Well, if you wanted to be a carpenter you'd probably apprentice, right?

I'm taking music. On one hand, I'm learning from a lot of guys who dropped out of college (I think most of the teachers who went to University/college in the 70s didn't bother finishing, but times were different then). And yeah, many great players have had zero formal education.

However, I think getting gigs is like 90% who you know and 10% being able to play a solid show, and college is a great place to meet other people in the same field. Also, having a degree is going to be helpful in getting a 'real' job to bring in money between gigs.

The picture Phantom Seraph drew was the best part of this thread.

Well, duh. Everything in the world is static and forever unchanging. l2 live in the real world kthx



It depends on the type of service you're offering as a self-employed worker. My dad runs his own consultation business - he's a safety and fire engineer. He sits in on committees that determine safety standards, helps write safety manuals, but, for the most part, serves as an expert witness in cases where there's been damage to personal property or a case of personal injury and the plaintiff thinks that it's a certain product's fault. Now, how likely is it that he would be taken seriously as an expert witness in safety and fire engineering without a degree in safety and engineering?

For positions of woodworking and graphic art, yes, it may be entirely possible to get by without any kind of degree - however, when you're dealing with topics that are derived from mathematics (most of engineering, a good part of science, plus the mind-boggling formulas of economics), a simple high school diploma isn't going to be enough to get your foot in the door - you think any sane engineering company would let someone who hadn't gone through years of qualified education and training design a bridge? Of course not. Thus, if you want to go into a field such as that, it's damn near impossible to without a college degree because a college degree is required in order to "build a portfolio", as zully said.

(And, for your information, my degree has allowed me to sign on with one of the major players in the healthcare IT industry as a database engineer. I'm not "crunching numbers in a cubicle".)

Having a college degree gets me hired on at a higher pay scale and includes and automatic 7% pay increase from the base scale with the Forest Service. When I get a masters, I'll be bumped up 2 pays scales from my previous scale and I'll get and addition 10% increase. All because I have a degree in a field relevant to my job.

Yeah well that's the government for you.

It's not just the government that has educational bonuses with jobs. Teachers get raises for continuing the education too. Lot's of jobs work that way.

I like how you said not just the government does it and then you mentioned a government job. GG

Not all teaching jobs are government jobs, and it's more common in jobs with unions.

Ever heard of private schools?

"No Child Left Behind"
I prefer "No Child Left Inside"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-21-no-child-left-inside_x.htm

One of the major problems with todays school system is that most kids just don't get out of the classroom. Hell, some classrooms don't even have windows!
You put kids in a room, sit them there for 8 hours, feed them ****ty food, and expect them to pay attention and further society? Yeah right.

Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr but the vast majority of teachers are government.
And of course its more common in jobs with unions. Without a union the company wouldn't be pressured to add that incentive or pay above minimum wage. I'd be surprised if you can find a job without a union that gives education incentives.

You don't get to do that when the fact remains that private schools and universities are not a small percentage of the teaching population. They're a minority, yes, but they're in no ways negligible.

Private industry jobs have educational incentives, and some companies will pay for continuing education.