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Humanities people know how to think, write and problem solve in a general and social context. That is quite hard to teach someone in OJT. They can learn special skills or focus areas to do a technical job. We all have had experiences with technically trained workers with no people skills and can't articulate a clear or concise thought. I was the head of information systems not because I was a technical guru but because I knew how to hire good people and plainly express the needs and plans of the organization in writing and verbally in meetings.
They are still considered "desirable majors". They are the most informative, broadly educational and flexible.
I agree with this. I also like English majors.
Undergrad college is about teaching you how to "think", and also expose you to a wide variety of subject matter. That makes you a "well rounded person".
Specialized training afterwards, or an MA or Ph.D. is where the specialization comes in .
I have always hired liberal arts, english majors, and humanities majors. They are well rounded, and if you take them to a dinner party, or gathering with clients, they can converse on a wide variety of subject matter, which is what part of being a great employee depends upon, to me. Since nobody goes out to work in a world of sameness and cookie cutter people.
Liberal arts and humanities majors are also usually well-read.
So 2/3rds do not. Average people do not have a baccalaureate degree. MOST people do not.
And that is going by YOUR statistics, which is rather high, according to my own research.
Yes, about 2/3 do not. Nevertheless, even 1/3 of the population having a degree no longer makes it as elite as it once was.
So 2/3rds do not. Average people do not have a baccalaureate degree. MOST people do not.
And that is going by YOUR statistics, which is rather high, according to my own research.
A lot depends on the area of the country you are in. West coast and northern east coast have higher percentages of college grads. I've lived in NY and NJ. Am now in FL and truly miss educated people.
My husband's undergraduate degree is in English in the mid 80's. What has helped him a lot in his profession (in addition to another degree) is the ability to write. He's not in a career one would think of when one thinks about writing skills, but it does demand lots of writing and lots of analysis skills.
The summer before our daughter started college her intention was to be an English and Spanish major. She had an appointment with a well known doctor in our town. He asked her about her plans. He tried to convince her to take the pre-med classes also also as medical schools need people that have a wider skill set and of different set of thinking skills that traditional science majors often don't have.
I'd have to search for it, but a recent comprehensive report completely blew the idea that only STEM degrees lead to success right out of the water - many LA degrees had somewhat slower starts but could considerably exceed later and lifetime earnings over commodity tech degrees.
Most of what people think they know about degrees is mythological BS, driven by the absymal practice of choosing a field by whatever will be hot in four years, and the idea that anything not core STEM is basket-weaving.
I have a liberal arts degree and I've been in tech for over 20 years. The ones with degrees in computer science (even master's degrees) are often mediocre and sometimes dangerously incompetent. Not all...but many. The ones with degrees from foreign universities are usually worse.
Is this true regarding Humanities Majors in the early 1980s?
Back in the sixties you could get a job with any degree. That slowed down somewhat in the mid seventies because of the oil recessions of 73 and 81. Like YorktownGal said the higher the GPA the better. As the American workplace changed these English majors were hired in larger numbers because the work place got more demanding and less forgiving. The role of Human Resources changed. Companies were just starting to use rolling layoffs as a tool and these English majors could write individualized separation agreements without too many changes by company attorneys.
Times have changed and Americans in general are less valued when an English speaking foreigner can prepare these packages in India.
Is this true regarding Humanities Majors in the early 1980s?
Back in the sixties you could get a job with any degree. That slowed down somewhat in the mid seventies because of the oil recessions of 73 and 81. Like YorktownGal said the higher the GPA the better. As the American workplace changed these English majors were hired in larger numbers because the work place got more demanding and less forgiving. The role of Human Resources changed. Companies were just starting to use rolling layoffs as a tool and these English majors could write individualized separation agreements without too many changes by company attorneys.
Times have changed and Americans in general are less valued when an English speaking foreigner can prepare these packages in India.
Define "prepare," though.
I just rejected an entire deployment and set a project back at least an entire day because their deployment request failed code review (and I reemphasized that the time for code review is before they request a deployment). I sent it back to India for re-work. We'll see what our "highly skilled" counterparts come up with.
My husband's undergraduate degree is in English in the mid 80's. What has helped him a lot in his profession (in addition to another degree) is the ability to write. He's not in a career one would think of when one thinks about writing skills, but it does demand lots of writing and lots of analysis skills.
The summer before our daughter started college her intention was to be an English and Spanish major. She had an appointment with a well known doctor in our town. He asked her about her plans. He tried to convince her to take the pre-med classes also also as medical schools need people that have a wider skill set and of different set of thinking skills that traditional science majors often don't have.
Soft skills like a good writing ability are expected "out of the box" these days. There's no special bonus for having them, but a handicap for not.
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