<p>The statistics quoted in the first post are quite startling, and it would seem there is almost a class division over these things (well-endowed, 'elite" privates w/more liberal arts majors versus publics and lower ranked privates with business and nursing majors). Many top schools do not even have these majors.</p>
<p>Interesting though that at Harvard, 40% of graduates are going into finance or business, and many go into law or medicine. So liberal arts is on the wane there, too.They major in government or economics. ( In fact, even the English majors there are interviewing with banks. ) So the elite privates are seeing changes too.</p>
<p>The idea used to be that you could get an entry level job with an undergrad business major, but not a management job, which usually went to someone with a broader education. That is probably not true anymore.</p>
<p>Anyway, yes this discussion gets repeated, but those numbers are still pretty startling. I had no idea that liberal arts majors were now this few and far between. Pretty extreme. Apparently the whole model of higher education is changing, of necessity, dictated by economics. Years ago, people at selective colleges who were studying Aristotle, were mainly well-off and connected and were not as anxious about making a living as the more economically diverse group in colleges these days. And the recession, college loans…hard to relax for 4 years and enjoy learning (for those who do, that is), but still, for some students, it is too bad.</p>
<p>Academic backgrounds of top execs. Few have liberal arts outside econ which is the de facto business major at many elite schools (with many courses that you would find in most B schools).</p>
<p>The chart shows that there were 34% more degrees awarded in the humanities and social sciences in 2007-08 than in 1997-08 - far outpacing, in growth percentage, engineering grads (12% growth) and far behind visual and performing arts grads (69%) - and behind business, though not dramatically so (44%).</p>
<p>And the percentage of humanities and social sciences as a percentage of total college grads nudged up from 16.7 to 17 percent; and when you add in psychology and visual and performing arts, the increase is even higher.</p>
<p>Well if you need someone to build something, improve something, invent something, whatever, I guess we’ll have to go to China</p>
<p>But if you want someone that will “teach you about life” and “see things differently” then come to America and grab someone who majored in humanities from their current job at McDonalds</p>
<p>Yes, purple duck man, for example, you could get ahold of Imelt, CEO of GE, who majored in philosophy. I do believe it would be terribly difficult to learn a thing about business from him.</p>
<p>As usual, barrons is spinning numbers to justify his own nonsensical conclusions. </p>
<p>First, the numbers prove nothing. An infinitesimal percentage of college graduates makes it to the CEO seat of Fortune 100 (or 500, or 1000) corporations. Given the mixture of native smarts, street smarts, hard work, luck, and political maneuvering it takes to get one of those seats, college major matters very little.</p>
<p>Second, the data apparently represent less than two-thirds of a very small population, with some of the reported sources at least questionable.</p>
<p>Third, economics is one of the liberal arts, and acquiring an economics degree requires completing a liberal arts curriculum.</p>
<p>Fourth, did you notice in barrons’ numbers that only 18% of Fortune 100 CEOs have business or accounting degrees compared to 17% of liberal arts (including econ) graduates? Be interesting to know how that compares to the percentage of degrees awarded in the late 60s and early 70s when today’s CEOs were earning their bachelor’s degrees.</p>
<p>At least I have some real numbers from a good source. You have your opinion which is not worth a cup of coffee. And excluding econ it’s about 6% for liberal arts. And as I pointed out, econ is the choice for business oriented kids at schools without business majors. So if you got to Williams or Dartmouth feel free to major in econ. It’s a fine substitute. If you go to Indiana major in business. Or go to Purdue for engineering. There were far more liberal arts then business majors in the 60’s 70’s at any decent school.</p>
<p>If folks want to see real recent placement data you can look at these for a range of undergrad B schools. Not bad at all in this economy. Compare to liberal arts majors not from an Ivy level school. And many Ivy kids too.</p>
<p>I have no idea what wisdom barrons and PurpleDuckMan are imparting in this thread as I have them both on ignore, but whatever it is, I think people would be better off not responding. Both of them are trolling and being very obvious about it.</p>
<p>I miss the days of Angelica, or whatever her name was–the Nepali (I think?) girl who went into a frenzy after she got rejected by every one of her supposed safeties, all liberal arts colleges she hadn’t bothered to research. Now that was a well-crafted attack on the liberal arts :(</p>
<p>That’s a weird definition of ■■■■■■■■ that you have. And if you are ignoring them, I’m not sure how it can be so obvious to you that they are doing that.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what’s your problem with barrons. He presented a credible source and made a reasonable conclusion out of it. Go figure.</p>
<p>I have known some really bright and successful STEM graduates from places like MIT and Caltech, and none of them have displayed the puerile contempt for the arts and humanities that some have displayed here. On the contrary, most of them are erudite and cultured people. Contempt for knowledge in any area is the sign of a small mind.</p>
<p>Your points were merely opinions. Mine were facts. Facts from a a highly reliable souce–not some dubious one as you implied. I see no reason to try to out opinion you when I have actual facts. I also had a note about econ so your econ point just says nothing I did not say (and you used my numbers to even mention it). Unfortuantely there is no info I know about breaking down the mgt structures of all the largest companies but when you said “most people will work for liberal arts grads”, well if the CEO only a small chance of being one it seems pretty unlikley that most will be working for one. And I would venture to say that most firms have cut back on training programs that used to hire liberal arts people back in the 70’s and most now just go to engineering and business majors to hire people for professional entry level jobs. </p>
<p>2006Alum–we call that being a prig. If that has any impact on my credibility you have the problem.</p>
<p>This is what struck me as the most alarming conclusion from the broadcast. I never thought I would see both the fall of the Berlin Wall and the (American) Ivory Tower in my lifetime.</p>
<p>So which of there do you consider an opinion?</p>
<p>-An infinitesimal percentage of college graduates makes it to the CEO seat of Fortune 100 (or 500, or 1000) corporations. </p>
<p>-the data apparently represent less than two-thirds of a very small population</p>
<p>-economics is one of the liberal arts, and acquiring an economics degree requires completing a liberal arts curriculum.</p>
<p>-in barrons’ numbers … only 18% of Fortune 100 CEOs have business or accounting degrees compared to 17% of liberal arts (including econ) graduates</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Whose name you don’t even seem to be able to get right.</p>
<p>Grasping at straws now. At least I knew the souce and that it was a quality source. BFD on the name adding the &. That is really grasping at air and shows the lack of any real argument you have.</p>
<p>But I also have another source that tracks income by major and uses Federal data. This one covers a broader scale of all grads with a bachelor’s degree. Business follows enginering, computers and medical majors. Most liberal arts are well down the scale.</p>
![http://rabareview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/education-in-america-degrees-by-major.gif[/url]](http://rabareview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/education-in-america-degrees-by-major.gif%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
