<p>There are many problems today with a so-called liberal arts education. The number of students enrolled in humanities and social science coursework has grown exponentially. A concomitant, precipitous decline in the number of students enrolled in mathematics and the sciences has also occurred. There are good reasons for these phenomena. The societal consequences of this transition will be unhappy at best.<br>
Those students who have abandoned mathematics and the sciences is understandable. These areas of study are rigorous and stressful. Moreover, those who entertain them tend to achieve grade point averages lower than do other students. To the rational, self-interested student, these facts can do no other than militate against the selection of hard majors in the sciences.<br>
More attractive to most students are the philosophical and psychological sciences. These majors promote critical thinking, of course, and are of interest. However, in the present market, applicants trained in these disciplines face fierce competition for positions. Far too many have been graduated with degrees in these fields. As such, the marketplace for jobs has become saturated with them. What applicants need is to be different.<br>
The modern world values specialization and technical proficiency. These aforementioned majors tend to provide little of either. As such, the student who devotes his undergraduate career to them will not thereby be empowered to land a well-paid position. This fact was not communicated to me with any force by the academic advisors I have had. Instead, it was encouraged that I, upon completion of my degree, attend graduate or professional school.<br>
This recommendation reveals quite a lot. Indeed, it is an admission that, when studied at the undergraduate level, the aforementioned majors do not prepare one for gainful employment. They seem in fact quite inadequate to that task. Further education and study, then, is required if one is to acquire or secure quality employment.
However, the possession of advanced degrees no longer guarantees one quality, secured employment. That the (academic) marketplace currently suffers an overabundance of doctorates -- especially in the humanities and social sciences is well-known. Consequently, those who earn such degrees face stiff competition for placement as faculty. By no means is the attainment of a tenure-track position assured (if it is even possible).<br>
Those who major in mathematics or physics, then, are in demand. Their studies have equipped them with the knowledge and skills employers need and want. However, the number of students who have declared said majors has declined. As such, there exists a mismatch in the marketplace between the demand and supply of technically adept employees. Is it any wonder, then, that our country has witnessed high unemployment rates? One suspects that things will only get worse and the market will become even more frustrated as a result thereof.<br>
In the interest of disclosure: I have chosen psychology as my major; my minors are mathematics and philosophy. I did not choose a minor in mathematics because I am an unusually gifted mathematician. Rather, I selected that minor because I think advanced numeracy is mandatory in todays job market. Academic advisors outside the sciences, however, do not impress this fact upon their advisees. Career counselors are even more pathetic and useless and say nothing that I myself do not already know.<br>
It seems, therefore, that a liberal arts education is being sold as worthwhile per se. I would suggest otherwise. How, for example, is the student of psychology and sociology to find employment immediately upon graduation? She cannot, at least not readily. When I researched prospective jobs, I found that most required mathematical, scientific or technical acumen. To be conversant in philosophy, while impressive and noble, is not the same. It will not impress employers who demand some familiarity with, say, differential equations.<br>
I am truly upset that no adviser ever confronted me with these facts. If one had, I probably would have selected a harder major or minor sooner rather than later. I first declared a minor in mathematics my junior year, and did so only after I researched jobs. As a result, I am required to complete four mathematics courses this year, which will impose a lot of stress and hard work.
My experience shows that, at least at present moment, no dearth of jobs exists for those trained in mathematics and the sciences. I surmise, therefore, that a principal cause of unemployment today is a fundamental and pervasive mismatch: a mismatch between applicants and employers abilities, expectations and needs. This mismatch has been fostered and perpetuated -- in no small measure, I would say -- by and within the academy.</p>
<p>Do we really need another one of these threads?</p>
<p>I rarely post here so you presuppose that I know that there are many other threads stated as such.</p>
<p>The fundamental problem is that its liberal arts…</p>
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<p>Oh no! What ever will you do! This goes right back to the point you made earlier, students are going for the easy, crowded majors. </p>
<p>You’ll get out what you put in. Work hard for 4 years in a difficult major at a good school, and you’ll have a job waiting somewhere.</p>
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Did you apply for internships? Work during school and over breaks? Volunteer?</p>
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Again, did you apply for internships? Work during school and over breaks? Volunteer? What did you expect as a psychology major? to do serious work in the field of psychology with a BA? You could apply for a job as a psychiatric technician or work as a rehab specialist. However, most who only obtain only a BA in psychology go into other fields such as business, advertising, social work—heck, you could be one of those career counselors you loathe.</p>
<p>I found a job immediately upon graduation, and I was a psychology major. No internships, either. I did a year-long honors thesis in place of the internship, but that didn’t matter during my interviews. And my current position does relate to my major.</p>
<p>You’re assumptions are way off. Physics and math bachelors degrees have the worst job prospects. In fact, I’ve met 10+ math and physics grads from very good schools, and the only jobs they can find that apply their knowledge is tutoring high school and college kids at a rate of 20 dollars per hour. Math and physics graduate school is even worse, as only about 1 our of every 100 physics and math grad actually ends up becoming a tenured professor. </p>
<p>I’m quite employers would rather prefer people from the social sciences, as not only would they also have acquired useful skills, but they also have very good social skills, something which many math and physics grads seem to lack. An employer wouldn’t care if you could prove the center manifold theorem if you don’t even have basic social skills, which I’ve noticed is a prevalent characteristic in many of my classmates.</p>
<p>Despite what so many twentysomethings think, your major doesn’t define the rest of your life. Shocking, I know.</p>
<p>While most of your post is true, all you did was post unsubstantiated conjecture. It is disappointing because it means that your liberal arts degree didn’t teach you to think as critically as you seem to think it did. </p>
<p>The unsubstantiated conjecture you posted can be falsified by quantitative evidence, so let’s see it. Prove your claim. Do you know how to falsify your conjecture? It should be really easy to see if your claim is true or false with elementary statistical knowledge. Do you have it?</p>
<p>To thereisnosecret,</p>
<p>First, your response is unclear. Would you have me produce evidence that disproves my own claims? If not, why ask me to “falsify [my] conjecture?” These two statements seem contradictory. </p>
<p>It seems that you would challenge me to do something. Perhaps you should phrase such challenges more carefully. This one seems internally inconsistent.</p>
<p>^ vocab nerd fight!</p>
<p>ding ding</p>
<p>Oh, no…not this argument again. </p>
<p>@dlbecker, there are “liberal arts” studies that aren’t just social sciences or humanities. For ex. Technical writing. People who do major in the “liberal arts” aim to get a well rounded education, but some do it because it’s “easy,” so i’m not going to lie about that. But this shouldn’t give others who are actually passionate about their studies a bad name just because of their major, that’s just dumb.</p>
<p>People make it sound like majoring in something practical is so easy and that are you guaranteed to find a great job immediately upon graduation regardless of the quality of the student’s skills. I think this is a real problem with most of my friends who think that they will all be making 100K+ right after graduation with their engineering degree but let me tell that not all of them are great at it.</p>
<p>People who do major in liberal arts also mix quite a bit of science and math, as well. I for one am taking many econ, stat, math, and some science classes since I want to do researching for my career. Sure, there may be people who avoid all kinds of math or science based class, but it doesn’t make them inferior in any way.</p>
<p>btw, not every job in the world needs advanced math or science.</p>
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<p>Of course that is, the only other option is to become a mathematician, which requires going to grad school! It’s perfectly fine to major in something like mathematics, and then pursue a career that doesn’t directly use any of the mathematics you learned. Hopefully through your degree, you learned how to think more critically, and gained problem solving/quantative skills that can instead be applied to wide variety of careers rather than the limited selection of math tutoring.</p>