3 ms·

I hear people say this all the time, but I don't remember being told this. I remember being told to go to college and to get a 'good' degree (this was well befo

I hear people say this all the time, but I don't remember being told this. I remember being told to go to college and to get a 'good' degree (this was well before STEM was a common term) meaning something not liberal arts and preferably something math heavy (although business is also good). I was told to meet people and talk to companies which come to colleges campus a lot. I was told to try new things and experiment and figure out what I liked and who I was. I remember having people who didn't go to college come in and talk to us, and people who went to vocational schools and people who enlisted in the military. They all said "if you college isn't your thing, there are other ways to having a fulfilling career." I was never told, "get a degree no matter the cost." This was evident during the first semester of freshman year of college. Freshman everywhere were sure they were going to be the next bestselling author, or the next insightful historian, or the next psychologist to make a huge breakthrough. They all knew it was hard to get a cushy job in those soft fields, they just thought they'd be the one to do it out of every incoming freshman in every school in every state in the country.

skewart 11y ago
"I remember being told to go to college and to get a 'good' degree (this was well before STEM was a common term) meaning something not liberal arts and preferably something math heavy..." I'm curious when the meaning of "liberal arts" changed. When I was in college liberal arts was a superset of STEM - well, at least SM. Physics was just as much a liberal arts field as history. A vocationally-focused degree in, say, criminology wouldn't be liberal arts, and neither would a self-guided major in peace studies. It seems like lately I've seen more and more people use the term as meaning 'all humanities, social sciences, and anything else that seems fluffy', which seems surprising to me. (Not that the comment above necessarily means it this way, though it does seem kind of close in spirit).
Chathamization 11y ago
People seem to forget that a law degree was probably the most common example of a "good degree" you'd hear about in the 90's. And if you want to get a law degree, the American Bar Association recommends an undergraduate degree in "history, English, philosophy, political science, economics or business."
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

skewart 11y ago

"I remember being told to go to college and to get a 'good' degree (this was well before STEM was a common term) meaning something not liberal arts and preferably something math heavy..." I'm curious when the meaning of "liberal arts" changed. When I was in college liberal arts was a superset of STEM - well, at least SM. Physics was just as much a liberal arts field as history. A vocationally-focused degree in, say, criminology wouldn't be liberal arts, and neither would a self-guided major in peace studies. It seems like lately I've seen more and more people use the term as meaning 'all humanities, social sciences, and anything else that seems fluffy', which seems surprising to me. (Not that the comment above necessarily means it this way, though it does seem kind of close in spirit).

Chathamization 11y ago

People seem to forget that a law degree was probably the most common example of a "good degree" you'd hear about in the 90's. And if you want to get a law degree, the American Bar Association recommends an undergraduate degree in "history, English, philosophy, political science, economics or business."

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]