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The Economic Woe of Young Liberal-Arts Majors

9 points by petethomas 8y ago

rossdavidh 8y ago
One thing I notice about articles like this, is they always try to pull their punches at the end. I think that for first-generation college students, the risk is greater that they won't get the truth of the matter. College students whose parents went to college are, I think, more likely to hear (in blunt, unmistakable language) that taking on a large amount of debt for (most) liberal arts majors, is not a good idea. First-generation college students are more likely to believe what their professors or college administration tells them, which is that all majors are a good idea, and thus more likely to pick a major which digs them a deep hole (in student loan debt) without giving them the benefit of a highly marketable degree to help get out of it.
- Buldak 8y ago
  I can see it working the other way. That is, parents who are not college-educated (who are immigrants, poorer etc.) are more likely to view education in practical terms. You need a certain level of affluence to view college as a more purely intellectual or artistic (or recreational?) pursuit.
  - bootsz 8y ago
    Yeah. I feel like many personal economic problems (esp. in the US) boil down to trying to emulate the lifestyle of the upper-class while actually being middle-class. We tend to ignore the existence of an upper class in the US but the distinction is very real.
thrower123 8y ago
A liberal arts education is a luxury good, and should be viewed as such. It's pretty irresponsible the way this pipe dream of college being some magical place to follow your passion and shoot for the stars and discover yourself has been sold to young impressionable people. Maybe you could get away with that in the 70s when you could work summers and a few hours a week doing workstudy and pay your tuition bills, but that dog won't hunt these days. Get a major in something useful first, and maybe a minor in something fun if you want. If you just want to screw around and learn whatever, you don't need to pay 50k a year to do it, you just need to grab a library card and some syllabuses to point you in the right directions.

9 points by petethomas 8y ago

One thing I notice about articles like this, is they always try to pull their punches at the end. I think that for first-generation college students, the risk is greater that they won't get the truth of the matter. College students whose parents went to college are, I think, more likely to hear (in blunt, unmistakable language) that taking on a large amount of debt for (most) liberal arts majors, is not a good idea. First-generation college students are more likely to believe what their professors or college administration tells them, which is that all majors are a good idea, and thus more likely to pick a major which digs them a deep hole (in student loan debt) without giving them the benefit of a highly marketable degree to help get out of it.

Buldak 8y ago
I can see it working the other way. That is, parents who are not college-educated (who are immigrants, poorer etc.) are more likely to view education in practical terms. You need a certain level of affluence to view college as a more purely intellectual or artistic (or recreational?) pursuit.
- bootsz 8y ago
  Yeah. I feel like many personal economic problems (esp. in the US) boil down to trying to emulate the lifestyle of the upper-class while actually being middle-class. We tend to ignore the existence of an upper class in the US but the distinction is very real.

thrower123 8y ago

A liberal arts education is a luxury good, and should be viewed as such. It's pretty irresponsible the way this pipe dream of college being some magical place to follow your passion and shoot for the stars and discover yourself has been sold to young impressionable people. Maybe you could get away with that in the 70s when you could work summers and a few hours a week doing workstudy and pay your tuition bills, but that dog won't hunt these days. Get a major in something useful first, and maybe a minor in something fun if you want. If you just want to screw around and learn whatever, you don't need to pay 50k a year to do it, you just need to grab a library card and some syllabuses to point you in the right directions.