<p>You posters seem to think that one should major in the sciences in order to make enough money to have a comfortable and stable lifestyle.</p>
<p>But consider this…many sciences majors end up doing SO much work in college and outside of college (being on-call, working late, traveling to work, etc.) that they never get into relationships and don’t end up marrying. I saw a documentary about Harvard Med School filmed in the 80’s. At the end of the program they had a reunion and all the former students, now doctors, were interviewed about their lives. Turns out that everyone ended up divorced and unhappy except for ONE PERSON. I know a lot of people who have majored in the sciences and have fantastic, high-paying jobs, but a comfortable/stable lifestyle isn’t much fun if you don’t have someone to share it with. </p>
<p>^Your arguments have been some of the most worthless of all student01. Like this completely ignorant comment:</p>
<p>““Engineering,business,professions, on the other hand, will stay employable regardless of people’s subjective take on them. Society cannot do without these, unlike video games and humanities. It’s just reality, not my opinion.””</p>
<p>I agree that other degrees are more plausible. However, a society without Humanities is just a big ant colony. </p>
<p>Your arguments are not doing anything but showing why we need humanities and what basic the basic humanities classes give us: reading comprehension, writing skills, and (something you lack) the ability to succesfully convey your ideas without sounding like you live in a bubble. To say something is reality and not your opinion doesn’t really work when the world HAS NEVER BEEN LIKE THAT. So it is your opinion, and it’s wrong.</p>
<p>Edit: You are the only one who has said only get a humanities degree if you plan on going to law school/med school. Everyone else AT LEAST agrees that people who hold Masters or PhDs in humanities are very important in our society.</p>
Looks like someone here is also fighting fire with fire. Great! You’re one step up from everybody else.</p>
<p>Also, my arguments are more or less aligned with your arguments, with some rephrasing here and there. So, what you said above completely contradicts yourself.</p>
I think you’ve misinterpreted my quote. Like the video game analogy, there is no practical use for humanities. And also, you can have common sense without having humanities. You can also not have common sense even with humanities.</p>
<p>It’s always interesting to open a book or talk about the humanities, but no, it’s not a necessity of society. End of argument.</p>
<p>When I think of the question about whether or not the humanities are waste, I dont only think of how much money a person will be making after college, but also how much money they are spending on their education during college. I mean, should a degree in english really cost as much as a degree in engineering? Should a student majoring in english really go to that fancy private school that costs $40,000 dollars a year? I would never want to live in a society without writers, artists, musicians, historians, etc. However, Ive read so many horror stories of people being in huge amounts of debt in order to become these things. Its completely ironic to me that some of these people who go to expensive schools to get the highest quality education and to pursue their dream actually end up putting themselves in a position where they may never be able to buy a house or start a retirement fund. They think that anyone studying a vocational subject is superficial and yet they are too good to go to a cheaper school and feel that to be a truly educated person you must study the humanities. To me, this is the ultimate hipocrisy. Its just a different form of superficiality.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m saying is that there is value in studying liberal arts and pursuing your dreams, however many people get lost in that dream and forget that the reality of money and finances still exist. Ive met so many college educated morons out there that it makes me want to scream. The humanities are great, but common sense and a firm grip on reality are good too. There needs to be a balance.</p>
<p>The link is to an article about students and college debt. The article itself isnt that great, but the comments are pretty good. Some of the most bizarre stories about people and their debt. If you read the comments, take note that almost all the people who are whining about their debt are also the ones name dropping their ivy league schools or preaching about how they got a private liberal arts education.</p>
<p>End of argument? How can you make this statement not having ever lived, nor studied a society that did not have some sort of focus on humanities? How do you know that without these things to provide joy we would not become insane and out of touch with ourselves, as humans, and commit mass suicide? You’re stating this things like they are facts and they are certainly not.</p>
<p>When I think of the question about whether or not the humanities are waste, I dont only think of how much money a person will be making after college, but also how much money they are spending on their education during college. I mean, should a degree in english really cost as much as a degree in engineering? Should a student majoring in english really go to that fancy private school that costs $40,000 dollars a year? I would never want to live in a society without writers, artists, musicians, historians, etc. However, Ive read so many horror stories of people being in huge amounts of debt in order to become these things. Its completely ironic to me that some of these people who go to expensive schools to get the highest quality education and to pursue their dream actually end up putting themselves in a position where they may never be able to buy a house or start a retirement fund. They think that anyone studying a vocational subject is superficial and yet they are too good to go to a cheaper school and feel that to be a truly educated person you must study the humanities. To me, this is the ultimate hipocrisy. Its just a different form of superficiality.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m saying is that there is value in studying liberal arts and pursuing your dreams, however many people get lost in that dream and forget that the reality of money and finances still exist. Ive met so many college educated morons out there that it makes me want to scream. The humanities are great, but common sense and a firm grip on reality are good too. There needs to be a balance.</p>
Yup. This is exactly what I was trying to say.</p>
<p>I guess the video game analogy was a little bit of a stretch, but the principle remains the same. One should not blindly follow “passion”… because that passion could be anything. However, “well-paying” cannot be anything. Thus, it is better for the individual to change one’s passion to align it with the realities of money and finances.</p>
They think that anyone studying a vocational subject is superficial and yet they are too good to go to a cheaper school and feel that to be a truly educated person you must study the humanities.
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<p>I see the value of the humanities majors, and I too am very grateful for all the writers, artists, musicians, and historians in the world. But I deplore the high-brow attitude that people who go to school just to learn a practical skill are somehow lesser humans.</p>
<p>My best friend is someone who simply doesn’t like school. He’s a great worker and a great person to be around, but he’s simply not interested in any of the academic subjects. He doesn’t like science, he doesn’t like math, and he certainly doesn’t like any of the humanities. But the world is so focused on this ideal that every person should have a college education that he has to get one just to get a decent job. Of course, getting a college degree shows an employer that he’s a hard worker and that he can stick to something. But simply getting a job from the beginning and staying at it for four years should show the same thing, but somehow it doesn’t.</p>
<p>If you go to an Ivy League school or another elite school, you may not be exposed to these people very much if at all, but they are quite numerous. Honestly, I feel sorry for my friend because for him a college degree of any kind really is a waste except insofar as it gets him a job. And if anyone feels compelled to quote my previous sentence and say that it’s not really a “waste” and that it will make him a better person or something like that, don’t–you don’t know my friend, and I can tell you without a doubt that he’s not gaining anything from college besides a sheet of paper.</p>
<p>You and I agree there very much so, and have since the beginning of this debate. However, to say humanities aren’t necessary AND that it is a FACT is just a long stretch.</p>
<p>Seems more like a thread full of angry engineers trying to justify all the hard work their doing. Sorry guys but this isn’t the story of the ant and the grasshopper. Everyone’s happy in the end.</p>
<p>i dont think anyone here’s angry. if someone doesnt agree with you does that make them an angry person? you’re reasoning is just slightly off in almost everything you say.</p>
<p>I think good arguments for both sides have been made, but reading through this whole thread again made me laugh. I think the OP was ■■■■■■■■, trying to knock down the entirety of the humanities (and especially in the ‘other college majors’ forum). Doesn’t this kind of discourse belong to the business/engineering forums, or even CC cafe?</p>
<p>Studying the humanities is life enriching, even if they don’t lead to explicit job opportunities immediately after graduation. You won’t be a pauper unless you take crushing debt for the degree, the amount of which I’d guess to be about 40k and more. There are lots of websites that talk about debt, like projectonstudentdebt.org, that I recommend everyone check out.</p>
<p>I guess I’m pretty fortunate to go to my affordable-enough flagship state school that doesn’t try to wring tens of thousands out of me.</p>
<p>One’s probability of being thousands of dollars in debt is equal –> it’s a matter of what school you choose. Now if you had said which major might be able to pay their loans off earlier, that’s a different question.</p>
<p>It’s extremely unlikely that you’ll be making millions doing straight engineering or accounting work. My relatives, their friends, and coworkers would know. If making ‘bank’ is such a high priority for you, just remember that the vast majority of millionaires and billionaires had not gotten to their posts with decisions that would clearly make lots of money. (Meaning, becoming a millionaire or billionaire wasn’t the guiding point in their lives). A lot of the rich people that you’ll respect, e.g. Lee Iacocca or Warren Buffet, had more entrepreneurial skills than vocational talent. And of course, everyone likes to cite Gates or Jobs, those statistical outliers, both of whom dropped of college entirely.</p>