<p>And, again, I lament the focus on the connection between majors and earnings outcomes. Does no one here value higher education for its own sake? All I read here is the practicality of a various degrees and how they translate to lucre. I DO live in the real world, and I understand the concern for making one’s way, but why this misguided focus on and angst regarding the earnings potential of a college education? Is that what education has been reduced to? God help us. Next thing you know, someone will suggest that colleges state in their catalogs the expected future income streams for each degree they confer.</p>
<p>The definition of education as I see it is pretty much the way the dictionary still defines it:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No mention of payout or payoff there. When we get to the point where we think like this:</p>
<p>Good then.<br>
So be ready to acknowledge that:
If you want education for education’s sake and do not want the extra zero, go for whatever major you want.
If you want education for education’s sake and to get a rewarding career, be smart about your major decision.</p>
<p>lost our way?..no, it’s called being smart and practical. 4 years of college life is so overblown by so many. So called critical thinking and reasoning skills can only happen in those 4 years?..that’s 5% of one’s life.<br>
If you want to major in a field were employment opportunities are low…that is your choice…but don’t knock others who may not be sure what they want yet, so major in a field where their employment chances might be higher.</p>
<p>For some people, it’s all they can do to get through college in ANY major in a given amount of time, and we all rejoice that they got through. The next step can then be addressed. </p>
<p>I have seen certificate programs at the local CC add a lot of panache to one’s resume, even if the owner is a selective school graduate, and help get the kid employed. Once in a job, in the system that degree can be what makes the next step easier. When you are one of many, many kids with little or no job experience all with the same majors that have no direct bearing on a job that needs to be done, getting an offer is a lottery ticket. The tables turn very quickly when you add a highly sought skill in the mix even it is something like operating a select piece of machinery.</p>
<p>It has not been “reduced to” that – that is the way it has been for ages. Most people would not go to college if it were not for the increased earnings potential (though they often estimate that incorrectly when making college and major decisions).</p>
<p>Yes, education for its own sake does increase one’s earnings potential, as does the credential of a bachelor’s degree (even in a non-specific subject), but college students and parents should be aware of the major-specific differences in entry-level job prospects. Making a choice to major in something with limited major-specific entry-level job prospects is fine, if the choice is fully informed. The fully informed student can plan for that, taking action like aggressively seeking jobs and internships early, avoiding or minimizing debt, and practicing more frugal living so that a satisfactory income level is lower than that of someone with more lavish spending habits.</p>
<p>I also managed to make a very decent living once upon a time, directly as a result of BEING an English major, coupled with the classic liberal arts education ability and desire to continually expand my horizons and teach myself almost anything. But according to some business drones on this thread I should have been living in a van, rather than managing technical publications for what was at the time the 20th largest software company in the US, managing corporate communications for another technical company, working in marketing communications for a MIS consulting company where our publications sold 30K+ copies… oh no, JUST an English major. In my volunteer life, it was ME, not our many lawyers, who wrote persuasion and information pieces for our community organizations. Every time I’ve written and delivered a sermon at my church, people come up to me and ask me why I don’t go to divinity school. </p>
<p>But leaving all of that aside, my major has continued to enrich my life in every way. The only thing I regret, actually, is not becoming an English professor.</p>
<p>^thanks for announcing your accomplishments…so many just feel that need to sneak them in where they can. Should everyone else here do the same?</p>
<p>It’s always the same. Some list comes out like this and then the posts come out about why that list can’t be right because…(posters accomplishments listed here)…boring and predictable</p>
<p>In #166, I didn’t mean I expect everyone to be employable as a plumber at the same time they were working on a degree, what I was thinking was to exploring and expanding an interest that could focus a career.</p>
<p>The rock climber niece on another thread might go into environmental education or train Rangers or run an adventure travel company.
My youngest is majoring in biology but she has been volunteering at & writing about local CSAs. ( she also has a beer blog) I expect she will find a way to tie those together.</p>
<p>You know, geeps, those of us with humanities degrees have been abused over and over again on this thread and others. Ignorant people who have no idea what it is to actually EXCEL in our fields make blanket statement about certain majors being easier, or–my favorite–“worthless.”</p>
<p>Boring and predictable? What is boring and predictable is people claiming that majoring in “business”–a major not even offered by most of the best schools in the nation–means that one is employable, while majoring in anything other than “business” or STEM fields means that one is either ducking supposedly difficult coursework, or destined for retail or homelessness.</p>
<p>I’m not “sneaking” my career accomplishments in, I’m putting them out there as a demonstration of what an intelligent, well-educated person can do with one of those majors that so many of you are eager to label as “worthless.” I’m rebutting the constant BS about English majors being unemployable.</p>
<p>Geeps, it’s not that it’s not right. It’s more that most of us find it irrelevant and get sick of non stem majors getting continually slammed in thread after thread after thread.</p>
<p>I just don’t see the abuse on these threads, I actually see more of the opposite…of how wonderful a liberal arts education is. How many times do we see the words “critical thinking” here…a ton.<br>
A list was posted and some get all defensive instead of blowing it off. Who the heck cares what something else is majoring in? Different strokes for different folks people.</p>
<p>Well, perhaps you don’t see it, but many of us who either chose a humanities major or whose kids did certainly do.</p>
<p>IMHO, it doesn’t matter if you major in English, economics, poly sci, bio, chem, or even–holy of holies!!–some branch of comp sci: these days, to get a job after graduation, you need to have internships and/or the ability to sell yourself in order to get that first job. Where and how high it goes from there depends very little on major.</p>
<p>I would simply like to see people refrain from throwing around terms such as “worthless” when referring to fields of study.</p>
<p>Put it this way, what makes a biology major more employable than an English major? What is the average starting salary for a biology major, same with an English major?</p>
I expect she will find a way to tie those together.</p>