<p>We're having a similar discussion in College Life and I wanted to see the opinions of CC parents, most of whom I'm assuming are college educated. </p>
<p>My opinion: yes, absolutely, and it can't be done too soon. </p>
<p>I don't have time to go into as much detail as I'd like about why I think so, but basically: it's irresponsible for us as a society to continue to fund the study of worthless majors such as history, political science, psychology and so on with our present economy and the state of today's world. I say "worthless" because these majors teach students to gaze into the past rather than looking into the future. In addition, offering these majors lowers the quality of students at universities (think about all the American Studies or History majors you've ever known). We are living in a STEM century and there simply will be no room for liberal arts*** majors. </p>
<p>That's level 1, which deals with utility. Level 2 deals with a more practical concern, salary. STEM majors just make more than liberal arts majors, full stop. I know someone willl charge in here waving the banner of "but money isn't everything u guyz!!11!" but money is obviously a large contributor to one's self-worth and sense of self-satisfaction. Many liberal arts grads literally live below the poverty line and they sit around miserable and in horrible debt, wishing desperately that they had taken the sensible route and majored in STEM. And the sad part is that many of these people have post-graduate education! yet jobs in academia are limited, so these people are doomed to work the same menial, robotic jobs as their less-educated peers. </p>
<p>Level 3 deals with personal growth. Liberal arts majors simply do not learn any skills other than critical reading (and not even that, often - most of the liberal arts majors I know don't do any of their reading and BS all their assignments). STEM majors - with the exception of biology - learn quantitative reasoning, logic, group work, and so many other skills. In addition, most of the STEM majors I know are above-average writers who can communicate very well, and not in the flowery, indirect way in which liberal arts majors are taught to write.</p>
<p>***I define liberal arts here as, roughly, humanities and the social sciences, but I also implicate here majors such as communications, journalism, and inferior business-type degrees such as advertising</p>
<p>In closing, liberal arts educations should be abolished, or restricted to private schools, because: </p>
<p>*they don't adequately prepare students for a science-driven world.
*They stifle dissenting opinions and prevent students from exploring their viewpoints because students are taught to blindly drink down the opinions of their professors (who are often radical liberals).
*They almost invariably lead to poor salaries.
*They hinder one's ability to use quantitative reasoning in everyday life.
*They attract poor students who come to college just to party.
*They drain resources from important science-related research.
*They instill laziness and carelessness in students - in liberal arts, all the material is spoon fed to you, all you have to do is regurgitate it.
*They waste taxpayer money and cause many people to be unemployed.
*They give rise to a class of basically uneducated people who expound on the urgency of problems they know nothing about, such as global warming and energy technology.
*History, literature and so on explain themselves. Having 600 books written on one historical event is not useful and is just a way for people of mediocre intelligence to make money. Science and mathematics are the only disciplines that have real explanatory power in the 21st century. </p>
<p>talk amongst yourselves</p>