Career/degree's

Miscellaneous discussions. Things that don't have anything to do with Western, Leatherneck Athletics, college sports in general, etc.
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leatherface
Posts: 423
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:42 pm

It seems a huge problem has developed in education, jobs and training. Earlier Seal mentioned the smorgasboard of degree's available in todays world. Have we created too many college degree's? For example, Master's Degree's are a dime a dozen today. Working in career/job placement area, we see job candidates with the Master's Degree applying for almost anything. Many of these folks got the Master's because they couldn't find a job with the Bachelor's, so they thought a Master's might help. We have receptionists, administrative assistants etc with Bachelor's, still hoping to get a job that really does require a Bachelor's degree. Degree's in Organizational Management or Leadership hasn't helped either. Most of this can be blamed on colleges creating programs to attract students to help their bottom line. Degree's that have no real meaning.

It's really sad to see folks on a daily basis trying to get a job associated with their degree, and having no luck. Really, a Master's- except in an area that is really specific- doesn't really add much to their resume anymore. "Everybody" has one- or it seems.

As far as coaches having an advanced degree, I used to be in favor of that. Thought a staff member or instructor at the college level should have one. However, experience has shown me most that do have an advanced degree the degree is usually some type of glorified PE program.

IMHO, we need to change the perception that everyone should have a college degree, and folks should realize there are good and necessary jobs in the area of manufacturing, construction etc. Most of these paying more than the jobs many college graduates settle for.
vatusay
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Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 2:14 pm

Very well said, I agree with every talking point you made.

I think WIU could really carve out a niche if they offered more of a trade school curriculum. Welding (BIG $$$$$ jobs out there if willing to work), carpentry, diesel mechanics, hydraulic mechanics, electrical engineering(they may have this already I don't know), or really anything that has to do with more of the blue collar type jobs.

I do believe that wiu once had a master mechanic school. I know a graduate and he is one of the best.


A highly motivated person can make a good living in a skilled trade.
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sealhall74
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If you go to school to learn a trade or how to take care of people, job prospects are looking pretty good for the next decade:

http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_103.htm

Anyone know how many nurses we are cranking out every year?
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wiu712
Posts: 6864
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 pm

sealhall74 wrote:Anyone know how many nurses we are cranking out every year?
When the program was first set-up, the goal was to graduate 15 each year from the Macomb campus and another 15 each year from the Quad Cities campus.

Perhaps that number has increased over the years.
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sealhall74
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One would think colleges would gladly publish and promote the graduation rates for all of its major offerings, especialy those in the "signature" category but I could not find anything on our site. Leave it to the federal government to get the job done. 712, your numbers appear to be in-line with where we are:

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q ... 2#programs

Some of those numbers are interesting. Although still producing a fair number of elementary school teachers (probably a far cry from thirty or forty years ago), not much surfacing in the secondary/other education areas.

In my research, I stumbled across something else unknown to me. I would think Dr. Lewis Yocum (now deceased) just might be Western's most notable alumnus who ended up working in the field of medicine:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Yocum

Also interesting, softballer Dot Richardson attended Western for a year and went on to earn her MD while continuing to play professionally. She probably shared a scalpel or two with Yocum at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic. Currently, she is head softball coach at Liberty U.

http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm ... 6&TeamID=2

There are also a few other notable alumni I was not aware of:

http://colleges.startclass.com/l/1314/W ... University

That ^^^^ is a pretty good site for prospective students to check out. Those historical tuition charts are pretty scary but probably not much different than most around the country.

Enough for one night. When do we start working on the Lewis Yocum wing of the WIU Health Sciences Academy and Research Institute? ;)
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leatherface
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The link on Dr. Yochum has him earning his medical degree from WIU. I don't believe we have ever had a medical school. Typical Wikipedia error. Wikipedia isn't a very reliable source of information.
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sealhall74
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leatherface wrote:The link on Dr. Yochum has him earning his medical degree from WIU. I don't believe we have ever had a medical school. Typical Wikipedia error. Wikipedia isn't a very reliable source of information.
According to his obit, he got his BS at WIU and MD at UofI:

http://marker.to/rvqz7F

That ^^^^ marker.to highlighter for the Chrome browser is so sweet. I feel like a kid in a candy store now.

I went ahead an made the correction to Wiki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Yocum
Embrace the pace of the race.
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