Why Are Most Employable Majors Seemingly the Least Popular?

[Anonymous]

OP: I always wondered about the affectation of utilizing the word "cheers"as a sign off or when you say goodbye to someone in person. Ive noticed alot of State Department folks or those who travel internationally frequently do this like they're in some private club or something. I thought "cheers" was for clinking glasses and having a beer. Must be a Washington DC thing.....

[Anonymous]

well if everyone did the highest paying majors, those jobs wouldn't be the highest paying anymore because there would be increased supply over demand. Those jobs pay more because there is high demand and less people available to perform the work. So if everyone became engineers then history majors would probably be making a killing.

[Anonymous]

Funny that! I do work for the State Department! Adieu!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they are usually harder.

Really? I was an English major and I distinctly recall helping the engineering/math/science/econ majors I met in my classes who couldn't write an essay about literature to save their lives. "Hard" is really defined by your own natural skills, and I think we can all agree that it takes all kinds to make the world go around. I have an advanced degree and am employed as a professional, by the way.

How many people need to "write an essay about literature" ever in real life? Maybe a NYT book reviewer?

The ability to write a good essay speaks to critical thinking and organizational skills that are necessary for success in any profession - even the sciences. You sound like you were a business major, and by that I mean dumb.

Sure, but almost everyone can be taught to write coherently. It is not a very difficult skill to master. The hard sciences and math are much more difficult for the average person and many people will never be able to hack it in those majors. They can barely get through Calc I. I would be that the avg IQ of hard science and math majors is far above the avg IQ of English or poli sic majors.

You could not be more wrong. I used to work for a top-ranked university and the alumni would complain that the new graduates they hired could not write to save their lives. Many people cannot write coherently, much less with style and clarity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they are usually harder.

Really? I was an English major and I distinctly recall helping the engineering/math/science/econ majors I met in my classes who couldn't write an essay about literature to save their lives. "Hard" is really defined by your own natural skills, and I think we can all agree that it takes all kinds to make the world go around. I have an advanced degree and am employed as a professional, by the way.

Hard science major here. Should I talk about the English majors I had to help with the basics of Rocks for Jocks? Except that doesn't mean anything. Some people are good at different things, so folks are going to need help with their areas of weakness. Doesn't mean I think I am smarter than my more liberal arts inclined friends, just that we have different strengths.

That said, I do think the math/hard science majors are harder, in the sense that they have a higher minimum bar in terms of requirements - more classes/more hours, etc. But that's just the minimum bar - I think it's equally hard to truly excel in other fields.

By all means, do. I was one of those English majors who happily accepted the help of my math and science friends with those subjects. Obviously I wasn't denigrating mathematicians, scientists, economists or the like. Simply making the point that "harder" is in the eye of the beholder.

[Anonymous]

Why is the best-tasting food the most unhealthy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why? Because some people believe that your undergraduate education should not simply be pre-professional training. It should be about learning to think critically, write lucidly, and engage with ideas outside your comfort zone. Students should choose fields of study -- not sources of potential earnings -- that interest and excite them.

I'm not paying 7-grand a year to go to one of the best schools in the world and come out unemployed. The idealistic days when university was simply to expand your mind passed 50 years ago. We do this for jobs. In this economy, unless you fall ass-backwards into cash, we need to do this to work, not to be enlightened.

[Anonymous]

pre-med is very popular.

so is engineering.

both have huge weedout rates though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: I always wondered about the affectation of utilizing the word "cheers"as a sign off or when you say goodbye to someone in person. Ive noticed alot of State Department folks or those who travel internationally frequently do this like they're in some private club or something. I thought "cheers" was for clinking glasses and having a beer. Must be a Washington DC thing.....

They write lots of formal emails to their bosses and colleagues in other Embassies. "Sincerely, Hillary" sounds stilted in a many emails, depending on the context. Nobody who speaks English goes for the the French "Please accept the sincere expression of my best wishes...." Another sign-off that also works well is "Best, Hillary", but this doesn't work so well in conversation. "Cheers" works well in many contexts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is the best-tasting food the most unhealthy?

Best answer of the thread! Nothing is for free, people.

[Anonymous]

Late to this thread. Majors relying on heavy math skills tend to be least popular (and thus most employable later on). My personal theory is that it's because our system for teaching math in this country is really lacking, especially in the younger grades when building that first layer really matters most.

Think about your average elementary school teacher. Did she strike you as being very strong in math skills? Typically they're young women who go into it because they "love" kids, "hate" math, and actually admit to things like not being able to do fractions to save their lives

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread. Majors relying on heavy math skills tend to be least popular (and thus most employable later on). My personal theory is that it's because our system for teaching math in this country is really lacking, especially in the younger grades when building that first layer really matters most.

Think about your average elementary school teacher. Did she strike you as being very strong in math skills? Typically they're young women who go into it because they "love" kids, "hate" math, and actually admit to things like not being able to do fractions to save their lives

even students who are good at the first couple levels of calculus struggle with the math required for the most technical of majors.

it has nothing to do with teaching as much as math is an abstract subject and innate talent places greater constraints on it than other subjects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because they are usually harder.

so obvious. too hard that's why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Because some people believe that your undergraduate education should not simply be pre-professional training. It should be about learning to think critically, write lucidly, and engage with ideas outside your comfort zone. Students should choose fields of study -- not sources of potential earnings -- that interest and excite them.

I'm not paying 7-grand a year to go to one of the best schools in the world and come out unemployed. The idealistic days when university was simply to expand your mind passed 50 years ago. We do this for jobs. In this economy, unless you fall ass-backwards into cash, we need to do this to work, not to be enlightened.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Late to this thread. Majors relying on heavy math skills tend to be least popular (and thus most employable later on). My personal theory is that it's because our system for teaching math in this country is really lacking, especially in the younger grades when building that first layer really matters most.

Think about your average elementary school teacher. Did she strike you as being very strong in math skills? Typically they're young women who go into it because they "love" kids, "hate" math, and actually admit to things like not being able to do fractions to save their lives

+1