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British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)
-   The Maple Leaf (https://britishexpats.com/forum/maple-leaf-98/)
-   -   Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc (https://britishexpats.com/forum/maple-leaf-98/off-topic-posts-coronavirus-thread-proms-phds-etc-933655/)

dbd33 Jul 6th 2020 11:14 pm
Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Shard (Post 12877784)
What's her useless PhD subject?

I always feel a bit sorry for the proverbial barrista with a PhD. Although, there is the irony that if they are astute enough to get a PhD, they ought to be aware of whether it has any relevance to employability. The university system is partially to blame too, it has its own vested interests in churning out PhDs.

Yesterday, I was reading a thesis on the portrayal of trans identity in children's literature (with specific reference to the works of David Walliams) and I thought "this author is a person who should not be allowed to serve coffee". otoh I think barristers should be educated, the issue there is more likely to be lack of worldliness.

Shard Jul 6th 2020 11:46 pm
Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12877856)
Yesterday, I was reading a thesis on the portrayal of trans identity in children's literature (with specific reference to the works of David Walliams) and I thought "this author is a person who should not be allowed to serve coffee". otoh I think barristers should be educated, the issue there is more likely to be lack of worldliness.
What did the thesis conclude?

dbd33 Jul 6th 2020 11:49 pm
Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Shard (Post 12877876)
What did the thesis conclude?
That Walliams is a TERF. Worse, he's an effeminate straight man and so a buggerer of stereotypes.

Partially discharged Jul 7th 2020 12:03 am
Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Shard (Post 12877784)
What's her useless PhD subject?

I always feel a bit sorry for the proverbial barrista with a PhD. Although, there is the irony that if they are astute enough to get a PhD, they ought to be aware of whether it has any relevance to employability. The university system is partially to blame too, it has its own vested interests in churning out PhDs.
Totally agree..so many Phd candidates specialization makes them very unemployable in the non academic world and they tend to gravitate to academics....I have little sympathy for baristas with Phd's...they should have had the smarts to see the writing on the wall that their doctorate had little relevance other than in research/academics.

I'd like to know how many Phd candidates fail at the final hurdle..very few I would think.

DigitalGhost Jul 7th 2020 12:10 am
Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Partially discharged (Post 12877886)
Totally agree..so many Phd candidates specialization makes them very unemployable in the non academic world and they tend to gravitate to academics....I have little sympathy for baristas with Phd's...they should have had the smarts to see the writing on the wall that their doctorate had little relevance other than in research/academics.

I'd like to know how many Phd candidates fail at the final hurdle..very few I would think.
I do have sympathy and I don't at the same time. On the one hand, it must be harrowing to dedicate years of your life to something and then never actually be able to practise it. On the other hand, when I've taken evening courses with people and I've had to pay whereas they've gotten it for free because I battled my way through computer science whilst they took a fine arts degree and then ended up working in a bottom end call centre job, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth.

Oakvillian Jul 7th 2020 1:37 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Partially discharged (Post 12877886)
Totally agree..so many Phd candidates specialization makes them very unemployable in the non academic world and they tend to gravitate to academics....I have little sympathy for baristas with Phd's...they should have had the smarts to see the writing on the wall that their doctorate had little relevance other than in research/academics.

I'd like to know how many Phd candidates fail at the final hurdle..very few I would think.
Of the 30 or so people I know who I know have PhDs, probably about half are in some sort of academic role - in university or school settings. They include three or four PhDs in music, which one might think is a pretty esoteric subject likely to lead to the "barista lifestyle" but all are gainfully employed (or self-employed, as the case may be). The rest are in industry - at a previous job, in a workforce of around 130 people or so, there were at least a dozen PhDs in various engineering, electronics and communications disciplines, several of whom had focused their doctoral research on the application of technology that they used every day in their job. Another handful are in pharmaceutical research and development roles, where their academic knowledge is used daily.

None of the baristas at the coffee shop near my office is, as far as I'm aware, a PhD, or a doctoral candidate; one is putting herself through high school alongside her daughter, as she never had the chance to complete her formal education in her country of origin. Another couple are undergrad students at UTM (University of Toronto Mississauga) and work shifts around their class schedules. One more is studying for his MBA, another for her masters in fine art at OCAD. I don't think any of them anticipate being a barista for ever, but the franchisee at this place understands that and is happy to work her shift roster around classes and assignments.

Siouxie Jul 7th 2020 5:38 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12877699)
A few years ago I was interviewig to fill some positions on my team, and my employer set "having a bachelor's degree" as one of the base level requirements. I struggled to find enough people to interview based on their applications and résumés, as easily half of them couldn't string words together to make a grammatical sentence. Most of the interviews did not go well, and the hiring process became an almost continous grind. One of the batches of applicants I offered interviews to were holders of MBAs - I hoped that they would have been better edicated and more useful. They weren't! :rolleyes: So I added "MBA" to the list of qualities that had no predictive value on how an applicant might perform in their interview.

In the end I mostly ended up hiring people who were "sharp" - bright, and inquisitive, and willing to learn, because I very soon discovered that the people I thought I was looking for didn't really exist. :(

I did find one stunningly good applicant who was working to complete his PhD, but his skills were a much better fit for another team and I was able to get another manager to interview him, which led to a job offer.
That reminds me of a female that I had to train to take over my receptionist / secretary of a small Estate Agency position when I left the UK to move to Hong Kong back in the late 70's. She was a professional student - in her 30's with a few degrees to her name but had never had a job (Mumsy paid for everything). I was trying to teach her how to use a very simple 4 line 10 extension 'switchboard' - of which only 2 lines and 4 extensions were operative - she could not grasp it, even after a week of continuous instruction, she had not one iota of common sense or 'nous'. She would never in a million years have been able to operate the 10 x 50 Dolls eye switchboard that I had worked on after 1 hours training when I worked for Bristol City Council one year. :D

Shard Jul 7th 2020 5:41 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12877878)
That Walliams is a TERF. Worse, he's an effeminate straight man and so a buggerer of stereotypes.
Sorry, TERF is beyond my 20th century education? Something trans presumably.

Pulaski Jul 7th 2020 5:49 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Siouxie (Post 12878091)
That reminds me of a female that I had to train to take over my receptionist / secretary of a small Estate Agency position when I left the UK to move to Hong Kong back in the late 70's. She was a professional student - in her 30's with a few degree to her name but had never had a job (Mumsy paid for everything). I was trying to teach her how to use a very simple 4 line 10 extension 'switchboard' - of which only 2 lines and 4 extensions were operative - she could not grasp it, even after a week of continuous instruction, she had not one iota of common sense or 'nous'. She would never in a million years have been able to operate the 10 x 50 Dolls eye switchboard that I had worked on after 1 hours training when I worked for Bristol City Council one year. ...
Maybe that is why some of my colleagues are astonished that I will undertake substantial tasks around the house and yard - I rewired most of my house in London, have replumbed most of the water supply lines in a home in the US, have pulled up and replaced the bathroom floor (not the tiles/ vinyl, I mean "ripped up the plywood, down to the joists"), and then installed a new bath and fitted the toilet. I have hung interior doors and installed hinges and knob where there was no previous door, have hung screen doors, installed a fully switched under- and over-cabinet light system in the kitchen, demolished two chimneys and patched the roof, installed a couple of thousand square feet of traditional nail-down hardwood floor (which a professional flooring contractor asked who had installed it for me! :o ), built and roofed a mini-barn, I have a pro-grade chainsaw and have felled mature trees that are 90ft/ 27m tall, I am currently digging and laying a drain, etc, etc. None of this is rocket science! .... Though the tree felling can be, er, exciting. :unsure:

Pulaski Jul 7th 2020 5:52 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Shard (Post 12878092)
Sorry, TERF is beyond my 20th century education? Something trans presumably.
Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist. :nod:

Shard Jul 7th 2020 5:54 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12878099)
Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist. :nod:
Ah ok. JK Rowling, perhaps.

Pulaski Jul 7th 2020 5:57 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Shard (Post 12878100)
Ah ok. JK Rowling, perhaps.
Yes, from what I have heard recently. :o

Partially discharged Jul 7th 2020 5:59 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12878096)
Maybe that is why some of my colleagues are astonished that I will undertake substantial tasks around the house and yard - I rewired most of my house in London, have replumbed most of the water supply lines in a home in the US, have pulled up and replaced the bathroom floor (not the tiles/ vinyl, I mean "ripped up the plywood, down to the joists"), and then installed a new bath and fitted the toilet. I have hung interior doors and installed hinges and knob where there was no previous door, have hung screen doors, installed a fully switched under- and over-cabinet light system in the kitchen, demolished two chimneys and patched the roof, installed a couple of thousand square feet of traditional nail-down hardwood floor (which a professional flooring contractor asked who had installed it for me! :o ), built and roofed a mini-barn, I have a pro-grade chainsaw and have felled mature trees that are 90ft/ 27m tall, I am currently digging and laying a drain, etc, etc. None of this is rocket science! .... Though the tree felling can be, er, exciting. :unsure:
Feel like coming to Ottawa and doing a few 'odd jobs' here :) I'll supply the IPA.

Shard Jul 7th 2020 6:07 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Partially discharged (Post 12878104)
Feel like coming to Ottawa and doing a few 'odd jobs' here :) I'll supply the IPA.
I don't have the rocket sciencery of Pulaski, but I'd be happy to assist with IPA. :lol:

Pulaski Jul 7th 2020 6:14 am
Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 
Originally Posted by Partially discharged (Post 12878104)
Feel like coming to Ottawa and doing a few 'odd jobs' here :) I'll supply the IPA.
A supply of IPA is very tempting, .... I'll get back to you when I have cleared my current list of waiting projects. ;)


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