The days of "Underwater Basketweaving" college majors are over!

kork13 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-06-2009, 05:49 AM

(Warning: A social commentary)
Just a brief thought... I was sitting in a waiting room yesterday watching the news for a couple minutes, and one of the stories was talking about what jobs are still hiring, what jobs are looking good for the future, and what careers people should start vectoring towards. Their final analysis: Math and Sciences!

This is outstanding news for our country, if it's actually correct, and if Americans actually take advantage of the broadening opportunities in that VERY broad sector. In the the 1940s/50s, math and sciences were gucci -- everybody that was anybody was studying engineering, physics, geology, non-real linear algebra, or whatever. This mass of knowledge and intelligence enabled the 1960s/70s (Apollo era), which by many accounts was the US's heyday in the academic, scientific, and technological arenas (possibly also in social aspects). But since then (read: hippies, heavy metal, reality tv shows), the math and sciences have fallen out of favor with young Americans going to college. Instead, they study in all kinds of degree programs, from journalism (actually one of the favorites of college students) and art history to interior design and yes, basketweaving. While I recognize that the arts ARE important (I love photography, poetry, literature, and music myself), our society has become overwhelmed by them. My personal opinion is that many of our social problems (to include the financial irresponsibility that led to our current problems) have been heavily contributed to by this problem. Not enough people are seeking difficult, intensive courses of study, which lead to promising, well-paying careers. Instead, 50% (WAG statistic) of all journalism students are unemployed or not utilizing their degree (read: flipping burgers for minimum wage or working in a retail boutique) during their first few (3-10) years of graduating college.

I really hope that the math and sciences make a revival in the US. I think it's exactly what we need right now. We've grown too reliant on exporting our work, and importing our intelligence.

/soapbox

Joan.of.the.Arch · #2 (**permalink**) 10-06-2009, 07:01 AM

Some say that wages in the sciences rise little over the course of a career, that job changes tend to be lateral in pay. Pay for bachelor's level technician jobs might be about the same as the retail boutique jobs. Some engineering jobs are among those being out-sourced to other countries. Here is an interesting first hand account of the risks of getting further a science degree. It is ten years old, but still bothers me.

Don't Become a Scientist!

MonkeyMama · #3 (**permalink**) 10-06-2009, 09:14 AM

Kork13 - we can only hope. I See it 100% in my world.

If nothing else, my generation is going to turn around and strongly encourage their kids to get into math and science. Liberal arts degrees just aren't paying the bills. I know a large demographic who got liberal arts degrees & that are returning to school in their 30s to get "practical degrees." This could be feeding some of the statistics. But, I See the pendulum starting to swing in the other direction. OF course, then again, none of these people have gotten on their own 2 feet to even have children. I guess I am assuming they ever have children. ???

Joan - I don't agree. I live in tech central, admittedly. But the science jobs pay VERY well. I couldn't even compare the science jobs and math jobs in my region to the artsy career paths most of my high school friends have chosen. I have many relatives and friends in bio tech, engineering and math fields. They are doing better than anyone else I know. Even better than the doctors and lawyers, often times.

I have to wonder on the outsourcing - is outsourcing the big evil thing that it is made out to be, or is it just the symptom of the problem that kork points out? In my career and region, my little mom and pop firm outsources to India and the mid-west. Is my job in danger? HEck no. This allows me to work 40-hour weeks instead of 80-hour weeks. We just have no qualified applicants in our region. Outsourcing is an act of desperation for us. I hear it isn't for everyone. But I see the shortage in math and science all around me. It seems to me, plausible, that outsourcing these jobs could be a symptom of the same problem. We need U.S. citizens who want these jobs and are qualified to do them.

KTP · #4 (**permalink**) 10-06-2009, 10:11 AM

The outsourcing in the high tech field does not work nearly as well as people might think. Sure it is pretty easy to outsource tech support and maybe even some design work, but the real meaty stuff is still done in house. At a large company where my wife works they tried outsourcing some segments of code to another country....total fail. They ended up having to redo the entire code in house after paying a lot of cash to the consulting company handling the outsourcing. I would guess the same thing could happen in the mechanical and electrical engineering field. Do you really want your Boeing 777 designed in some sweat shop in Thailand?

skruggie · #5 (**permalink**) 10-06-2009, 09:28 PM

I was a communications major with a tv production focus in college, graduated in the early 90s. I currently work in my major of choice, on the digital media side, an aspect that did not exist when I was in college.

I make a very decent salary, with tons of room for growth - not every liberal arts major is doomed to failure.

PrincessPerky · #6 (**permalink**) 10-10-2009, 04:09 PM

Computer tech is leaving for overseas, but medicine and other research is still here...because the us govt pays for a good deal of that.

I personally think part of the trouble with the liberal arts degrees is the number of folk going to college with no real desire, just the knowledge that college is the place to be after high school, delaying actual thought into ones life choices for another 4 years. Not that no 18 year old knows what they want to be, just that assuming every 18 year old does is as silly as assuming every 1 year old can walk or talk. average first word is 1, from 9mo to 14 or even later. But we don't send all 1 year olds off to grammer school.

As a person grows the normal age for learning/acquiring skills becomes a wider average (ride bike from 4-8 or never) read from 2.5-8 or later, drive car from 15-20 or never...but when kids get older we are less understanding than when they were younger (no one faults my 16 month old for not saying as much as her big bro at 16 months, but just try to explain a 7 year old who can't read up to average....)

wincrasher · #7 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 07:14 AM

Well you have to look at the total number of people who actually can attend college these days. Back in day, perhaps the majority going to college also had the apptitude for technical fields (sciences). With a great increase in numbers, the same numbers have apptitude for science, but they are a smaller percentage of the total.

As long as we're going with generalizations, think about this: everyone seems to want their kids to go to college. Why not a tradesman? Where are all these liberal arts grads supposed to get middle class jobs when our economy is destroying jobs by the millions?