Bosses condemn 'useless' degrees which leave graduates unemployable...What are your views?

this has been going on for years. i don't think its just about having useless degrees, it also about the young generation full stop. they don't know how to converse properly, they don't even know how to sit up properly without slouching with their legs wide open, they cant read & write properly, haven't got basic manners and look clueless. i wouldn't give these youngster a job, i'd lose my business in a month. i'd like to know what is taught to these kids at school. all these things i have mentioned most of them lack, they should be taught at home & at school. just because you've got a bit of paper with a degree, it means nothing if you look & act like a half whit. employers said only a short while ago, they would rather employ a pole or immigrant as they actually speak english better than today's youths. they are also very hard working. english kids want a lot of money for doing nothing. these youngsters have been bought up that everyone owes them something & they demand respect from everyone. they wouldn't know respect if it smacked them in the face,

My degree in German and psychology served me reasonably well, but at appalling cost, even in the 1970s. Now it is the equivalent of a mortgage to get educated, and the end products are appalling:over technoloically dependent (wait until there's no energy and you see how useless highly specialized IT techs are).

Now it is simply big business: college and universities exist solely to generate revenue.

The very best thing for high school graduates initially would be mandatory military or community service. At least this way, this present lot of whatever you might describe them as, might get some perspective of reality. That certainly don't have it upon getting their sheep skin, having jumped through hoops for silly, careerists academics who flood the world with their diluted nonsense under the aegis of "publish or perish."

I know people here in the States that didn't finish 9th grade, but are making $50K+ a year operating equipment.

The fact seems to be that what is being sold for a very long time is that having a piece of paper that says you have a degree means that you should get a better job which is more white collar and better paid.

In the past it was the rich and well to do that went into these kinds of jobs and some who were from lower classes and made the effort to get a degree, also had the chance of getting better paid jobs.

The rest of society either went in to jobs or to become apprentices and even just workers who were either semi skilled or just labours/ farm workers.

Even with the fact that we have had assisted higer education for a very long time and not been free education as everyone keeps on saying. The taxes we pay in some ways goes to pay for all education based on the belief that at somepoint we will see a return on that by contributions made in taxes.

The problem we now face is tha we have now all brought into the system that having a degree means that we need to be paid a higher wage, a lot of employers will not look at anyone with good A -levels and train them up. But rather have someone with a weak degree and give them more money and train them up.

I se this every year and I know that 20 years ago I dropped out in my first year because i didn't have enough money for the bare esstentials I needed for my course. So I left and tried to get a job which would suit my qualifications and not one of these companies even wrote back, yet when I wrote to them under the guise that I had a degree they all seem to be interested in seeing me.

A few years later I went back and got my degree part time, during thois time I have trained many so called gradutes and students who are going to uni and I found the attitude they all seem to have is that because they are at uni they deserve better than someone on the shop floor.

We live in a world which is all about greed and it is nice to think that we can have apprentices and vocational courses that will lead to getting back in to employment. But we have already ruined the market with the influx of eastern european who have taken every and any job that there is and lowering the wage with the influx of all this extra labour.

As for the non EU workers who come in with degrees, I find that most are educated to the same level as british uni students but they are willing to put in a bit more in to the job. Compared to british degree holders who just want a well paid job and hold it as long as they can.

The point being having any degree meant that you could ask and get a better paid job and if that meant doing the most easy course then fair play. The problem now is that they are now going to have to pay for these degree and they are now realising with all these people coming out of uni the market is now flooded.

The rich and those with connection will always get the really well paid jobs but the rest will carry on feeding this insane system that having a degree means you should be paid more.

I'm American and took a 2 yr computer degree, cause I like building pc's, gradulated when I was 19 from college. I only retained and used 2% of what I learned.

Who is ever going to design a microprocessor using Boolean algebra ? They are field replaceable units. Just pop out the old pop a new one in.

You techniqely could use the library and Internet to learn what they teach in school, a degree is a waste of time and money.

The Arts course in North American Universities is the "King" of "utterly useless and woefully pathetic" degrees !!!

Many "degrees" are so pathetic , they can be gotten by a 5 year old child !!

The entire Western educational system has been flushed down the toilet because of Liberal attitudes that require no student be allowed to fail !!

This is why Asian Universities and graduates are being sought by commerce and industry the world over , while North American graduates are looked upon as a joke !!

I saw this day coming 30 years ago ...........

It's about time people realised that a degree course is only suited to the top kids coming out of the state or private education system. There should be more apprenticeships for those who want to get a job and become skilled at it. The country will always need, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers etc. There is nothing wrong with becoming skilled at a manual job.

Agreed. Most higher education prepares you very well...but only for a career in higher education! Liberal education has gone too far. There isn't enough emphasis on job skills and vocational training. What's contributed to this is degreeism: Sending our kids to uni is expected, regardless of what they learn. They just need the paper to progress. Why would the professors even bother teaching them anything worthwhile?

They having been saying that for years - dumbed-down pass rates - subjects taken that are of 'no use' too them in the employment market - all students relying of the wording of UNI Education (no matter about their pass rate level) to get them a job - and when interviewed/CV read - it becomes apparent their just 'not qualified' in the jobs that they seek.

Ever since the government decided (years ago) all and everyone 'will' attend UNI - the 'rot-set-in' - the devalue of UNI education took over - whilst all will scream their degree is a valid one - the employers (who make the decisions) will disagree.

When these graduates complain of not be able to get work - which fair enough is hard in todays world - they 'never mention' the pass-rate level that they achieved.....many 'just scrapping through' even on these lowered pass-rates.

When schools around the country were (nearly all) deemed to be UNI's of one sort or the other (a complete joke) the writing was on the wall for the devaluation of their 'supposed degrees' and to be ignored by potential employers.

Even on Y/A (for example) people who 'claim' their degree is valid have no way of 'proving to the rest of us' the validity of their (so-called) diploma.....it being all based on the written word 'they' give.

Actually of all the people my age (i'm 26) who i know have been to uni, the one has has the best career is the chap who studied film studies. I know plenty with Law degrees who cant afford to do their masters but when they apply to be legal secretaries, the job goes to a school leaver or ex barmaid.

I've been saying that for years. The idea behind these courses is to keep the kids off the dole a bit longer.

Another problem is that they expect a job, and there isn't one, so they get frustrated, and that WILL cause massive problems.