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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday June 21 2020, @11:53PM   Printer-friendly

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Australia's conservative government announced plans Friday to double university fees for humanities students, in a bid to push people into more useful, "job-relevant" courses like maths and science.

Under the proposal—which critics panned as an "ideological assault"—the cost of degrees like history or cultural studies will rise up to 113 percent to around US$29,000, while other courses such as nursing and information technology will become cheaper.

Education Minister Dan Tehan—an arts graduate with two advanced degrees in international relations—said the government wanted to corral young people towards "jobs of the future" to boost the country's economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

"If you are wanting to do philosophy, which will be great for your critical thinking, also think about doing IT," Tehan said.

The plan would help pay for an additional 39,000 university places by 2023 and for cost cuts for courses like science, agriculture, maths and languages.

[...] "I'm an arts graduate and so is the minister for education so I'm not sure you can draw the conclusion that we're completely unemployable," said opposition lawmaker Tanya Plibersek.


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  • (Score: 2) by legont on Monday June 22 2020, @03:56AM (4 children)

    by legont (4179) on Monday June 22 2020, @03:56AM (#1010953)

    Actually, they are desirable in general at least in investment business as most other graduates can't write and many can't even talk on the required level. The problem is they are so fucked up with strange ideas that managers are reluctant to train them. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sachs-ceo-on-hiring-recruiting-skill-151104203.html [yahoo.com]

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    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
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  • (Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Monday June 22 2020, @12:24PM (3 children)

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 22 2020, @12:24PM (#1011054) Journal

    I have a t-shirt with cursive text that says "If you can read this, you are old."
     
    Communication today is carried out in the online world. Communicating in a more classic manner as he desires in his business is going to be a waning skill, a lot of ppl r ok w/o it. I don't find it surprising he is seeing that skillset significantly reduced in those entering the workforce.
     
    This may be more a indictment of balance in educational curricula and overlaying classic humanities requirements with more esoteric courses. Times change, in my addled pate you should be able to write decently out of high school.
     
    Classically with this gap, businesses would start seeking and hiring English majors, and other disciplines would adjust to include development of that skillset to continue to attract students. Sadly I think taking input from business would be more likely to get college administrators fired than anything else these days.

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    В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Monday June 22 2020, @06:45PM (2 children)

      by legont (4179) on Monday June 22 2020, @06:45PM (#1011197)

      What he wants is not really communicating per se. Investment banking is basically a sales job not much different from door to door peddling. Yes, they are trying to automate it but I doubt people who matter - the ones who have money - will buy investment advise from robots. Besides, they are mostly old.
      The art of person to person sale that used to be so perfected in the US is degrading so few who still can do it will become rich. Musk is the best example.

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      "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday June 25 2020, @01:30AM (1 child)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday June 25 2020, @01:30AM (#1012241) Journal

        musk put half a million EVs on the road and just docked a privately developed spacecraft with the space station. not bad for a salesman.

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        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday June 25 2020, @02:32AM

          by legont (4179) on Thursday June 25 2020, @02:32AM (#1012267)

          As he should have. Most great tycoons were salesmen while very few scientists and engineers made it.

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          "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.