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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.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday June 22 2020, @04:44AM (3 children)
I'm a retired scientist* who never had any trouble relating to humanities graduates and sharing intelligent (and I like to think mutually enlightening) discussions with them. However I never felt any sense of connection to humanities students - it was like we had no common language or point of view.
Double plus true.
The one bit of potentail good is that it MAY result in all degrees costing students the same. It would mean the humanities students subsidising science students, but I see that as the lesser evil; uniersity fees should only be high enough to dissuade most timewasters taking places from people who want the education (disclaimer - I attended university before hex** fees were introduced).
*Who would have studied science even if there was pressure towards humanities because it's science that really floats my boat.
**Not a misspelling
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday June 22 2020, @06:48AM (2 children)
I am a still active software engineer - it's still under the Technology, in STEM - after graduating physics, who worked with another one that graduated history, in Australia**. Had absolutely no problems communicating on the job with him.
** before that, in the country of origin (somewhere in East Europe), the situation was more frequent after the communism fell - one had to do something, so learning skills on their own was more of a norm than an exception. In Australia, the experience is singular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday June 22 2020, @07:09AM (1 child)
I've found it easy to communicate with humanities graduates in work and social situations, the divide is at the student level; would not surprise me to hear the same about science students.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2020, @07:45AM
It's the "student" part. Young people are ignorant of many things, often including their own ignorance, because they haven't been alive for long, and most of their life has been spent in schools. If you're even slightly more informed, and not letting your hormones do the thinking, it's no wonder you couldn't stand them.