liberal arts and the workforce

[FrancaisDeutsch]

Education really has little value in the US (and most elsewhere in the world), unless you're creating the next IPad, coming up with a cure for cancer, or designing the next big "green" product (utmost practicality). There's been a steady decline for the past few hundred years as technology and modernity have increasingly pushed learning for learning's sake out of of the window (l'art pour l'art). Now, it has been long dead, and is highly unlikely to ever be resurrected in future generations. This is why you will never again see works of art like those created during the Renaissance, nor shall there ever be great philosophers so admired like St. Thomas Aquinas. And never again will there be town square get-togethers where people assemble to peacefully and intellectually debate the meaning of life as they once did in Ancient Greece. It also disheartens me to know that most modern-day Christians have little understanding or appreciation of the scope of the intellectual task Catholic monks assumed hundreds of years ago in order to translate the Bible. As they say in French, autre temps, autre mœurs (different times, different morals). I can only learn to accept.


Young adults really need to think twice before spending a lot of money to learn for learning's sake. Universities will gladly let you do it; in fact, they'll encourage you over and over again. At 18, you don't know what you're doing, and so when the 50,000 student loan bill comes in the mail four years later, you think to youself: What? How can this be? I don't even have prospects of a good job to be able to pay it. What cruel joke was this? .

[cdubs3201]

Originally Posted by mimsja

I'm going to be entering my last semester of college next
September. I will also be taking classes this summer. As I get
closer to graduation Im geting worried about the future. My major is liberal arts.
By liberal arts I mean that I've taken courses from a vareity of subjects such as history, English
Sociology ,political science ,art history,philosophy, humanities ,information studies ,music ,film studies
Biology and geography. I know that a this kind of major is good because of the skill
set a person develops but I've been reading a lot online about how liberal arts
grads never find work and are paid very little. I've thought about grad school but I don't
if I would have the GPA to get in and I've heard rumors that my desired field
(Library Science) dosent have a lot job prospects now and I worry that the library might be
shrinking. If there is anyone who was liberal arts major or who is a librarian can
you please shed some light on this.

You might want to work on your writing skills first. Most employers won't even consider you if you can't put together a complete sentence and paragraph structure, let alone place your commas in the right spots.

Unless you want to dig holes or pour concrete for a living.

[ryhoyarbie]

Originally Posted by Tekkie

I don't know you personally, so I can't really say what the deal is in your situation. What type of jobs do you apply for?

Jobs I've done in the past are retail type jobs (which don't pay anything), substituting, and briefly worked as a contract pharmacy technician (that job paid me the highest wage so far which is 14 dollars). Right now I work as a teacher's aide at an elementary school. The pay is well bellow poverty, but I think I might pursue a job in teaching.

I've applied for a few assistant manager positions, retail work, clerk at hotels, janitor work, fast food, etc. I've applied to a few jobs that required a bachelors degree, but most jobs I apply for require a high school diploma.

[Tekkie]

Originally Posted by ryhoyarbie

Jobs I've done in the past are retail type jobs (which don't pay anything), substituting, and briefly worked as a contract pharmacy technician (that job paid me the highest wage so far which is 14 dollars). Right now I work as a teacher's aide at an elementary school. The pay is well bellow poverty, but I think I might pursue a job in teaching.

I've applied for a few assistant manager positions, retail work, clerk at hotels, janitor work, fast food, etc. I've applied to a few jobs that required a bachelors degree, but most jobs I apply for require a high school diploma.

There's your problem. You need to step it up to the next level. Start applying to jobs that require a bachelor's degree.

[redroses777]

Originally Posted by dazeddude8

well you have the obvious "pursue the liberarin route" so you try that. Lets assume a few weeks/months go by and no luck on the library route, would you be willing to apply to something unrelated- sales, IT, data entry? Perhaps hit up some temp agencies and if no luck with the office type work, are you willing to go retail; target, block buster, cvs etc...?

I really do hope you get the library job and are able to work within your degree (is that not the dream of every college major?), however if you cannot find that job, do not be to stubborn/proud/stupid to settle for something else. Work-minimum wage, whatever is better than no work. What i would recomend is apply for the ideal route but be willing to look for other work if no luck.

I completely agree. Try to find a library job and if you don't find one, take anything you can get. Don't be afraid to work minimum wage. If you work in retail for minimum wage and they like your work, you can get into management training programs with your degree. A friend of mine started out at minimum wage in retail and was making $70,000 with 6 years because everyone liked him and he got promotions. He started out as a sales clerk.