Plumbers Kick Academic Ass

I really agree with the article doing the web rounds right now entitled ‘An Art History Major Can’t Fix Your Pluming’. Its true, I have three art history-related degrees (BA, MA, PhD) and plumbing is definitely not my forte!

But seriously, the point being made by this article is that Obama’s (actually very Blairite) desire to put as many Americans through college as possible misses the point of what college/university is for. Degrees are about a very specific type of training – and plumbing it aint! Its fine if you are bookish and like Radio 4, but what if you’re not?

I LOVED my degree so much I did another, and then another, but I hate the thought of people going to university and feeling like they are in the wrong place but wont be valuable to society if they don’t go, or that there aren’t other options for them. I’m highly skilled at arguing my point and I run an excellent line in amassing archives of interesting articles, but how much discussion and data do you need on a day-to-day basis? I guess if the boiler goes I can burn the articles but still, its hardly ideal.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting my own education down, or saying academia isn’t important, but I do think other types of training (or indeed at times a lack-there-of) should be bigged up! We’ve witnessed the decline of technical colleges in the UK and drives to get people back into – oddly enough – plumbing programmes, but what we is also needed is a large reminder that getting a university education isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of life!