Reply to Decline and fall of the English major

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No longer worth the money. We're in a new era of changing educational models.  Colleges and universities are outmoded so are spending $$ on marketing to survive which drives up tuition.  Americans are intent on sending all kids (which didn't happen 30 years ago to college) so will pay 55K a year for a lousy college in the middle of nowhere because they want Jr. to get a job.  Yet, that market has changed too.  No one with English majors can find jobs.  The  No. 1 lucractive college major is petroleum engineering.  Both of our kids want the BFA (meaning core education) but also to major in computer science (not offered at my fancy college where I majored in English many years ago).  The George Mason President said two days ago that their graduates get more jobs and at higher pay than any other school in the UVA system.  No I don't have the stats.  But the reason is the Dulles Tech. Corridor and the push for Engineering, Robotics, and Computer Science development in that school.  http://channels.netscape.com/pf/package.jsp?name=fte/profitablemajors/profitablemajors  [/quote]

Your hypothesis is not true and will never be true.  The basic core of education will always be worth an investment.  Is it worth $55K a year?  Probably not.  But I'd argue that no major is worth $55K per year.

Listen, I've worked for universities (as staff, not faculty).  They're not outmoded; that's ridiculous.  What happens is that people expect greater and greater levels of "service" for their investment, and I'm not talking about educational (teaching) quality.  When I went to college my dorm room had no A/C and the furniture was 40 years old.  It was good enough.  The fitness facilities and student life center were small but it was enough.  We were fed and housed, and we had EXCELLENT teachers.  What kids (and their families) want now is something akin to a resort experience for years at the end of which you are guaranteed a job.  This expectation is what's driving "investment" at universities on ever more luxurious and expansive facilities which are not, in the end, all that necessary to learning.  These kids (and in many cases, their parents) fail to equate the effort expended by the student on the resulting outcomes.  University is not a passive experience which is "done" to you like a spa day.  If you are not willing to work for it (and many of these students are not) well no, you will not be all that marketable regardless of your major.  If you work hard and are smart, you can take the skills learned from ANY major and do well in life.  I'm a #1 example of that (English AND Theater major THISCLOSE to making six figures).  Parents who continue to pay $$$$ for their lazy, entitled kids to fail deserve the results they get, IMO.[/quote]

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