Parents who don't allow their kids to major in liberal arts

[Anonymous]

Anybody can get a liberal arts degree. It's ridiculously easy. Not everybody can get a STEM degree. The STEM fields are difficult but they come easy for some people and employment after graduation is all but guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody can get a liberal arts degree. It's ridiculously easy. Not everybody can get a STEM degree. The STEM fields are difficult but they come easy for some people and employment after graduation is all but guaranteed.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting topic to me - We were at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago and I sat across from a guy at dinner who does all the executive level hiring for a large company based in Jacksonville. He said the trend now is swinging towards a preference for liberal arts majors. He said he can teach things specific to his industry, but he can't teach people to write. And the ability to write well is the most important thing. His experience is that liberal arts majors are better writers and better at thinking critically and solving complex problems.

Of course that's just one company. I'm sure there are examples of hiring managers who don't like liberal arts majors. I just thought it was interesting because his company is definitely what most would consider techy.

Hmmmm. That makes a lot of sense to me. The pendulum has swung so far in one direction that liberal arts majors are now somewhat scarce and of course desirable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day math and science majors are more difficult. Any decent student can write an essay and read a history book. Not every student can master computer science or differential equations. People are aware of this fact. anyone who took college level calculus classes and college level history classes is well aware of the difference.

LOL

Plenty of engineering students in the world who can't write a decent essay or understand a history book once they read it. I've worked with them and gone to school with them.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody can get a liberal arts degree. It's ridiculously easy. Not everybody can get a STEM degree. The STEM fields are difficult but they come easy for some people and employment after graduation is all but guaranteed.

Even if this were correct (and I'm not arguing this with you), what kind of world would it be if everyone had STEM degrees? If every child was forced into it whether they liked it or not? Going to school just because it might lead to a lucrative career isn't for everyone.

Anecdata: I have a friend whose parents told him they would only pay for a STEM degree (though we didn't call it that way back in the 90s). He wanted to go to college, so he acquiesced, when what he really wanted was a liberal arts degree. He was miserable. He's still miserable now, as an insurance salesman.
Just like on most of these threads, people have been ignoring the pro-liberal arts arguments. We can't all be--nor should we--in STEM careers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't all degree fields teach critical thinking? Is that really specific to liberal arts? I don't know anyone with a college degree who feels they missed out on the critical thinking portion of their college education.

I agree. I studied nursing and they drilled it in to us.

I went to nursing school to get an ABSN after graduating from a liberal arts school. What they teach you in nursing school isn't critical thinking. They say it is, and it works for nursing problems, but nurses are some of the most narrowly educated people I know.

I wouldn't change my path for the world.

But your money is wasted. You have the same job as other nurses.

[Anonymous]

How do you force your kid to major in a STEM? I'm not disagreeing with it, I just don't know how you follow through on the demand. When a kid goes to college they can pick their courses, they can drop and add, they can change majors. How do you know any of this?

And if the kid switches his major, you really going to yank them out? An obvious bluff nobody would ever follow through on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody can get a liberal arts degree. It's ridiculously easy. Not everybody can get a STEM degree. The STEM fields are difficult but they come easy for some people and employment after graduation is all but guaranteed.

This is all true. But liberals arts at an Ivy =/= liberal arts at Tailgate State. At Princeton you can major in whatever you want and banks and consulting shops and Silicon Valley will offer you $100K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you force your kid to major in a STEM? I'm not disagreeing with it, I just don't know how you follow through on the demand. When a kid goes to college they can pick their courses, they can drop and add, they can change majors. How do you know any of this?

And if the kid switches his major, you really going to yank them out? An obvious bluff nobody would ever follow through on.

Money. Yes, I would stop paying for poor grades, etc. My parents said I had to pick a major that lead to a career if they were paying. They supported fully what I choose. I wish they encouraged me to do something different (that lead to a career).

[Anonymous]

One of my sorority sisters majored in some worthless fashion-focused major. After three years of crappy jobs in NYC she went back to college for a nursing degree. I seriously doubt her first degree was worth $100K-plus to her nursing gig.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:These articles are so misleading. So you have an English degree from an Ivy or SLAC and got a 6 figure job out of college - whoop dee doo! What about the English major who went to community college then to a 3rd tier state university? Many of them are better off majoring in something practical.

I went to a third tier liberal arts school and then law school at Wash U. on a full ride. I got a very nice Biglaw job out of school and then went to a boutique firm before I started having kids. I make good money.

...because you have a law degree.

*shrug* I fully expect my kids to go to grad school or professional school. Don't you?

It's unnecessary if you get it right the first time around.

But if you just get an engineering degree, you didn't get it right. You have a person who is technically trained and can support themselves by working in their field, but they aren't educated enough to do anything else. They aren't ready to advance to management because they can't communicate or think across disciplines. They can't innovate well. They aren't ready to run a business. They aren't ready to be writers or voters or leaders because all they know is their field.

You don't honestly think that liberal arts schools are the only places in the world to get this? Look at the list of Fortune 500 CEOs. Do you think all of them have a liberal arts background? Most innovators didn't even finish college.

[Anonymous]

But if you just get an engineering degree, you didn't get it right. You have a person who is technically trained and can support themselves by working in their field, but they aren't educated enough to do anything else. They aren't ready to advance to management because they can't communicate or think across disciplines. They can't innovate well. They aren't ready to run a business. They aren't ready to be writers or voters or leaders because all they know is their field.




Haha haha, who told you this? The Liberal Arts fairy? Get your butt to the biomed and research firms around Maryland and see. You are needing to believe this for whatever personal reason you have, but it's a delusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't all degree fields teach critical thinking? Is that really specific to liberal arts? I don't know anyone with a college degree who feels they missed out on the critical thinking portion of their college education.

I agree. I studied nursing and they drilled it in to us.

+1. I'm not aware of any halfway decent 4 year college in the United States in which students, even if studying a field like accounting or nursing, don't take a slew of liberal arts courses before getting into their major classes.

That's the whole purpose of a four year degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you force your kid to major in a STEM? I'm not disagreeing with it, I just don't know how you follow through on the demand. When a kid goes to college they can pick their courses, they can drop and add, they can change majors. How do you know any of this?

And if the kid switches his major, you really going to yank them out? An obvious bluff nobody would ever follow through on.

College admin Here: when I worked in STEM I would have parents come in with their child to discuss them changing their major to STEM. I have also had students on the verge of an all out mental breakdown from the course work and the parent calling because they don't want their child to switch their major. It is horrible to see parents running their adult child's life, most of the time to the detriment of their own child's growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting topic to me - We were at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago and I sat across from a guy at dinner who does all the executive level hiring for a large company based in Jacksonville. He said the trend now is swinging towards a preference for liberal arts majors. He said he can teach things specific to his industry, but he can't teach people to write. And the ability to write well is the most important thing. His experience is that liberal arts majors are better writers and better at thinking critically and solving complex problems.

Of course that's just one company. I'm sure there are examples of hiring managers who don't like liberal arts majors. I just thought it was interesting because his company is definitely what most would consider techy.

Ha! We've heard the same thing about the large tech companies! We've also heard that medical schools are beginning to look at liberal arts majors over biology majors, for example - that the liberal arts majors are better at the patient assessment and diagnostics because of the critical thinking skills they practiced with a liberal arts major.