Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That has been my experience with high schools in colleges. Nobody I know personally was encouraged during high school to pursue degrees that were marketable. It was never explained what degrees were in demand locally or abroad. They simply asked you what you were interested in and that was the end of it.
Also colleges don't take the time to explain to students that the degree they are pursuing might not land them a job after college. Average salaries and things like that aren't part of the discussion either.
I don't understand are you refuting these claims? I realize the speech was a bit inflammatory but if you have a counter-point I would love to hear it. I'm not trolling here. Locally it is a huge problem. All of the people I know with computer science and enginnering degrees had no problems finding jobs. People with Psych or Photography degrees are still working in restaurants.
I think that part of the issue is that people are looking at a college education as if it were a vocational certification. A college education may prepare a person for the job market, but most college degrees do not prepare a person for a specific job. The person has to make his way in the world and figure out a career path that works for them.
Certain degrees do prepare students for specific jobs so some people assume that the degrees that do not prepare students for specific jobs are "useless." A degree should not be judged by its ability to get you ONE job, the first one out of school. It should be judged by what it does for you for your entire lifetime. It is certainly more difficult for that History major to get started in life, yet the mid career average salary of a History major is pretty similar to that of a Nursing major despite the more difficult start.
Liberal Arts Degrees, often referred to as "useless" degrees, teach people how to think critically, process information, and write succinctly and coherently. These skills are not "useless" in the workplace, at all.
Getting an entry level job in most of the general business areas (marketing, HR, administration, etc) is not difficult at all, as long as you have work experience. That is the problem (not the actual degree). Kids today expect to get a job based on a degree alone. Kids should show a progressive level of work experience thoughout High School and College. While this can certainly begin with a cashier position, it shoudl really end with internships or business office positions.
One should not have an issue with a "useless" degree, as long as there is work experience.
If everyone got computer science and engineering degrees, there'd be even less jobs for the computer scientists and engineers than there are now (not a lot).
So, if you were an engineer (I am), then why would you want that?
It's my firm wish that 99% of people from every generation from now on decides NOT to pursue engineering.
MANY people want to do what they love to do. Not what brings home to bacon. I'd rather be smart and educated in field I enjoyed than miserable making 200k a year in a job I hate.
I would rather work at a job that I hate then be 50k in debt with a useless degree and work at mcdonalds...
If everyone got computer science and engineering degrees, there'd be even less jobs for the computer scientists and engineers than there are now (not a lot).
So, if you were an engineer (I am), then why would you want that?
It's my firm wish that 99% of people from every generation from now on decides NOT to pursue engineering.
Going to school for something fun and not having a job in mind is a fantasy that a lot of people can't afford to live.
One of my points is that instead of spending so much money and occupying 4 years of your life, you could be learning a useful trade.
I just don't understand why you would go to college without the ultimate goal of gaining employment that allows you to support yourself. Rich people aside I just don't understand it. When did college become about the "experience" and not a means to a goal. College shouldn't be viewed as a career or what you are "supposed" to do after high school.
Remember the guy during the presidential debates asking the candadites what they were going to do to help him get a job? There is something wrong with that sentiment that you should be entitled to a job after college. It was my experience, that when I was in high school that the job market and potential for employment wasn't even part of the conversation. I see that as a problem.
I would rather work at a job that I hate then be 50k in debt with a useless degree and work at mcdonalds...
Exactly. Many students don't understand the difference between an interesting course that they enjoy and job field that they can work in. You can love world lit classes, but there is no corresponding job, so after you've enjoyed your 4 years of courses there is nothing there for you to love doing. I have students planning to major in fashion because they like clothing, or lit because they like reading, or history because they like the history channel (seriously, that is a reason I have been given for choosing a history major). If these were rich kids it would be OK, but some of these people are from working class families and will be taking loans, or worse, some are single moms with small children and will be financing these silly degrees partly with dollars from govt programs and partly with loans. Bad all around.
They aren't choosing these majors because there is something they love doing. They are choosing them because there is a huge disconnect between actual careers you can love and courses of study you can love. The liberal arts is an antiquated curriculum which simply doesn't relate in any meaningful way to what people do for a living today. This BS about how it's not about getting a job certificate or it's about critical thinking skills (puhlease, I teach undergrads, and they have none no matter what they major in) is nothing but college marketing. It's absurd to suggest that someone should invest 4 years and 50-100K on a program of "study" that isn't related to anything one will actually be doing 40 hours a week for the rest of one's life.
The liberal arts is an antiquated curriculum which simply doesn't relate in any meaningful way to what people do for a living today. This BS about how it's not about getting a job certificate or it's about critical thinking skills (puhlease, I teach undergrads, and they have none no matter what they major in) is nothing but college marketing. It's absurd to suggest that someone should invest 4 years and 50-100K on a program of "study" that isn't related to anything one will actually be doing 40 hours a week for the rest of one's life.
There are PLENTY of LA degrees that translate into "real" jobs.
I would like to have a meaningful discussion about the "entitlement" generation and the problem with many young people pursuing degrees that are not marketable.
Young people today seem to think that Degree = Job and with the increasing number of people going to college the job market is more competitive than ever. What can be done to encourage young people to pursue degrees that will land them a job after college? This issue does not seem to be covered enough. These conversations are not being had at the high school level. I think parents are partly to blame because a lot don't realize how drastically the job market has changed over the years. High schools don't encourage kids to take something marketable, they encourage them to take something "fun" or "interesting". Colleges don't care what you take as long as they get your money.
There are too many kids graduating and crying they can't get a job because they got a BS in Psychology. What can be done? Discuss...
A useless degree is better than no degree.
Has the job market changed "drastically" over the years? Was a History or Psy BA any more valuable in 1965 than it is now?
A lot of coeds don't care what they major in. They just can go to the gym and get tight and hang out at the med school library....
Who are you to claim which majors are useless? [Probably someone who has simply researched the internet for five minutes and looked at the hiring statistics for different majors...]
I majored in English Literature as an undergrad. A degree many would consider unpractical. However, I am gainfully employed as a writer and my employer is paying for me to go to grad school to get my MS in professional writing (business/tech).
Not every degree people assume is bs actually turns out to be bs.
I wasn't entitled to a job. I have work experience from the age of 15 and wonderful references.
For everyone one person that can write this, there are 69 who are sitting on their fourth point of contact answering phones somewhere....
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
