Feb 4, 2010 -- 7:25PM, solfeggio wrote:

Well, yeah, sure it is true that some degrees will give you better job opportunities and more money, which is apparently what our Western culture is all about.  But, as cesmom pointed out, the whole point of going to college is to learn to think.

If you're just there to get into some profession that will get you a big bankroll, then you're going for the wrong reasons.

However, moving right along, I got to thinking about something that was told to us many years ago in a university class, which was that the more education you had, the less likely you were to be religious.  Keeping that in mind, I did a little searching, and I found this very interesting piece:

www.gallup.com/poll/7729/does-more-educa...

If it is true that education shows you how to think for yourself, then it does stand to reason that at least some of the college graduates would begin to question their religious beliefs as well.  At any rate, that's what happened to me.  I became an atheist after I took my first Anthropology class, and I've never found a reason to doubt that decision all these many years later.

 

I have taken several anthropology classes, evidentaly it did not have the same result.

Feb 4, 2010 -- 7:41PM, solfeggio wrote:

Jane2 -

I, too, genuinely love to study that which interests me, which at the present time happens to be the paranormal and the world's unsolved mysteries!  I've been engrossed in the books of Colin Wilson and along with him have been puzzling over what happened to the Mary Celeste, Amelia Earhart, and the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle.

FYI - I have been doing some reading myself and have finished the ESP Enigma which covers the scientific study of ESP.  Over a year ago I read Spook which was written by a scientific journalist investigating life after death.

A couple of years ago I read Ghost Hunters by D. Bloom (I think) which was the study of mediums in the Victorian era.  Very fascinating.

I would recomend any of those books and if you were to choose to read one of them I would be interested in your thoughts. 

A good job is good, and open brain is good, but being me I decided I wanted to get my time and money's worth, so I sought to find a degree program that would open my mind, stimulate my critical thinking skills, stimulate my creativity, allow me to pursue and learn about what I'm passionate about, and let me get a good job to support myself and a family on the other side. 

And I'm in my last semester before graduation now!

I feel somewhat sorry for those who only looked toward what would make them money, but I likewise feel sorry for those who sought interesting degrees and then didn't put them to much use. 

There is a difference between education and job training, but it is also possible to get an education that is both academically stimulating *and* of practical use. 

~Stalker

Feb 4, 2010 -- 7:41PM, solfeggio wrote:

Jane2 -

I agree with you about Churchill and FDR.  I've always found Franklin Delano Roosevelt a fascinating historical figure, and I couldn't tell you how many FDR biographies I've read.  The Joseph Lash book, 'Eleanor and Franklin,' was particularly good.  And Doris Kearns Goodwin's 'No Ordinary Time,' which deals with the U.S. during World War II, makes for absorbing reading as well.

I guess those of us who were born during that turbulent time will never tire of learning more about what was happening in our formative years. 

Churchill could be described as persona non grata here in New Zealand because of his planning of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign:

www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/the-gallipoli-c...

And then there was the fact that he had the ANZACs sent off to be fighting in Greece, which didn't set well with the folks back home, who worried a lot about a Japanese invasion (which, fortunately, did not happen.)

The fact that Churchill and FDR had an almost immediate rapprochement was certainly beneficial for both men, though.  And he certainly was the man of the hour in the terrible days of the London Blitz, giving hope to the beleaguered people of Britain. 

However, none of this has to do with whether Churchill or FDR was or was not well-educated.

nota bene:

I, too, genuinely love to study that which interests me, which at the present time happens to be the paranormal and the world's unsolved mysteries!  I've been engrossed in the books of Colin Wilson and along with him have been puzzling over what happened to the Mary Celeste, Amelia Earhart, and the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle.

Thanks for the piece about Gallipoli. That campaign has been a sore spot for many Americans, too, although we were not involved. Churchill's seeming disdain for the loss of life in such great numbers did not sit well for us. Someplace I have a tape by Johnny McEvoy, Irish balladier about it. Lotta Micks in Australia. We heard Johnny sing at the Glen Eagles near Killarney.

Some where I still have my copy of "Eleanor and Franklin". I've watched Ralph Bellamy play FDR so often I have to remind myself that Bellamy is the actor. I've almost worn out my dvd set "The Winds of War"; I had read the book long before the tv series production.

FDR was also the one-time governor of my home state of New York: I grew up in its capitol city.

FDR and Churchill were a good match in those days of global war. Churchill did keep Britain going.

Somehow I missed Goodwin's book and may order it from Amazon.

Glad you are finding areas to pursue. Right now I'm reading Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans"; it takes place close to where I grew up.

Mlyons wrote:

> Many self-made men do not have college degrees - yet when they put out ads for technical

> or management positions they always insists that the guys they hire have the right degree...

> Go figger...

Maybe they figure that they were degree-less and ambitious, so they want nice tame subordinates who work within the system and won't threaten their position?

"Let me have men about me that are educated,
Book-filled men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond degree-less has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much outside the box; such men are dangerous."  :)