbery still exists in this day and age; perhaps in my younger age-group I'm not exposed to this sort of relic rhetoric, but then my middle-eastern, middle-aged parents (my father a psychiatrist, my mother a masters graduate in political science) don't share such antiquated, ill-informed prejudices.

You think the only contributions to society come from science-educated individuals? We're not talking about flippant, dilettante-esque PhDs in Brazilian Waxing for God's sake...from your bafflingly sweeping statement I get the feeling that if confronted with a person entitled "Dr", you would primitively assume they were only a "Dr" of the medical kind.

Sorry for such a vitriolic diatribe, but ignorance is my one and only pet peeve. I promise I'm usually quite nice

“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.” - Robert Motherwell

melancholly

brilliant post JuliaJolie - more eloquant than i could manage - even worth thanking twice

glad it's not just me!

JuliaJolie

melancholly wrote:

brilliant post JuliaJolie - more eloquant than i could manage - even worth thanking twice

glad it's not just me!

And I'm not even an undergraduate yet!