<p>Jingle’s post I think is excellent. I ended up with the job I wanted partially out of luck, but also partially out of planning. I stumbled into a general area that fascinated me early, and I planned well through interning, keeping up contacts, even my study abroad experiences to help position myself with the correct qualifications. Though again, luck also played a hand, as did having an amazing alumnae network who were able and willing to help me connect with good people. </p>
<p>Some kids don’t do this because they don’t want to really think about it. But some kids also don’t do this because they don’t know yet what to focus on or they don’t find out until late in the game. But the early you start at least thinking about it, the more time you have to formulate a strong plan.</p>
<p>I think the alumni network is key. My nephew, an Latin American studies major with no business experience to speak of just got a great job with a company that just likes to hire kids from his LAC.</p>
<p>psych - nope, but thanx for reading up. neither have her similarly educated classmates. lots of grad school and unpaid internships, fwiw. overall i’d say my investment in her garden variety lac degree was not cost effective. at least with respect to the objective i had as a parent - enable my kid to live her own life without my support. others may very well have different priorities.</p>
<p>So true, so true. Our English curriculum in particular focuses on literature, which is not the skill needed for undergraduates, let alone in the working world. Yet when our faculty met with our local high school teachers, the high school teachers think the colleges should adjust.</p>
<p>Toblin, Great article and we are close behind. The “unpaid internship” so advocated for todays College student, will be the death of our younger generation. Already you are seeing graduates taking unpaid internships long after graduating. It should be illegal unless the employer is connected to a school and credit is awarded to the student. </p>
<p>Now, what about the US college/Grad student with massive student loans, from UG,-MED/Law school and PHd’s? And no BK possible. Dream schools? Makes you think…</p>
<p>“physicists blindly follow what’s been discovered by those with a classical liberal arts education”</p>
<p>quibble</p>
<p>natural sciences WERE, classically, part of liberal arts. Arts AND Sciences. When did liberal arts become “those fields where you dont use a lot of math” or (since poli sci and sociology actually can be quite quantitative) “those fields where you dont NEED math” or “those fields where there is no obvious career track” </p>
<p>I wish we could stop having discussions about “getting jobs with liberal arts degrees” and instead ask “what do you do with a sociology degree” or “an english degree” or whatever. Discussions that would acknowledge both the challenges and the possibilities. Granted there would be a fair amount of overlap among several of those majors, but its not like there isnt some overlap among careers with some other fields.</p>
<p>"Our English curriculum in particular focuses on literature, which is not the skill needed for undergraduates, let alone in the working world. "</p>
<p>Due to budget cuts our DD ended up in AP Lang, instead of AP Lit, and we were disappointed. English literature is the proper common heritage of educated english speakers, and ideally much of it should be known BEFORE college, precisely so college can focus on specialities, careers, etc. Its also, I think, the best way to learn to write clearly - to read ALOT, and to read the best writers. </p>
<p>The skills needed for the working world vary too much - my DD is headed to architecture. She can learn to write an arch proposal at Arch school. She doesnt need to learn to write a grant proposal, or a govt regulation, or a scientific report. </p>
<p>Grammar and so forth, she learned in middle school. Basic essay writing, from CTY crafting the essay, which she took in 8th grade as a homeschooler.</p>
<p>“There is way too much touchy-feely nonsense, too much expressing one’s feelings and opinions about a topic or a work of literature”</p>
<p>it is of course possible to write ANALYTICALLY about literature, not gut reactions. </p>
<p>And while persuasive writing is good, in the schools here it was taught fairly formulaicly, keeping too a tight (easily gradeable) structure - essays that were quite persuasive but didn’t fit the rules exactly got poor grades, at least from some teachers. </p>
<p>I am betting some of the great essayists of the past - Ruskin, Arnold, etc would have had difficulties getting As for persuasive essays from the Fairfax County Public Schools.</p>
<p>Quick point to ponder about an BA in English. As a professional in a large corp. you communicate almost entirely by email. Writing is a very important skill in Corporations. It doesn’t take long before everyone decides so and so is an idiot because his/her emails wonder, are to long or just plain confusing. Often you delete email from a colleague that can’t write decent reports, email or proposals BEFORE you even read them-maybe a quick skim at most. Ummm, this can be a real mistake. </p>
<p>Very good writing skills count in almost every job in Corp. America. As we know it is a skill that is not well developed in HS which is often the last time some college students take a class with formal writing instruction. Hence, the writing centers at most colleges. We did not have those in the “good old days”.</p>