going to Uni in UK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_confidence_tricks

Melon drop

The melon drop is a scam in which the scammer will intentionally bump into the mark and drop a package containing (already broken) glass. He will blame the damage on the clumsiness of the mark, and demand money in compensation. This con arose when artists discovered that the Japanese paid large sums of money for watermelons. The scammer would go to a supermarket to buy a cheap watermelon, then bump into a Japanese tourist and set a high price.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Wouldn't that require some government meddling, though?

we don't need govt approval to cast a dour eye on the shady practices of these self-named pillars of the community.

Originally posted by zeeblebot
they could just as well have collected her money and taught her something useful.

You want to set up a bureaucracy that monitors the choices free people make? This seems very odd coming from you.

Are we to take it you will start by proscribing "religious studies degrees"?

Originally posted by FMF
You want to set up a bureaucracy that monitors the choices free people make? This seems very odd coming from you.

Are we to take it you will start by proscribing "religious studies degrees"?

Originally posted by zeeblebot
we don't need govt approval to cast a dour eye on the shady practices of these self-named pillars of the community.

probably got their other hand in the pocket of the taxpayers.

Originally posted by zeeblebot
Originally posted by zeeblebot
[b]we don't need govt approval to cast a dour eye on the shady practices of these self-named pillars of the community.[/b]

So there's no issue then. I personally believe that 90% of 'self-help' books are at best twaddle and at worst a kind of con. But I don't see it as a problem. I would have thought your contempt for others, in this case, is commercially irrelevant seeing as what you perceive to be "shady practices" that are apparently not in need of approval/disapproval, means that you are not a potential customer.

Originally posted by zeeblebot
i wonder what it is for the US?

In the US, it's more like 7 universities fighting over every student.

Originally posted by zeeblebot
we've got that "unusable degree" thing here, too. i think i posted an article here a while back about a girl who got her mom to cosign $100K+ in loans for a religious studies degree.

She could become a missionary!

Seriously, in a time when religion has become one of the main ideological factors behind many of the world's most desperate problems and most intractable conflicts, an degree which teaches about the doctrine and practice of the world's major religions is surely of considerable importance. Just as, for instance, a comparative degree in political sciences would have been at the height of the Cold War.