Tags
college, college debt, college tuition, major, mccrory, sociology
Wondering what to major in when you get to college? Major in getting a job. If you read my blog regularly, you know I don’t place a whole lot of value on today’s college education, but regardless, some of you are going anyway – so what should you major in?
Today’s WSJ article, “Jane Shaw: Higher Learning, Meet Lower Job ProspectsOutrage greets a governor who dared to suggest that college degrees should lead to employment” is classic. In case you can’t access this, I’ve posted a few soundbites here along with some commentary. The bottom line is, going to college is expensive – the colleges want your money, but they aren’t accepting the responsibility for getting you into a job – sign up for basket weaving or some other major that doesn’t prepare you, and they won’t discourage you. There are jobs out there – the problem is, few are qualified to fill them.
A recent blog post I came across listed several useless majors including:
Majors You Don’t Want to Pay For
- Fine arts – unemployment 12.6%, earning potential (EP) 45K (with extensive experience which you need a job to get…)
- Drama and theater arts – unemployment 7.8%, EP 45K
- Film, Video, and Photographic Arts – unemployment 12.6%, EP 50K
- Commercial art and graphic design – unemployment 11.8%, EP 49K
- Architecture – unemployment 13.9%, EP 64K
- Philosophy and religious studies – unemployment 10.8, EP 48K
- English literature – unemployment 9.2%, EP 52K
Why would someone spend the kind of money colleges are charging – or go into debt, to get one of these degrees, knowing they’ll end up unemployed? It doesn’t make sense to spend big money on something you love if it only leads to a hobby. At some point young people will be responsible for running a family, raising children, and paying taxes…as I watch young people going off to school, I am grieved to see them spending their parent’s life savings on an unplanned future.
This WSJ (linked above) reports on an interview between North Carolina’s new governor, Pat McCrory, and show host – former U.S. Education Secretary William J. Bennett. In the interview, McCrory points out that colleges and universities should be focusing students on degrees that will position them for employment – and perhaps for jobs that actually pay reasonable money. You can imagine the reaction from teachers who teach, what I call, filler classes. Not that arts and music, etc. are not part of a well rounded education, but for the money you pay to attend college, it seems like you should focus on stuff that will put you into a career with potential. Perhaps parents and students should pick their hobbies and extra curricular activities with “well-rounded” in mind. Opinion writer, Jane Shaw seems to have the right perspective here…Thanks for supporting McCrory on this one!
Anyway, here are some of the sound bites:
- “The problem, [McCrory] suggested, might be that many academic disciplines have no real practical applications.” – This is true…
- Jane Shaw comments – “McCrory wondered if state funding incentives should encourage areas of study that align with the job market…The funding formula, he said perhaps a bit indelicately, should not be based on the number of “butts in seats, but how many of those butts can get jobs.” – This sounds right to me.
- This was funny…”UNC-Chapel Hill geography professor Altha Cravey said the governor “was not elected to decide what has intellectual value and what does not.” – Can you picture Cravey squirming here, wondering about her own future employment?
- Sociology professor Andrew Perrin said that the governor’s comments reflected “a fundamental misunderstanding” of higher education. – Sociology? Another class I had to take that I will never benefit from.
It’s sad that college has come to this. 900 Billion dollars in college debt, mostly government funded, and most of it not being paid for by the graduate – in the end our tax dollars are going to fund this ruse.
© 2013, David Stelzl
Do you think that no one should pursue the fields listed, or just not if one has to pay to do so? My college tuition was covered by an academic scholarship (for my undergraduate degree) and then by an employee tuition waiver (for grad school). Some of the earning potentials for those sound like good salaries, if one’s personal expense to obtain the degree is low. (Then again, the tuition bill is still being footed by somebody–donors, taxpayers, or others. And there is the time expense to be considered.) I am assuming the earning potential for owning one’s own business is much higher (?), but I don’t personally feel gifted or led to be an entrepreneur. I do know this: Those with parents or other wise adults in their lives should take their career guidance to heart.
JAC – some great questions…I am not endorsing this other blog, however it sounds credible to me. College tuition is a fraction of the cost of college – the bigger investment is your time. Two of my main issues with college education…
1. Waiting until you are 22 or 24 before you actually do anything productive is a mistake. Most of the coursework you do will not contribute to your future or way of thinking in a positive way. Instead, I would recommend studying under an expert and getting your degree (if you need one) as quickly and inexpensively as possible – such as CLEP or something similar. Even if someone else pays. If you are set on going to school, study something general such as business or computers – something that can be applied to anything. Note, don’t expect to learn anything about business in business school. People with technical degrees earn more, even if they work in non-technical fields (according to a recent article in the WSJ).
2. Classroom teaching is destructive – it numbs your mind and strips you of creativity. If you want to do something creative – find someone creative and learn from them. Take courses, not classes. Read to become educated on things you need to know.
Finally – 50K may sound like a lot, but it sounds like you might not be married with children. Expect the cost of living to greatly increase as our government expands over the next 4 years…for many, they won’t have the opportunity to make more, but if you’re smart, you’ll learn to do something that multiplies this number before you get too much farther into life.
I earned a degree in one of the fields mentioned in the article. I learned a lot of things that would be great conversation at a cocktail party and not a lot that helped with actually doing the job. We were told by our professors concerning technical knowledge, “You’ll learn that on the job”. Now why did I pay for the schooling just to have to wait to learn it on the job?
The problem is that the government does not allow people to practice without certain credentials and those credentials usually start with a college degree.
Unfortunately government and large companies have set these policies – however, in many cases it is possible to work in a field you enjoy without the degree. The question is, “Do you need the title or are you wanting to help people in that area?”. For instance, there are many ways to help people with health, that may be less regulated than becoming a doctor. This may take some creativity, but it is possible. Owning your own business is another great way to avoid some of these traps. Sometimes you can simply hire the person with the degree you need to certify what you do.