Anyone out there feel there are degrees that only exist for the sake of existing?

Searching for jobs out there I thought I would look at the CIA for a laugh. Scanning through the jobs I saw one that was seeking a person for the position of librarian. Reading through the requirements i'm thinking "ok information science sure, ok alright," but I was kind of dumbfounded when it said it needed a person with a degree in Library Science. At this point i'm laughing at this degree, joking about it, before someone tells me "ya that's a real degree."

I can understand a degree in Chemistry, Psychology, Math, Engineering, Computer Science, etc... . However, a degree to be a librarian, really?

Can't wait for when we need a master degree in burgerology just to work on the grill at a fast food place.

*Note: These are just my opinions, no offense to those who actually hold a degree in being a librarian.*

Of course. There are a lot of degrees that are pretty much worthless. In the UK anyway, the government set a target of having 50% of high school leavers going on to uni. This is being achieved by making up pointless degrees, then convincing people who aren't suited to university that their best option is to spend 4 years at uni getting a worthless degree and racking up thousands of pounds of debt along the way. But hey, at least we can say we have loads of people going on to uni.

Anything to make these people feel less stupid than they really are, I suppose.

I find requirements for job positions to be equal ridiculous though. For example, there are places at uni here for people who just graduated and don't get a research spot already - however, one of the requirements is that you must have taught at university-level. But the positions are aimed for people who have just graduated or are in their final year. Erhmm.. how would they have done that?

Ultimately, a degree shows that a person got an education, which as at least as important as the degree itself.

Well, that does sound like a... fairly specific skill set. However, it's still one job that you (and I) aren't qualified for.

Half the of the so called required skills are trash anyways. Oh, we need a positive team leader who is optimisitic and friendly and-pffft, what a riot. The whole job scene is a lie. Resumes are mostly rubbish and so are the employers standards.

I never knew you could get a degree in being a librarian though...

Having an education is always nice, and there are jobs that requires that you have a degree in that field. Being a librarian is probably not as easy as you think.

There's many reasons for the existence of "specialized" degrees. Sometimes it makes sense, and is introduced by popular demand, industry pressure, or committee decision. Sometimes it's a matter of a university just winging it, or of simple-minded board members looking for an easy enrollment draw.

Still, I'm pretty sure you'd rather have a neurosurgeon working on your brain tumor than a family doctor. Similarly, with your example, there's a wide range of requirements made of a librarian in serious institutions - computer skills with possible programming, a knowledge of literature and its history, records management, purchasing and accounting, public relations... When you start to think of all a librarian might be asked to do, it's not farfetched to believe they have gathered a conglomeration of skill sets all their own, and thus can reasonably dictate having a specialized field of study their own as well.

No. No it isn't.

Absolutely true.

I remember applying for jobs in the late '80s armed with an HND (this is back before the ubiquity of degrees, and higher diplomas were still pretty well regarded: basically 2/3rds of a degree of the day) and becoming increasingly frustrated at the glossy brochures produced by some companies at recruitment fairs bragging that all their computing staff had degrees, but they were all in stuff like sociology. The reason it was frustrating is that when I started college, my choice was either an HND in a useful, relevant subject or a degree in a (for me) useless, irrelevant one, so I could have been one of their bragging-rights candidates. Eventually I ended up working for what was probably a much better employer, albeit on a comparatively rubbish salary.

I think a few too many occurrences of that sort of thing set the scene for the "cheesedegrees for everyone!" mentality, though.

Not that surprising. It's a specialized area.

And you need a Masters Degree in Library Science to be an actual librarian.

A degree in library science? Never heard that one before.

I haven't heard of any uncommon degrees, personally.

Mhhm, well here you can have a degree in Leisure Science, meaning they study how to spend leisure time. Which is one of the few things that everybody already knows how to do...

Maybe that is what all the moderators have!

Oh wait, that's Overlord Science

Performing brain surgery using a microscope to remove a tumor is quite a far ways away from reading book A that has 124 on the binder goes in Section 1 while book B with 133 on its binder goes in second 3. I mean if being a librarian required something special I could see it, but in all honesty the skills for a librarian evade me.

Going to a school to get a degree for being a neurosurgeon I can completely understand. You need that kind of superior skill and training since you are dealing with a person's life. Same goes with Aerospace engineering where you don't get that part within 1/20th of a millimeter tolerance something could mess up causing people to die. Yet there are some jobs requiring degrees which have skill sets, in my honest opinion, that are equal to a general education you get in a High School.

As said, i'm just waiting for when it is required that you have a Bachelor degree in order to flip burgers on a grill at a Burger King or other fast food establishment.

I hope you don't think that's actually what that is.

Googled "strange degrees" and I got a few results.

http://listosaur.com/bizarre-stuff/10-strange-college-courses-and-degrees.html

Not sure if I agree #1 is that strange. Sounds normal to me for someone that wants in the forensics/criminal justice field

Sadly, it is:

"Are you interested in how people create their leisure lifestyles out of activities such as sports and recreation, fun shopping, visiting events, listening to music and volunteering, and how we organize our leisure, when nothing is necessary or obligated, and anything goes? Then you should consider embarking onto the Master Leisure Studies, and learn more about the activities we love to do, and the ways we organize them."

Uh. No.

Do a bit more research into it.