I don't know why folks are giving examples of History majors going into finance or business or whatever, as "successful" examples.

Successful examples are kids who work for Ken Burns, or get positions at Museums or become authors like David McCullough (albeit, maybe not at the same level), or become tenured History professors.

Not the same, but if you ask a kid studying Film...they don't list some alternate career as their version of success...they list famous screenwriters or directors or producers...you know jobs in Film as what they are after.

Do you tell your History major kids that you are fine with them studying history because you are so excited they work in Finance or go to Law School?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a professional historian and what bothers me isn't so much the number of majors, it's that the number of faculty and course offerings are so dependent on majors. Wouldn't it be GREAT if students focused on business, economics, engineering, comp sci, etc also had a strong grounding in history? Wouldn't it be awesome if it were part of the tool kit for future leaders?

I would love to see history integrated across the curriculum. But I guess I AM describing liberal arts education.

Just curious…do you believe history majors should also have a strong grounding in business, engineering, economics and CS?

NP, but sounds awesome. I think it's really hard to understand history without a little bit of understanding economics-not so much the rest of those things. Digital humanities is a real field with coding concepts so bring it in. How would you like engineering to be introduced to the humanities?

Inventions related to need at time of history?

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Anonymous wrote:It’s so frustrating to see history education fading away. As a history grad, it feels like history programs are becoming a rare breed, overshadowed by more “practical” majors. Take liberal arts colleges like Amherst—once bastions of broad, critical thinking—they’re slowly getting pushed aside for programs that are more focused on job training.

It’s like we're losing the value of understanding our past in favor of immediate career prospects. History teaches us to think critically, understand complex narratives, and appreciate diverse perspectives. But with fewer history programs and a shift toward more vocational degrees, it’s worrying that future generations might miss out on these crucial skills. Instead of pushing students into the latest job market trends, colleges should be championing the importance of a well-rounded education.

Your critical thinking skills must not be as strong as you think they are. Plenty of ways to develop the skills you cite without going to college and majoring in history.

Who are you people who think a knowledge of HISTORY is not important?

We are becoming dumber as a nation every day, apparently.

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Anonymous wrote:I have a history degree, loved my classes and still value the research, study and writing skills I learned. But, I had no help from my college translating the degree/skills to the workplace. It was depressing. I discouraged my kids from majoring in history. I'd be all for it as a 2nd BA. Maybe open curriculum and encouraging students to double major across fields is the way forward. Or better career advising and alum networks.

100% correct.

Need to attend law school or business school in order to be desired by employers.

The CIA heavily recruits history majors at my kid’s non- ivy school.

An organization that has been a non-stop failure at least since 9/11, lmao.

Thread title should be “History is history”

Anonymous wrote:It's funny that history majors do t realize historically history majors are useless

That's probably because we have jobs.

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Anonymous wrote:Business and Nonprofits

Kenneth Chenault — CEO and Chairman, American Express; Chairman, General Catalyst Partners
Bowdoin Coll.


Carly Fiorina — Businesswoman, Hewlett-Packard
Stanford Univ.

Chris Hughes — Co-Founder, Facebook
Harvard Univ.

Sam Kass — Chef, Nonprofit Leader
Univ. of Chicago

Robert L. Johnson — Entrepreneur, BET
Univ. of Illinois

Alexis Ohanian — Co-Founder and Chairman, Reddit
Univ. of Virginia

Sam Palmisano — CEO, IBM
Johns Hopkins Univ.

John Pepper — CEO and Chairman, Procter & Gamble
Yale Univ.

Martha Stewart — Businesswoman
Barnard Coll.

Sevetri Wilson — CEO, Resilia
Louisiana State Univ.

Susan Diane Wojcicki — CEO, YouTube
Harvard Univ.

Lists like this are useless, because you would take up multiple DCUM pages to provide the same type of list of business undergad majors (by far, the most popular major of CEOs)...or any number of STEM majors. Literally, the ratio is like 250-to-1.

If anything, it just proves how rare of a major it is at top levels of companies.

The list of business majors that didn’t go on to positions like this or anywhere close would be much, much longer.

No way! Are you saying business majors tend to go into…business. Who would’ve thunk?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Business and Nonprofits

Kenneth Chenault — CEO and Chairman, American Express; Chairman, General Catalyst Partners
Bowdoin Coll.


Carly Fiorina — Businesswoman, Hewlett-Packard
Stanford Univ.

Chris Hughes — Co-Founder, Facebook
Harvard Univ.

Sam Kass — Chef, Nonprofit Leader
Univ. of Chicago

Robert L. Johnson — Entrepreneur, BET
Univ. of Illinois

Alexis Ohanian — Co-Founder and Chairman, Reddit
Univ. of Virginia

Sam Palmisano — CEO, IBM
Johns Hopkins Univ.

John Pepper — CEO and Chairman, Procter & Gamble
Yale Univ.

Martha Stewart — Businesswoman
Barnard Coll.

Sevetri Wilson — CEO, Resilia
Louisiana State Univ.

Susan Diane Wojcicki — CEO, YouTube
Harvard Univ.

Lists like this are useless, because you would take up multiple DCUM pages to provide the same type of list of business undergad majors (by far, the most popular major of CEOs)...or any number of STEM majors. Literally, the ratio is like 250-to-1.

If anything, it just proves how rare of a major it is at top levels of companies.

The list of business majors that didn’t go on to positions like this or anywhere close would be much, much longer.

OK...and so is the list of History majors that don't go onto positions like this or anywhere close.

Do you have a point?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Business and Nonprofits

Kenneth Chenault — CEO and Chairman, American Express; Chairman, General Catalyst Partners
Bowdoin Coll.


Carly Fiorina — Businesswoman, Hewlett-Packard
Stanford Univ.

Chris Hughes — Co-Founder, Facebook
Harvard Univ.

Sam Kass — Chef, Nonprofit Leader
Univ. of Chicago

Robert L. Johnson — Entrepreneur, BET
Univ. of Illinois

Alexis Ohanian — Co-Founder and Chairman, Reddit
Univ. of Virginia

Sam Palmisano — CEO, IBM
Johns Hopkins Univ.

John Pepper — CEO and Chairman, Procter & Gamble
Yale Univ.

Martha Stewart — Businesswoman
Barnard Coll.

Sevetri Wilson — CEO, Resilia
Louisiana State Univ.

Susan Diane Wojcicki — CEO, YouTube
Harvard Univ.

Lists like this are useless, because you would take up multiple DCUM pages to provide the same type of list of business undergad majors (by far, the most popular major of CEOs)...or any number of STEM majors. Literally, the ratio is like 250-to-1.

If anything, it just proves how rare of a major it is at top levels of companies.

The list of business majors that didn’t go on to positions like this or anywhere close would be much, much longer.

Anonymous wrote:Business and Nonprofits

Kenneth Chenault — CEO and Chairman, American Express; Chairman, General Catalyst Partners
Bowdoin Coll.


Carly Fiorina — Businesswoman, Hewlett-Packard
Stanford Univ.

Chris Hughes — Co-Founder, Facebook
Harvard Univ.

Sam Kass — Chef, Nonprofit Leader
Univ. of Chicago

Robert L. Johnson — Entrepreneur, BET
Univ. of Illinois

Alexis Ohanian — Co-Founder and Chairman, Reddit
Univ. of Virginia

Sam Palmisano — CEO, IBM
Johns Hopkins Univ.

John Pepper — CEO and Chairman, Procter & Gamble
Yale Univ.

Martha Stewart — Businesswoman
Barnard Coll.

Sevetri Wilson — CEO, Resilia
Louisiana State Univ.

Susan Diane Wojcicki — CEO, YouTube
Harvard Univ.

Lists like this are useless, because you would take up multiple DCUM pages to provide the same type of list of business undergad majors (by far, the most popular major of CEOs)...or any number of STEM majors. Literally, the ratio is like 250-to-1.

If anything, it just proves how rare of a major it is at top levels of companies.

Business and Nonprofits

Kenneth Chenault — CEO and Chairman, American Express; Chairman, General Catalyst Partners
Bowdoin Coll.


Carly Fiorina — Businesswoman, Hewlett-Packard
Stanford Univ.

Chris Hughes — Co-Founder, Facebook
Harvard Univ.

Sam Kass — Chef, Nonprofit Leader
Univ. of Chicago

Robert L. Johnson — Entrepreneur, BET
Univ. of Illinois

Alexis Ohanian — Co-Founder and Chairman, Reddit
Univ. of Virginia

Sam Palmisano — CEO, IBM
Johns Hopkins Univ.

John Pepper — CEO and Chairman, Procter & Gamble
Yale Univ.

Martha Stewart — Businesswoman
Barnard Coll.

Sevetri Wilson — CEO, Resilia
Louisiana State Univ.

Susan Diane Wojcicki — CEO, YouTube
Harvard Univ.

Study finds the top major of US Presidents is … History |

Anonymous wrote:It's funny that history majors do t realize historically history majors are useless

Yeah..,,
U.S. Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, Joe Biden

U.S. Supreme Court Justices: Elena Kagan, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Sonia Soto Mayor

W. E. B. DuBois: Writer, activist, co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Robert Gates: Secretary of Defense
Eric Holder: U.S. Attorney General
Carly Fiorina: CEO of Hewlett-Packard
Kenneth Irvine Chenault: CEO of American Express
Robert Johnson: Founder of Black Entertainment Television
Brian Moynihan: CEO of Bank of America
Sam Palmisano: CEO of IBM
Martha Stewart: CEO and founder of Martha Stewart Living Home Design Corp

It's funny that history majors do t realize historically history majors are useless

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way to increase the number of history majors is to stop teaching race/class/gender/labor-based America-hating Left-wing drivel, but the history departments refuse to do that, so let them all sink into oblivion as they deserve.

Hey, you seem really passionate in this. Can you show one history department that exclusive teaches race/class/gender/labor-based American...drivel? That's also a lot of groups to say "those histories don't matter to" and I'm not sure if your interpretation of history is just Constitutional law and White American studies?

Also students are the ones most interested in class/gender/race, etc. English faculty would jump to the sky if kids had any interest in old dead white rich dudes.

History is less popular now that people know more about what actually happened. It's not fun anymore.

Kids today learn a much more diverse and accurate history lesson. No reason to extend it to a degree, really.

I don’t know where to begin with you except by your comment you clearly weren’t a history major.

Nope history minor-couldn't commit to a thesis. But, if you at all have a decent high school, the kids are learning a much more diverse history than anyone a generation back. I didn't learn much "new" in my minor courses, just different fun facts that aren't grand picture knowledge points you need to know. Obviously different story for non-American studies and Native Studies.

DP. Your position doesn't make much sense. Like any subject, you could stop at HS level or pursue a higher level of specificity, research methods and analysis.

I had to do research methods in high school history, but that’s just a high school dependent practice. I even had a senior thesis for my high school.

It's not the same academic tier. You could say that for any subject.

It was. Do tell me more about my own experience though

No one needs to. Your HS class is not the equivalent of an upper level undergrad course. My kid took Complex Analysis in HS. Great course. Not the equivalent of college level. Same is true of any course offered at HS level. If it is not a lower or intro level college equivalent, it is not college equivalent. You think you did it all in HS because you did a HS course of the same name and a HS thesis. These are not the same in university.

Something tells me mathematics and history are pretty different fields to compare?

You can teach math in a very quantitative, number crunch way that doesn’t really have the same translation in history- reading books without thinking???

? you think upper level math doesn't require critical thinking?

Something tells me you are history major.