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I went to go watch the debates yesterday with a buddy and some of his college friends were there and I was surprised to see a lot of them where poly sci/liberal arts majors. It got me thinking that if the economy is so bad, shouldn't people be majoring in things that are practical? I mean I'm not against the liberal arts in fact, I enjoy them, but I thought things changed after the recession or is it just me?
I went to go watch the debates yesterday with a buddy and some of his college friends were there and I was surprised to see a lot of them where poly sci/liberal arts majors. It got me thinking that if the economy is so bad, shouldn't people be majoring in things that are practical? I mean I'm not against the liberal arts in fact, I enjoy them, but I thought things changed after the recession or is it just me?
Liberal Arts are only impractical if you insist that a job be directly related to the degree. There are jobs out there that can be filled by History majors. They are not necessarily directly related to History. College does not have to be vocational training.
Because why major in engineering or mathematics if I'm not very enthusiastic about crunching numbers my entire life? Some people have more money-making potential in things they are actually INTERESTED in. A civil engineering degree doesn't mean squat if I hate my job and don't wanna get up in the morning to work.
Also, not everything in life hinges on making massive amounts of money. So there's that.
Because why major in engineering or mathematics if I'm not very enthusiastic about crunching numbers my entire life? Some people have more money-making potential in things they are actually INTERESTED in. A civil engineering degree doesn't mean squat if I hate my job and don't wanna get up in the morning to work.
Also, not everything in life hinges on making massive amounts of money. So there's that.
Most schools confer a mathematics degree in their liberal arts school.
I think liberal arts degrees should be exposed today for what they really are: absolute ripoffs.
I'd go so far as to say it's a borderline conspiracy among the academic elite in the vast majority of U.S. colleges to even offer liberal arts degrees.
People major in the liberal arts because many times they simply don't know what to do and that's to be expected at 18-20, especially if the person has limited to no professional experience. Good liberal arts professors and programs can be stimulating and fun, but it doesn't mean they're useful in this moribund economy.
I ended up a political science and sociology minor and a political science major for many years. The political science courses wore me down after my politics changed into opposition from the majority of the program, but one professor stood out particularly well. He was an older gentleman, perhaps 70 at the time, and is now mid 70s. I took "Classical Political Theory," "Idea of the City," and "Political Life" with him, and maybe more courses. He provided a lot of academic guidance, especially when it come to the theory of the city, suburbs, planning, etc. He also provided a lot of grandfatherly personal advice, and corrected me once he believed my drinking to be out of control. Even though our politics differed immensely, there are times where I wish I could still seek his counsel. He is a great man. I learned some things in other American politics courses that have stuck, but "Latin American Politics" and "Chinese Politics" are long forgotten and useless.
My favorite professor and prime mentor was a sociology professor. He was a former Marxist who in his 40s woke up to become a wonderful patriot. The man is now a scholar of jihad and Islam and has had quite a bit of his work incorporated into military training manuals. The man helped me get on the right course in life. Some of my fondest college memories are in his courses.
I also had a history minor for quite awhile and met wonderful people there. How many people would rather take a programming course over the historical Jesus? These classes were interesting, emotionally/spiritually meaningful, and taught me how to write wonderfully. Very few people get that deeper level of emotional fulfillment from STEM courses.
I ended up an economics major and learned even more there. The things I learned in economics stick with me a few years out. Economics is something I enjoy and pursue on my own.
None of these disciplines prepared me for the working world at all. I learned how to write, speak, critically think, and evaluate business decisions, yet none of the coursework I had prepared for anything at all. I went from happy as a clam in my math/econ bubble in school to miserable in the real world - answering IT support questions over the telephone. My life now isn't horrible, but I wonder what it could have been. I make better money and am a lot better off financially than most of my liberal arts peers, but I truly worry about how pitifully liberal arts are regarded.
I went to go watch the debates yesterday with a buddy and some of his college friends were there and I was surprised to see a lot of them where poly sci/liberal arts majors. It got me thinking that if the economy is so bad, shouldn't people be majoring in things that are practical? I mean I'm not against the liberal arts in fact, I enjoy them, but I thought things changed after the recession or is it just me?
If they don't take liberal arts programs, how would they be able to coast through the year getting high and occupying Wall Street for weeks at a time?
I work in recruiting and staffing for a large Fortune 500 Company and we get thousands of resumes from liberal arts majors asking for a job, any job. Some tell us to pick the right job for them and they will do it. Many others want to get into a so called management training program where they expect us to hire them without any identifiable career skills and train them to become a manager in one of our functional departments. With rare exceptions so called management trainee programs do not exist anymore. 99% of these liberal arts graduates resume end up in the waste basket.
What people don't understand is that companies don't want to train anyone, they want people who can come in and hit the ground running. So unless you were trained to do something that 99% of the population can't do, you will stay unemployed unless you accept a minimum wage unskilled labor job. At least college graduates from a career program with internship experiences have a fighting chance. Liberal Arts students can only get into the office world if they have a unique talent, lots of luck, administrative support skills or salesmanship talents.
Last edited by Human Resources Expert; 10-05-2012 at 07:35 AM..
I think liberal arts degrees should be exposed today for what they really are: absolute ripoffs.
I'd go so far as to say it's a borderline conspiracy among the academic elite in the vast majority of U.S. colleges to even offer liberal arts degrees.
I participated in not one, but three new business startups. Sold the third one to my employees and am semi-retired at age 50. Now I work with the clients I like, guiding them in their own businesses. I tell MBAs how to do their jobs and, because my advice is awfully good, they've profited from it. Why just last week, I called on a large furniture company who, after following my recommendations, have seen a huge boost in sales because I guided them through rejiggering their collections, cleaning up their distribution channels, and generally giving them a more aggressive posture. Next week, I meet with a $100 million computing company to juice their long-term business strategy. And the list goes on.
I earned my degree in English. And as I was earning my degree in English 30 years ago, there were all kinds of half-witted and snide remarks about starving to death, not earning a decent living, etc. Guess what? I'm the guy who no longer has to slave away all day at a job I don't like for someone I don't like in my middle management position. I don't, at age 50, worry about the axe falling because someone up in corporate feels that 'new blood' is needed.
Because what guys like you don't get, and never will get, is that a good liberal arts education teaches you to absorb abstract information from a host of different sources and synthesize it into workable ideas. It teaches you to slice through a bull**** argument and get to the core problem. It teaches you to think beyond the limitations of whatever industry you call home. It teaches you to clearly express ideas, whereas the average business major seems to be severely handicapped in that regard.
Hell, Steve Jobs, the greatest CEO of the past fifty years, found that typography and calligraphy was the most influential college course he took. I'm sure that, when he did, some guy like you snorted and said, "Typography? What the hell are you going to do with that?"
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