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Or, to your point, why do people major in business? Jeez Louise, what a dead end major that is. It's the equivalent of General Studies, not only dooming large numbers to being middle-level managers or sales reps, but also making them terribly uninteresting people at cocktail parties.
At least with business geez louise you can do something with that .I am still confused on general studies and by the title of this thread Liberal Arts ?
At least with business geez louise you can do something with that .I am still confused on general studies and by the title of this thread Liberal Arts ?
General studies and liberal arts are pretty much the same thing.
Sorry but "business majors" are a dime a dozen and have no better job prospects than a Liberal Arts major.
with planning, majoring in liberal arts is fine-but there must be planing there must be legwork on your part. But to go to school and come home everyday, no internship, no summer work, etc... is a recipie for diaster.
At least with business geez louise you can do something with that .I am still confused on general studies and by the title of this thread Liberal Arts ?
Actually, I wrote that to make a point. A business degree is incredibly generic in nature and really doesn't teach anyone but a smattering of things. At least a liberal arts degree teaches on how to accumulate abstract information and synthesize it into a coherent theme.
To build on what you just wrote, the thing I've noticed at the mid-point of my career is that most of the career-driven majors started out with a higher salary and better immediate career prospects, but tend to stall upon reaching a certain point, particularly when moving up into managerial positions. Meanwhile, of the seven or eight English majors I graduated with, three of them are executives at very large companies, while I've had a very successful entrepreneurial career, one that has gotten me a couple of mentions in the Wall Street Journal and some guest lectureships at three MBA programs around my region.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chemistry_Guy
Even within the field of a "hard science" discipline like chemistry, the individuals that tend to be the most successful are those that master the non-scientific portion of their jobs. The people that simply learn the skills and technical expertise end up as replaceable lab techs.
The idea that skills=jobs=money so the more direct training you get the more money you will make falls apart under even the most basic scrutiny.
I spend a LOT of time in the offices of executives. Want to know how I size them up? I scan their bookcases. If I see one or two management books on their shelves, no problem. If I see four to five, I think the guy might be searching for answers. If I see more than that, I know the guy is floundering and in way over his head. Because while one or two books might cover the basic principles, management is really only 50% about establishing broad principles based on the broad strategic goals of a company and adapting those principles over time to the situation at hand. The other 50% is understanding and relating to individuals.
Management requires instinct, the ability to see abstract issues, the ability to communicate effectively, the ability to know when to step on the gas, and the ability to juggle a host of competing priorities.
Because so many people feel compelled to majoring in something more "stable", like medicine, business, etc. when they don't like it, it really takes the joy out of life.
Maybe some choose Liberal Arts degrees because there are more evening and online classes, and more availability of these classes in general. You don't see many online Biology classes , but English, Pol. Sci, and all those are always available.
I just spent the last 4 years working full time and going to local community college part time. I spoke with some of the younger students about why they chose the degree they were majoring in. I remember one really smart girl in particular who I had chemistry with who was transferring for a Sociology degree. She said she really wanted a degree in Biology, but she had to work full time like me, during the day. None of the chemistry or biology classes at the local community college here are in the evening, so she changed to a degree she could actually be able to achieve. She also mentioned with all the Gen. Ed classes as well as the pre-reqs for science it would take her at least 3, if not 4 years to be able to transfer. She did the AA in Liberal Arts and transferred in 2.
Also, I wonder if counselors tend to push those degrees more? When I first started they told me I should do a Liberal Arts AA degree. Had me doing all the IGETC Gen Ed. It wasn't until I talked to the MESA director that I felt someone could actually help me toward a science degree. At least 3 of the counselors I saw seemed to have no clue about what to take for anything other than Liberal Arts degree. And with what I did major in I didn't even need the IGETC Gen. Ed stuff. Ended up taking way more than I needed to.
its not the major that is the problem, it is the student. way too many students are in college who shouldn't be and your poorer student is more likely to go into an "easy" subject, hence the trend we are seeing. you don't need to major in a hard science to get a good job.
its not the major that is the problem, it is the student. way too many students are in college who shouldn't be and your poorer student is more likely to go into an "easy" subject, hence the trend we are seeing. you don't need to major in a hard science to get a good job.
Actually, this is a good point, although I dispute your apparent notion that liberal arts are "easy." To me, the easy disciplines are some of the career driven majors such as early childhood development or hospitality management and the like.
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I am still confused on general studies and by the title of this thread Liberal Arts ?
