Jim, even with gloves are n, gardening does my nails in. So much for clean nails.
I hire a gardening professional, @bookworm. No fingernail manicure professional for my nails, though. I do occasionally partake of the expertise of the toenail pedicure professionals.
My massage therapist is also a real pro! As is my hair stylist, @lookingforward . They make more than I do these days too 
My facial professional is my ‘new best friend’, jym. Gave me royal treatment the other day. Interesting gal, too. No idea what she studied or if she even went to college. We’re so busy talking about everything from politics to cultural, that it never occurred to me. Otoh, my pedicure professional doesn’t talk much.
Ya know, I think this is just another thread where we all get to roll our eyes and vent. :)>-
Technically, according to this, hairdressing is considered a skilled service trade, but if someone wants to use the term professional, doesn’t seem like a big deal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradesman Maybe you guys need to call your local manicurist!
My pedicure professional doesn’t speak much either-- there is a language barrier. But she is another pro!
Here some call the facial person an esthetician. Sounds very sophisticated. @lookingforward- how do you talk during a facial?
I have yet to get a manicure, pedicure, facial, or dye my hair. I really need to get with it!
It looks like your Liberal Arts education failed you.
Guess so, though they didn’t teach Vietnamese at my school. Back in the stone age when I went to school we were still fighting that war…
Sevmom, you, jym and I could make a day of it, if we weren’t so far apart.
Jym, the only point where couldn’t talk was a mask, at the end, a few minutes. And she just kept talking. I’ve known her a few years.
Have only had a facial 2-3 times. they hurt!! I am afraid if I talked I might say something I regret!
It IS too bad we are all so far apart @lookingforward ! I think I could be talked into a pedicure but probably not into dyeing my hair! I’ve gone this long and don’t think I’ll start now. I don’t have a whole lot of interest in fashion but I will defend the right to major in fashion merchandising until the day I die!
In college, a friend highlighted her hair (we called it streaking our hair back then… not to be confused with the other streaking) and then she decided to die it back to her original dark color. She learned, the hard way, the when you try to get bleach blonde streaks back to a dark brown, they turn… kelly green. She should have left it to a pro.
Oops, dye it back.
BTW, @CCDD14 , I loved your Jason and the Argonauts reference. I think they showed that movie in my middle school at least 10 times, every time we were stuck inside for some reason, in the auditorium.
Least valuable major perhaps is one that comes from an unaccredited school / program.
“What are the “kinds of programs that promote intellectual growth more than others.”? Who decides that?”
You do, if we’re talking about you, your kid, or your student. I’m not proposing a federal law here.
If there’s no difference to you between the intellectual demands of studying chemistry or philosophy at the University of Chicago and learning to shampoo carpets, well, we all see the world in our own way.
My clients want a counselor who can tell the difference.
I hope that you tell your clients the right thing - that learning to shampoo carpets is much more important than studying philosophy. Here you have an example of highly educated crowd struggling to properly shampoo carpet:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1923329-best-professional-carpet-cleaner-for-pet-urine.html
Of course , there is difference in rigor and “intellectual demands” with different majors. Intellectual growth is more relative, depending on where someone is starting from in their development. You seem to have strong views of the value of some majors over others. That is your business, and since you are in the college counseling business, that would make sense. I’m guessing that the type of people that are paying you the big bucks, don’t particularly want to hear from you that your recommendation is that they consider carpet shampooing schools for their child (or fashion merchandising or sports management for that matter).
“Of course, there is difference in rigor and “intellectual demands” with different majors.”
Growth occurs in response to rigor. It’s just as true for biceps and for brains.
“don’t particularly want to hear from you that your recommendation is that they consider carpet shampooing schools for their child (or fashion merchandising or sports management for that matter).”
Actually, some of them do want that, and I can provide it. But I don’t pretend that they’re all the same thing.
I’ve actually worked with phlebotomy schools and the like. They don’t begin to claim that their purpose is to promote intellectual growth in anyone from any starting point.