Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

So he should expect a reply in mid-2027, or thereabouts? ;)

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

Yes, assuming Mrs P stops adding new tasks to the list. :nod:

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

Pah! Several houses ago I tiled the bathroom. A visitor asked if I'd tile the bathroom he was building in his basement. I said he would. He picked me up in his little plane, flew me to Manassas VA, I tiled the bathroom and then we went fishing off Ocean City MD and ate freshly caught barbecued tuna on the dock. That's the way to look after a mate who helps with some DIY!

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

Now I think about it, Mr. Little Plane fits on this thread. He was a contract computer person, very well paid (I remember a rate of $250/hr while his wife was making similar) when he decided that he should get education so he went back to finish his undergrad degree while working remotely at night. That went well so he pressed on a did a masters. By then the idea that it might be fun to be a rocket scientist had taken root so he pressed on and got a PhD. Unfortunately, by the end of it, NASA already had enough rocket scientists. There was, however, an opportunity with a competing space agency in France so he, his wife and their two children set off for France, learning the language en route, and spent a couple of years there. So, there you go, someone who has a PhD and still has the earning potential he had before he embarked on learning stuff. It doesn't have to be a disaster financially.

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

Reminds me of my day's at a major US retailer who likes the color red. They basically felt (maybe still do) at the time I worked for them, that someone with a degree in anything, meant they were better qualified than someone with experience already working for the company, it was all about a degree, didn't matter what the degree was in, just needed a degree.

The major retailer who likes blue as bad as they are, is well known for promoting people from within, and isn't stuck on the must have a degree mindset some companies are in.

Sure some jobs obviously require a degree, but really how does a history degree help make someone more qualified to sit in a cash vault counting cash?

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

If I were graduating this year I would be seriously hacked off. Kid's here grow up with the expectation of having a ball, at the end of year 12. They do.
It's what they and their friends have come to expect and it's a right of passage, certainly it was for my son, and I'm glad he did it. I'm proud that he graduated, and got good marks. I didn't, I grew up in a miserable grey Britain with pubs full of smoke and warm beer...but I don't want that for him.

We all know some slacker with a thousand credentials that mean b*gger all...my sister has 3 BA's 2 MA's and a PhD and is mostly useless and you wouldn't want to be stuck with her on a sinking ship...but she has spent her life in academia and life and education are happier for it.

Surely we need a true mix of useful transferable skills? I want my son to know how to tile a bathroom. How to put up drywall, how to do his own car maintenance and also just realise that with the right attitude (and Google!) most things are possible. But he needs a solid education too...because that's what the world demands now. Lots of us on here, I suspect, have got brights that we used effectively to circumnavigate systems...but you have to have ticks in boxes before you can even begin to flower now.

Gozit is pissed off...I am too, I want to stamp my feet and shout and scream a bit on occasion :unsure: I am scared that everything I knew, whether I liked it or not, has changed. It doesn't mean that we are going to go out cough over anyone or do something stupid though. My future plans have gone west and the idea of not seeing beloved friends again is too terrible. It's the learning to bend in a daily changing storm that's getting a bit old now...we'll do it, but it's irksome.

Sometimes we all need a bit of a vent - BE would be one of the good places for a minor pram/toy moment...we always enjoy a good flounce!

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

:goodpost:

Except the miserable, grey Britain part. I'm not sure the UK is all that bad and I'd wager everyone on here has missed being able to visit a British pub at some point in their lives elsewhere.

I agree though, kids have had something very bed done to them this year and this is especially true of teenagers who were supposed to graduate or really young kids like my nephew who cannot even begin to understand why their lives have seen such upheaval over the last few months.

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

If I had the brains for university, I'd have gone, I dont like not having the necessary skills and education to become employed at a wage that actually leads to a life. I may not be stupid but I don't have the brain necessary for university, largely due to my learning style needing to be repetitive and hands on. I learn virtually nothing sitting in a classroom, but I also ran into the problem, that I sucked a building/putting things together, measuring things etc and never scored high enough on the entry assessment for trades training programs.

Only time I ever did well in school, and the instructor thought for sure I would fail because I never spoke a word in class, didn't ask one question, but I had to attend the class as it was required to do so, but all the learning I did was on my own at home, hours upon hours of reading and practicing the skills to get them into my brains long term memory, but the physical aspect of being in the class wasn't really useful or helpful. I got an A, 96% and it was a program with a 50% drop out rate, and even less could maintain the 85% necessary to pass with certification.

Of course for whatever reason I thought moving to Canada would be a good idea, and so never got to see if I would have gone anywhere with that training.

Canadian employers seem to want degrees, diplomas, certificates far more than US employers do, and more of the training for jobs that should be done by the employer, is downloaded onto the individual in Canada which puts up more barriers for people as a lot of the short term programs for training are not eligible for student loans.

I could google and youtube all day long and still not figure out how to do tile though, could probably manage some car repairs if I had tools and a garage but being renters there isn't anywhere one can do car repairs.

If I had the academic ability, I would have gone for nursing I think, pays well, always in demand it seems.

Biggest issue for me, is its hard to be motivated to go to a job you hate and can't stand, and reminded every pay check about how little your worth, really does affect a person, gee I just spent 40 hours working all week, and after taxes and deductions, have nothing left once life is paid for, I find it incredibly hard to stay motivated and that in turn affects my mental health which in turn affects job even more which eventually leads to no job.

I guess we can't all be doctors or lawyers or business people making the big bucks.

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

:goodpost:

Thank you...I echo the bit about everything changing whether we like it or not...very hard to grasp sometimes that the adult world that i've just grown comfortable to may change permanently forever, and if I don't like it, I have a lot of years left before I can bugger off and ignore it lol. Which sounds negative but i'm just being blunt - don't mean it that way and i'm definitely excited for life, whatever it brings.

* I say "may" change because I have some hope that this is all temporary and things will return to normal one day.

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

You don't need Coronavirus for a permanent life changing experience wait until you get married :rofl:

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

Lol...at least that is by choice. Most of the time. ;)

Re: Off Topic Posts From Coronavirus Thread: Proms/PHDs etc
 

:hysterical: