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Popular College Majors Changed Abruptly After the Financial Crisis (qz.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Ten years have passed since the 2008 financial crisis, and the effects linger. For one thing, the crisis produced a significant shift in American higher education. Scared by a seemingly treacherous labor market, since the downturn college students have turned away from the humanities and towards job-oriented degrees. It's not clear they are making the right decision. The humanities were humming along prior to 2008, according to an analysis by the Northeastern University historian Benjamin Schmidt. Over the previous decade, disciplines like history, philosophy, English literature, and religion were either growing or holding steady as a share of all college majors. But in the decade after the financial crisis, all of these majors took a nosedive. The popularity of the history major is an illustrative example. From 1998 to 2007, the share of college students graduating with a degree in history averaged around 2%. By 2017, it had fallen closer to 1%. (All data in this article are based on reports that colleges submit to the US Department of Education.) Other humanities majors saw a similar fall. "Declines have hit almost every field in the humanities... and related social sciences," wrote Schmidt in the The Atlantic. "[T]hey have not stabilized with the economic recovery, and they appear to reflect a new set of student priorities, which are being formed even before they see the inside of a college classroom."
The popularity of the history major is an illustrative example. From 1998 to 2007, the share of college students graduating with a degree in history averaged around 2%. By 2017, it had fallen closer to 1%
Woohoo! I'm a 1%er!
Honestly though, I studied history because I enjoyed it and it was incredibly easy for me. I always planned to go to grad school afterwards to get myself a more marketable degree.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
As yet, MOOCs are valueless to students. The value of a college degree is still wrapped into the pedigree of the college it's received from. That may be completely unfair, but it's true. If I'm an employer and I see a student with a degree from the University of Texas and one with a degree from Online Southern Highlands Institute of Technology, all else being equal, I'm going with the Longhorn. Every time. Why? Is there any indication that the UT grad worked harder? Not necessarily. But I know UT and their pedigree. I don't know OSHIT.
The thing I have found is that Humanities attracted the wrong type of students.
I always though that Humanities should require up to 200 level of Math and Sciences, Just as STEM Majors are required to have up to 200 levels in Humanities. The fact that humanities are so weak in Math and Science, they attract students who are actively avoiding math and science classes. Academics who are avoiding learning material because they don't do well in the test, doesn't create good academics. If these people decide to join the workforce, it isn't their lack of Math or science skills but their lack of interest in taking on something because it is hard.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Everyone knows this because it's said in every thread on the subject anywhere on the internet.
People go to college for careers. It may not be the role that colleges want to play but it is.
That said there is nothing wrong with humanities and I encourage everyone with a STEM degree to walk down to their local community college and sign up for some classes. It's like watching 90s discovery channel for rich people who have STEM degrees and you can bone girls like 10 years younger than yourself, meet people with mushrooms and molly. Really it's a wonderful experience when you don't even care if you get the credits.
Maybe the fact that people have seemed to have forgotten what happened the last time nationalism, populism, and authoritarianism surged in popularity about 80 years ago....
It seems like the people who didn't get history majors in school remember that quite well, currently it's the history majors out wearing all black with faces covered, destroying property and basically doing bad brownshirt cosplay.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
We need the humanities, but prior to the financial crisis it seemed to me that it was already widely accepted that we had far more graduates in those fields than we needed, and that the vast majority of them were thus incapable of putting their degree to good use. While enrollment may be half of what it was prior to the crisis, that doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem. If anything, I'm inclined to think that the market has corrected itself and that today's supply of graduates is closer to actual demand for people in those fields.
Exactly. To add to this: There used to be (and still is) in some circles a saying that "A liberal arts education prepares you for any job", meaning that if you major in art history for example you can get a great job in banking. I think that while it's true that studying any field in depth can help you in any other field, the reality is that the world is more specialized now. Due to better communication, everyone is now affected by global competition to some degree, and, as a result of this, people are now more than ever expected to actually have skills in the field they work in. I think student expectations have also changed. Why spend 4 years studying art history when you have almost no chance of getting a job in that field, whereas if you study a field that has good job prospects, you'll be at an advantage compared to everyone without that degree. It's just practicality.
A Proper education needs Humanities and STEM.
I went to college before STEM was a thing, it was just Computer Science, which was part of the Math and Physics department.
But that is what I saw. For my "STEM" Major I needed to take courses including 200 level Humanity classes. Covering History, Literature, Politics, Arts, Sociology, Philosophy and Psychology. The college wisely determined that Technology Majors should have a diverse education.
However humanity majors needed to retake High school Algebra if they didn't already have taken it. And a class in "Science" which was a humanity like class explaining science. This really gave them a disservice in their education.
However the argument seemed to go like this.
Them: Not everyone is good at Math and Science so they shouldn't have to take these classes which will only hurt their GPA.
Me: I am not good at Humanity classes, and they are hurting my GPA, why can't I skip them?
Them: Because these classes are valuable to education.
Me: Isn't Math and Science valuale to education
Them: Yes, but not a lot of people are good at it.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Good universities require a broad level of education to graduate - you may major in one subject but are still required to learn many diverse subjects. But too many places tend to be too tightly focused, bending to the students' desires to not "waste time" on stuff they're not interested in. Some of these universities just seem like overpriced trade schools. I think some of this came about because some engineering majors have so many prerequisites and courses that they're already a 5 year degree without counting in the breadth requirements.
So engineering students should most definitely learn writing.
Writing students should learn math and science.
Everyone should learn political science.
Divide it up into three spheres; math/science, arts, and social sciences. Then everyone should be dabbling into all three of those.
Now imagine you're a straight, religious person and were assigned a room with a cross-dressing trans with a full beard who won't shut up about trans rights. The kid in your example has exactly the same options (as well as safe rooms) as the kid in mine - request a new room and roommate. The safe rooms are superfluous.