12 ms·

Alumna makes $1 million gift to help liberal arts students find jobs

14 points by smoyer 14y ago

lutusp 14y ago
There's no more eloquent testimony to the limited value of a liberal arts degree than the idea that someone would offer seed money just to get new graduates hired somewhere. There's a reason science, engineering and math degrees are more difficult to acquire -- they're more useful to people who live in the real world. For those unaware of the economic spectrum of college degrees, I offer this: http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/07/college-graduate-salaries-by-field-and-major http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/07/college-graduate-s... The top 2: computer science and engineering. The bottom 4: history, English, psychology and sociology.
- smoyer 14y ago
  And supply and demand is clearly in effect ... The fastest way to increase hiring and salaries would be to produce fewer graduates but this is directly at odds with the faculty in these departments goals.
  - lutusp 14y ago
    > The fastest way to increase hiring and salaries would be to produce fewer graduates ... Yes -- this kind of manipulation is often seen in medicine, where professional associations of doctors do what they can to reduce the supply of new graduates. But absent the above effect and ironically, in spite of the clear economic value of technical degrees, they're difficult seats to fill within a university. My theory about this is that students don't understand economic issues until after they've graduated.
WiseWeasel 14y ago
The jokes write themselves for this one, so that's no fun. Given how poorly most liberal arts majors I know are making use of their degrees, I could certainly see the value in this sort of program to help them build more attractive résumés. I had a science degree, so I didn't feel the need to rely on much career guidance from the school. FTA: "The Leadership Assessment and Professional Development (LEAD) program..." Looks like another liberal arts major might need a bit of help.

14 points by smoyer 14y ago

There's no more eloquent testimony to the limited value of a liberal arts degree than the idea that someone would offer seed money just to get new graduates hired somewhere. There's a reason science, engineering and math degrees are more difficult to acquire -- they're more useful to people who live in the real world. For those unaware of the economic spectrum of college degrees, I offer this: http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/07/college-graduate-salaries-by-field-and-major http://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/07/college-graduate-s... The top 2: computer science and engineering. The bottom 4: history, English, psychology and sociology.

smoyer 14y ago
And supply and demand is clearly in effect ... The fastest way to increase hiring and salaries would be to produce fewer graduates but this is directly at odds with the faculty in these departments goals.
- lutusp 14y ago
  > The fastest way to increase hiring and salaries would be to produce fewer graduates ... Yes -- this kind of manipulation is often seen in medicine, where professional associations of doctors do what they can to reduce the supply of new graduates. But absent the above effect and ironically, in spite of the clear economic value of technical degrees, they're difficult seats to fill within a university. My theory about this is that students don't understand economic issues until after they've graduated.

WiseWeasel 14y ago

The jokes write themselves for this one, so that's no fun. Given how poorly most liberal arts majors I know are making use of their degrees, I could certainly see the value in this sort of program to help them build more attractive résumés. I had a science degree, so I didn't feel the need to rely on much career guidance from the school. FTA: "The Leadership Assessment and Professional Development (LEAD) program..." Looks like another liberal arts major might need a bit of help.