# Occupation: Student. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 2, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560 "2008-08-02T01:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/1 "2008-08-02T01:01:09Z")
C’mon. If you don’t have a paying job, you’re (i)unemployed(/i). Same for some other “occupations”. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/2 "2008-08-02T01:18:49Z")
I was paid to study my first degree. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/3 "2008-08-02T01:29:19Z")
Scholarships, etc, don’t count. And; **Brackets** , stupid. Not those other thingies. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/4 "2008-08-02T01:45:01Z")
Unemployed means that you are looking for a job and don’t have one. A student is no more unemployed than a stay at home mom or a retiree. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/5 "2008-08-02T01:49:10Z")
I’m a teacher. When the new school year comes I will teach a full load of courses at a university, hold office hours, and do all the things that university teachers are supposed to do. I also will not get a salary. I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer. I’ll get a living allowance and a small re-adjustment allowance at the end of my 2 years. Am I unemployed? A salary does not a job make. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/6 "2008-08-02T02:30:28Z")
What’s your real point? If a person is not looking for a job, the government doesn’t count them as unemployed. Do you think it would make any sense for every high school and college student in the world to list “unemployed” when asked for an occupation? If you think your brother-in-law’s once a month underwater basketweaving class doesn’t count as an occupation, just say so. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/7 "2008-08-02T02:35:28Z")
[QUOTE=Manda JO] Unemployed means that you are looking for a job and don’t have one. A student is no more unemployed than a stay at home mom or a retiree. [/QUOTE] Yeah, them too. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/8 "2008-08-02T02:39:20Z")
A lot of students I know work as servers, clerks, associates at Wallmart and the like. They’re not unemployed. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/9 "2008-08-02T02:46:17Z")
[QUOTE=Harriet the Spry] What’s your real point? If a person is not looking for a job, the government doesn’t count them as unemployed. Do you think it would make any sense for every high school and college student in the world to list “unemployed” when asked for an occupation? If you think your brother-in-law’s once a month underwater basketweaving class doesn’t count as an occupation, just say so. [/QUOTE] Hey! Somebody moved this thread! It was supposed to be in MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/10 "2008-08-02T02:49:48Z")
The forms I’m used to all say to be as honest as possible, and they all (in my experience) request information on academic status. To not state it would be a crime. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/11 "2008-08-02T03:00:08Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] Hey! Somebody moved this thread! It was supposed to be in MPSIMS. [/QUOTE] \ More like the Pit, I think. Rant and rave all you want, kids. IMHO \> Pit \ ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/12 "2008-08-02T03:01:37Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] Yeah, them too. [/QUOTE] No, they are neither employed nor unemployed. They aren’t in the labor force. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/13 "2008-08-02T03:07:54Z")
Okay. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/14 "2008-08-02T03:12:02Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] C’mon. If you don’t have a paying job, you’re (i)unemployed(/i). Same for some other “occupations”. Peace, mangeorge [/QUOTE] According to The American Heritage Dictionary, 2004 edition: > [@](#): > > oc·cu·pa·tion Audio Help (ŏk’yə-pā’shən) Pronunciation Key > n. > > ``` > 1. An activity that serves as one's regular source of livelihood; a vocation. > 2. **An activity engaged in especially as a means of passing time; an avocation.** > > ``` Being a student may not earn any money, but it certainly is a means of passing time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/15 "2008-08-02T03:20:00Z")
[QUOTE=Manda JO] Unemployed means that you are looking for a job and don’t have one. A student is no more unemployed than a stay at home mom or a retiree. [/QUOTE] Agree. They are both unemployed. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/16 "2008-08-02T03:27:48Z")
Since we’re in the Pit, why the hell do you care? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/17 "2008-08-02T03:30:52Z")
I’m detecting a hint of scorn from the OP, as if having a paying job is the _sine qua non_ of being a decent human being. This is not neccesarily the case, and the word “occupation” is ambiguous, as I’ve demonstrated with the dictionary cite. Simply put, you’re wrong. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/18 "2008-08-02T03:33:14Z")
Sorry, when I quit my job to finish my studies, I considered being a student to be my new job. And I treated it as such, which is good because the donors of my big scholarship expected it of me. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/19 "2008-08-02T03:35:22Z")
And I thought _I_ ranted about stupid shit… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560/20 "2008-08-02T04:09:00Z")
My tuition is over $5,000 this year, you bet your _ass_ I’m employed! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupation-student/458560.md?page=2)