Do you believe that BS-ing is the most important skill to learnin college?

[Archbob]

So, do you guys believe that bullcrapping is the most important skill you can learn in college. I actually think so because alot of the major involve a large amount of bullcrapping and interviews for non-engineering jobs involve a large amount of this too.

What are your thoughts?

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

Liberal Arts, yes. Everything else, no.

 

[Elta]

BSing is the most important skill needed to get hired with a Anthropology degree. They write books on it, it's truly an art.

 

[Archbob]

In business, bullcrapping is by far the most important skill.

 

[kramerfan86]

The core classes at my college give the impression that THEY think its an important skill to pick up

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

BSing was the most important skill in highschool but not so anymore now that I am in college and majoring in Computer Science.

 

[scherbchen]

If US college is anything resembling GER University it is: learn to pass the test (at least the way I study). So, yeah, that is BSing in a way. Plus you remember some odd stuff and get to show that off to people who have no clue what you are talking about and who are duly impressed. Yeah, chalk down another one for BSing.

 

[Chandrasekhar]

It depends on what your major is, really.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

For history and philosophy majors, yes. For everything else, probably not.

 

[Irish Caesar]

It depends on what your major is, really.

Of course.

I could BS when I got here, but there are certain things you cannot BS.

And certain things I'd worry if you could.

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

For history and philosophy majors, yes. For everything else, probably not.

Actually, I'd consider these two of the hardest liberal arts majors. Philosophy requires a comfortable understanding of a hell of alot of stuff that makes your head explode upon reading. (Try to read some Foucult, Baudrillard, and some others. Enough to give you an aneurysm. )

And history, at least in my university, demanded a much closer attention and focus on sources than any other Liberal Arts major. (Closer to the lawyerish 'cite a case every sentence' type of argument) And most prof's. demanded primary sources be used heavily. Now maybe you found it easy trying to find contemporary 14th/15th century sources to support your hypothesis on the Black Plague, but I personally thought it was a pain in the arse.

 

[general_kill]

BSing is the most important skill to learn in college?

Absolutely not. I guess someone with special talents can BS their way to the top (but their success has nothing to do with BSing), but the people who believes in BSing through college is the way to go will become underachievers in society. Let's face it, if everyone BS each other, what gets done? What gets made? If people don't have skills to do something, what will they do? And through natural selection, business that employ people who BSed in college and have no skills will fail.

I think the most important skill to learn in college is how to learn. Once you master this skill, you will move swiftly through barriers in society and easily surpass people who lack the ability.

 

[Sims2789]

No, it's the most important skill to learn in high school, along with conniving, manipulating, and beating a system.

 

[DNK]

Discipline, study habits, researching skills, writing skills, logical reasoning, knowledge gained, and specific skill and knowledge sets for particular disciplines are far more important.

BSing is less important, and effectively a cover for not knowing or being able to do it the "right" way. That having been said, it's useful, but knowing how to do it right moreso.

 

[scherbchen]

come on guys...

Who learns what they have to learn during (!) the semester and after the semester (and after the tests) to know it? *sees 2 hand shooting up*

Who learns to pass a test, before the test, and to do that only? *sees umpteen hands going up*

That's what I thought.

Be honest.

PS: seriously
PPS: that is BSing (and I do it as well)

 

[general_kill]

come on guys...

Who learns what they have to learn during (!) the semester and after the semester (and after the tests) to know it? *sees 2 hand shooting up*

Who learns to pass a test, before the test, and to do that only? *sees umpteen hands going up*

That's what I thought.

Be honest.

PS: seriously
PPS: that is BSing (and I do it as well)

I will only speak for myself. I am a business major, and I avidly studied economics because I find it fascinating. I am taking history on the side because I also find history fascinating. I bs'd my way through high school and I learned that there is a clear and noticeable difference between someone who actually know the material and someone who know enough. You can keep trying to beat the system but in the real world, the people who do not work hard will need other means to find success while those who work hard are almost guaranteed a spot in the top 5% earning bracket so long as they want it.

This comes from pure experience: I have a relatively rich family who can support me in college (car, apartment, all that). My parents did not bs, they studied hard and worked hard. As far as I can tell, anyone with adequate intelligence can do what they did. And guess what, by simply studying hard and actually acquiring skills, you get a ticket into the elites of America club.

It's the poor SOBs who fool around who gets stuck in the middle class. It boggles my mind how easy it is to get rich, but people are somehow brainwashed into believing skipping class and cheating on tests get you there all the same. You can get a job with that, but you're not advancing anywhere with that mentality.

 

[Shadylookin]

unfortunately my compiler doesn't accept BS and I assure you i've attempted many a time. You may be able to pull it off in your required "core" classes, perhaps even in one of those crap something-studies degrees, but with a degree in the sciences it gets to be quite hard.

 

[The Yankee]

The most important? Well, if the students were able to think for themselves and master a few of the basic rules of the language, maybe it would be.

 

[DNK]

come on guys...

Who learns what they have to learn during (!) the semester and after the semester (and after the tests) to know it? *sees 2 hand shooting up*

Who learns to pass a test, before the test, and to do that only? *sees umpteen hands going up*

That's what I thought.

Be honest.

PS: seriously
PPS: that is BSing (and I do it as well)

*One of those two hands*

I remember a lot of what I was taught. Obviously, some obscure dates and names are lost on me, but most of the skills and knowledge that were expected to be known are still with me.

The ones that learned just what they needed for a test were wasting their money, spending tens of thousands of dollars not for an education but for four years of binge drinking and a shiny piece of paper.

This is hardly an argument for BSing being important, just the norm, which is quite a different thing.

 

[DNK]

unfortunately my compiler doesn't accept BS and I assure you i've attempted many a time. You may be able to pull it off in your required "core" classes, perhaps even in one of those crap something-studies degrees, but with a degree in the sciences it gets to be quite hard.

You wouldn't get a decent grade with pure BSing in any of my "crap" something-study courses either. You'd get a C for trying perhaps, but I've turned in plenty of non-bs papers that were only partially flawed in order to get a B or less. On the rare occasions that I did submit a pure BS paper or essay response, I paid for it.

But a few teachers were overly giving on essays, and I'm sure BSing got a lot of my classmates through quite a few courses. But the point is there were a lot of courses even in English that required serious thought and demonstration thereof, where simple BSing wouldn't cut it at all.

I think where you went to college is more important than what you took in this respect, although I'd assume the sciences and languages would be much harder to BS in than liberal arts.