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Myth: What you major in matters. Unless you are majoring in a field with government restricted licensing (e.g. medicine, nursing, engineering), your major has very little impact on your long term job prospects. 2 years of relevant work experience will turn someone with the most ludicrous area studies major into a better job candidate than someone fresh out of school with a directly relevant major and zero work experience. Do internships and get work experience while in school and your major is essentially meaningless as long as you graduate.
Arts' and Criminal Justice degrees are particularly worthless. One of the common sayings is that people with Arts degrees need to learn to say, "do you want fries with that"?
Arts' and Criminal Justice degrees are particularly worthless. One of the common sayings is that people with Arts degrees need to learn to say, "do you want fries with that"?
My wife graduated from an Arts program.
Every student in the program goes through a 2-year 30% time work assignment where they teach students in an arts institute setting and also take part in direct gig assignments where they take commissions from external employers, normally around 40-60 commissions by the time they were done with school. (These commissions also net them an extra ~$2-3k/yr in paid work on top of the ~$20k/yr they are paid for their work assignment.)
By the time the students leave, they already have a resume full of work experience, teaching reviews, student recommendations, and paid commissions.
As a result, the program has had a 100% post-grad placement rate for the last 25 years. Nearly every single student in that 25-year time is currently employed in full-time positions in their field, (a few have retired to raise families). Yes, this means they even counsel students with non-employment plans to instead take employment in the field just to keep their 100% placement rate.
What you perceive to be a "worthless degree" is actually a high number of worthless programs who do not put in the effort to give their students work experience, career counseling, and degree relevant job placement. Most of the degrees we perceive as high worth are actually just fields where programs and professors are expected to do extensive legwork to help students transition into their careers; while the "worthless" degrees are just fields of study where this rarely or never happens.
90% of what people learn in college is worthless. They are paying huge amounts of money for studies that will in no way help them in any later endeavor in life.
I am 67 and just going to college because I can. I am in my 4th semester and have a 4.0 GPA. Nothing that I have learned in college would have helped me in my earlier years working.
I would like to hear more about your experience. You are somewhat more unique because you have lived your life and had a career and now you can judget the higher education you receive backward to the life experience you have.
If you are in your 4th semester, you have been mostly learning general education courses. Most of these are designed to so-called "educate people into better citizens." You learn about the environment, social justice, history, politics and government, trending social thoughts and theories, and global awareness. Don't get me wrong. These topics are important, but the problems I see include some of the following:
1. The curriculum is all over the place, lacking a focus and a core that helps a student succeed in career and life. They learn little snippets of this and that, but those are not enough to propel students in the limited time they have, especially when they have debt.
2. Often the topics lean toward the political left, or even outright specific to the Democratic Party. The humanities must trascend these politics. What's happening is the opposite. They embrace the biases, stereotypes, and the trending fashion of the day, without being critical and non-partisan. The result is more indoctrination, less critical thinking. More ideology, less analysis. In fact, much of the environment has become outright hostile to any smell of a disagreement. It is a tragedy for the humanities.
So, overall, I think even if these topics should be taught, they aren't doing what they are supposed to do. Even if they do a great job in general education, students must still focus on cultivating marketable skills and specialize in something that they are very good at.
The reasons for this are complex. Faculty have their own interests. Often it is two fold: First, many have an ideological interest in pushing what they believe in. Second, they have a career interest in sustaining their job, their programs, and their finance. Unpopular topics make a living by institutionalizing a graduation requirement, so that like it or not, every one must take a certain course. Note that they tell you this is necessary knowledge, whatever. Partially true, and badly taught. The primary reason is that enrollment decline will cancel courses, which can threaten the existence of programs, departments, and even positions. Requiring everyone to take these courses is a guarantee for future enrollment. The faculty have stuff to do, teach what they like, and keep going that way. Remember, all this increases the cost of operating the university. It is inefficient and students are paying through their throat.
It doesn't end there. Once it's a requirement, it's very difficult to get rid of. It's like balooning of a program no one dares touch. When the topic is ethnicity, race, gender, any attempt to shrink or cancel such programs could be viewed as anti-social justice, in ways that canceling a biology class would absolutely not. Then, phony surveys are carried out to show administration that these courses work. They tell you, students become more open-minded, less bigoted, more integrated with their community, and so on and so forth. These "findings" are then used to justify more funding and support, which means tax payers money to pay additional instructors, support staff, grants for research no one cares, host expensive conferences with fabulous food and bags. What happens next is that they become an industry, spreading across many universities. There then are councils on these programs, national conferences, see where I'm going with this. It becomes a legitimate discipline, and most importantly, IMPROTANTLY, a necessary category on payroll and university structure that cannot be eliminated.
All that, all that, is paid by the tax payer who are constantly blamed and laughed at for their "anti-intellectualism." This is just how inefficient the system has become, how corrupt the system is. Publications in these fields criticize everybody else, but omit itself. They rarely tell you how the university is run. As a general public person, you see the university as an aspirational ivy tower, the lighted house on a hill. Knowledge, information, great things that transform our world. But this is why I think the public should sit in some of the university's internal meetings, administrators meetings where everything is about cost and "selling courses," yes, "selling," marketing meetings where petty programs get a face-lift for Twitter, union meetings where faculty reject change, fear technology, and fight turf wars. I assure you that you will have a very different view of higher education and of that lighted house on the hill.
Universities are run like businesses. Administrators get up at 5:30am in the morning to prepare for business meetings. Universities are largely broke, many fearing close down. They want more students and higher tuition to sustain their operations, sadly including all the worthless services and programs that no one dares to touch. Wake up.
Arts' and Criminal Justice degrees are particularly worthless. One of the common sayings is that people with Arts degrees need to learn to say, "do you want fries with that"?
Not just arts and criminal justice. There are many other degrees that poorly prepare students.
Women and Gender Studies
Social Justice Studies
Civic Engagement
Diversity Studies
Ethnic Studies
Religious Studies
Urban Studies
Latino Studies
Many in the creative fields without applications
Most of the things taught in college have no value in the real world. Why some are required, I don't think anyone knows. At least two classes of Algebra are required for an AA. Very few will ever need it for a profession. Most of the history classes are so sanitized as to be worthless. They are just plain full of lies.
Every student in the program goes through a 2-year 30% time work assignment where they teach students in an arts institute setting and also take part in direct gig assignments where they take commissions from external employers, normally around 40-60 commissions by the time they were done with school. (These commissions also net them an extra ~$2-3k/yr in paid work on top of the ~$20k/yr they are paid for their work assignment.)
By the time the students leave, they already have a resume full of work experience, teaching reviews, student recommendations, and paid commissions.
As a result, the program has had a 100% post-grad placement rate for the last 25 years. Nearly every single student in that 25-year time is currently employed in full-time positions in their field, (a few have retired to raise families). Yes, this means they even counsel students with non-employment plans to instead take employment in the field just to keep their 100% placement rate.
What you perceive to be a "worthless degree" is actually a high number of worthless programs who do not put in the effort to give their students work experience, career counseling, and degree relevant job placement. Most of the degrees we perceive as high worth are actually just fields where programs and professors are expected to do extensive legwork to help students transition into their careers; while the "worthless" degrees are just fields of study where this rarely or never happens.
Two things.
1. Making studies workplace relevant is always good for students. It prepares them in a focused way. The arts programs you mentioned are doing an incredibly better job than most programs. In fact,I KNOW programs where people insist on not doing things that are workplace related, not for the purpose of finding a job, often a sense of arrogance toward those that do.
2. Some fields are indeed larger and easier to get good jobs. Some fields are worse and more difficult. That difference is still there. In the arts (studio arts), only the 1% can do well. Most are baristas, waiting tables and waiting for that opportunity to ascend. Few get it. Most will have to struggle.
Most of the things taught in college have no value in the real world. Why some are required, I don't think anyone knows. At least two classes of Algebra are required for an AA. Very few will ever need it for a profession. Most of the history classes are so sanitized as to be worthless. They are just plain full of lies.
See my earlier post on why they are required.
To sum it up, it is a combination of financial interests, ideological interests, institutional turf-protection, university job security, etc.
Not just arts and criminal justice. There are many other degrees that poorly prepare students.
Women and Gender Studies
Social Justice Studies
Civic Engagement
Diversity Studies
Ethnic Studies
Religious Studies
Urban Studies
Latino Studies
Many in the creative fields without applications
All is not lost if you screw up when you're younger and get one of these degrees and have a decent GPA.
I have a degree in criminal justice, I intended to go to law school, but it wasn't going to work out for me. I graduated with a 3.7 GPA. After working some crappy jobs after graduation in my hometown I moved down here to FL and found a position with a marketing research firm. They didn't have a specific requirement for degrees for entry level positions, but wanted motivated and intelligent individuals. They would accept anyone into an entry level MR position as long as they had ANY 4 year degree and at least a 3.5 GPA. Some companies are flexible like that you just have to seek them out. I'm now self employed so my degree doesn't matter at all, and that's another route you can go. My marketing & sales experience I gained helped me more than anything to get my own business going. About the only thing I can think of that school helped me with is that it taught me to write & communicate clearly & professionally.
Not just arts and criminal justice. There are many other degrees that poorly prepare students.
Women and Gender Studies
Social Justice Studies
Civic Engagement
Diversity Studies
Ethnic Studies
Religious Studies
Urban Studies
Latino Studies
Many in the creative fields without applications
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