Somalis and useless university degrees

[MonMon]

Hi everyone..

 

Why is it that Somalis in general look down upon certain university degrees and label them "useless" just because your knowledge in that certain field can not,currently, be put to good use back home. You are good as long as you are doing Law, Medicine, Engineering...etc but you should never dare dreaming about a career in the arts business.

 

Currently I am facing the dilemma of having to turn down an engineering degree from a well respected "league" type of universities and start studying Industrial Design. You guys have absolutely no idea how much opposition I am facing from everyone here, labeling that degree as "useless" and such, specially that I will be turning down a traditional, prestigious university for a place in an art school.

 

I know where my passion lies, and I am willing to follow my dreams no matter what, but the question remains:

 

Is there such a thing as a "useless degree"?

 

Discuss.

[Caano Geel]

ignore it, and do what makes you happy. If you don't enjoy what you study, you will never be any good at it and good luck

[Blessed]

Somalis just love to dictate on any and everything, dhag ha u dhigin. It’s not like they are going to be doing the studying and the working on your behalf, so just tell them to bugger off and do a the bloody law, medicine or engineering degree themselves.

 

People study for different reasons and degree courses serve different purposes. I don't think that there's a such thing as a useless degree [i personally draw the at the unislamic] even if you don't follow through with your studies, you would have gained valuable transferable skills that would allow you to get into a graduate job in another field, training or further studies.

 

 

p.s Welcome to SOL.

[Al-Muminah]

Salaam, everyone has certain expectations from their family, friends, and other outside influences but they won't go through years of schooling just to become the career they wanted you to be. So do you and forget what everyone else is saying. Getting your degree in industrial design will be sweeter than one in engineering because you'll actually enjoy it.

[Tahliil]

School is a huge resposibility...once u get it wrong for the first time it will be harder for you to bounce back and recover from it...my advice to u is that there is no useless degrees only useless decisions...so think hard and do ur own research before you make that degree decision for the first time...

 

It's your life...and its your choice..Good luck

[Som@li]

No exgagerations, Somalis are this,that.

 

Anyway, follow your heart,But may I ask, what changed your mind?

[Jacaylbaro]

do what you want and don't listen to anybody sxb ..... that is how it is.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Everything, ka ahayn cibaadaadda, is useless in this ever-obsessed, ever-increasing materialist world.

 

At the end of the day, godkaas ayaa ku sugaayo: Adiga iyo Eebbahaaga.

 

Higher, postsecondary educations in Western society has become a business -- the more enrolment a university or a college has, the better the tuition or government-funding or grants are for the institution.

 

Dad badan ayaa nool jaamacadaad waligood cag dhigin, and doing much, much better than dad badan aan arkay jaamacadooda kasoo baxay, with debts Eebba knows see ku bixin doonaan, plus the ribadda ku socoto.

[rudy-Diiriye]

if u look at it though, most of the time, i believe personality decides what the person is gonna study! serious ppl do like med or engineering.

out going ones do cs, loners do arts while lair lairs do business!! lool.

 

my family pushed to be a doctor. i said ok. but i hated chemistry. so i went. guess who showed up next semester, chemistry. it just killed me.

 

so i decided to say nothing to the family...just did gds and stuff..then came jr yr. i had to pick something.

 

out of no where, i ended up taking a computer class...! man, i just like it... it was my thing.

they give u instructions and tell u to follow it.

 

to me really, cs was like following instructions for finding an address. also, not as boring as imaginary stuff like chemistry and reading was very less.

 

so it could be all destiny.

[-Nomadique-]

Welcome Yaab and Ramadan Kariim,

 

You shouldnt pay any attention to what these people have to say. At the end of the day it's your life and you will be the one to live with the decisions you make. You're very lucky to know where your passion lies many people are still trying to figure that out.

 

I don't believe there is such a thing as a useless university degree. We aren't all created the same. We all have different personalities, interests, skills and talents and we can all bring something different to the society we live in.

 

I happen to think Industrial Design sounds awesome and best of luck in all you do!

[Ibtisam]

Yaab:

 

Do as you wish, it is you who has to sit the exams and pass and work in that area. I don't think anyone ever ever approved of anything I studied since I was given a choice in year 9, I picked all the "wrong" subjects (Performing arts, P.E. Music) then I did not seem to know how to stop picking the wrong ones. What do you know, I ended up with a Politics & IR degree (all the Islaamo, including my family come out with the same dry joke: you want Tony Blair job? :rolleyes: (like they’d give it to me!), or somali aayaad maadaxweeny uunoogon) I'm like go to hell. My family promised to pay for my MA if I pick a "suitable subject" I choice instead to take a year out and save so I can study my "wrong subject" and I love it.

 

In Life there is only so far and so much you can do/ say to make people happy without making yourself miserable.

[Paragon]

Do something you would continue to be interested in for atleast 50 years (which is basically your whole life). A course that enhances your knowledge of your strong interest. If it is engineering and you want to do some DIY at your pensioner age then do it!

[Abu-Salman]

Of course, one should follow his interests but a good level of general knowledge help tremendously in many essential ways (critical-thinking skills, healthy lifestyle, children's education ect).

 

It's not also only about what interest you NOW but one should try to stay open-minded and explore other relevant and important subjects.

 

To sum it up, a scientific subject will help you achieve all that while leaving doors open for an interesting future career everywhere you go.

 

Just imagine a world with Somalis all possesing basic scientific general knowledge and the associated critical thinking skills and how it would have impacted on their health, children and community.

A recent article said that half of the Somalis in Minneapolis present diabete whereas traditional Somalis are rarely acquainted with such kind of modern epidemy and it's just the beginning with people considering destructive western lifestyle as a model to immitate (Cancers, hypertension, Alzheimer ect will also be worth monitoring).

 

Of course, scientific knowledge is essential in itself and contribute tremendously to people welfare, especially nowadays, but it also forms the basis of other fields whereas you can not switch from politics to mathematics for example (I am yet to figure if "psychology" is scientific enough although it contains some interesting concepts).

 

Having said that, we always discount Islamic Education which embody all these benefits and more importantly motivate us to practice what we already know as much as what we don't know (wether in terms of health, productivity, society welfare ect) but we are bound to acquire at least some knowledge of it too...

[N.O.R.F]

Yaab,

 

Industrial Design vs Engineering

 

Will you have a guaranteed job when you graduate?

 

ID - 0 Eng - 1

 

What will pay more?

 

ID - 0 Eng - 1

 

How much demand will there be for each discipline?

 

ID - 0 Eng - 1

 

Engineer wins hands down for me. As an engineer (civil, mech, elec, etc) you will be able to work in construction, oil and gas, aerospace, automobiles etc etc in many parts of the world.

 

Now if you went for architecture then that would be different.

[Naden]

^ Guaranteed job upon graduation in Engineering? That will be a first. Nothing is guaranteed and the job market fluctuates depending on where you live, the school you've graduated from, and the internships/practicals you've undertaken. Neither degree guarantees work, high salary or high demand. Like Caano Geel said, if you love what you are doing, you will probably excel as a student.