What’s your college major? No more philosophy or classics
As a parent of two college students pursing liberal arts degrees, I wonder about their job prospects and whether their areas of study will have any relevance to what they end up doing.
There seems to a change under way in the perceived role of colleges. While it used to be that we saw higher ed as providing an education for life, we now seem to want it to provide an education for careers.It was enough that college taught students how to think; now students want to learn how to do something.
A New York Times story says a lot of parents and students are concerned about the relevance question in this bleak job market. But even before the economy tanked, students were becoming more interested in majors that would help them secure jobs.
In response, colleges are dropping long-standing majors that no longer appeal to goal-oriented students, including philosophy and classical studies
According to the Times