Worse still, there are many degrees where the average high school graduate will likely out-earn a college graduate.
If you’ve ever wanted to know the two main reasons why Americans decide not to go to college, the St. Louis Fed presented two convincing explanations. The more frightening of the two scenarios showed that, for students paying their own tuition, most will need a starting salary of $40,000 or better to overcome lifetime earnings of high school graduates.
- Social Work
- Elementary Education
- Drama and Theater Arts
- Family and Consumer Studies
- Anthropology and Archaeology
Full Misery.
So, the upshot? Stop educating children? Let the disenfranchised sort out their own problems? "Reality" shows only?
ReplyDeleteWhat a helpful service, making this list. Otherwise, people majoring in Social Work might not realize it's the mother lode they've all been told it is. And, of course, since there's absolutely no such thing as a non-tangible benefit for any choice, it would be idiotic to major in Elementary Education.
ReplyDeleteSure, the article doesn't mention any non-monetary benefit from a college degree but this is still very useful information for college students. They have been sold a bill of goods that a college degree, any degree, is a good thing. Parents have been told that not sending your kid to college, any college, is a bad thing. These are simply not true.
ReplyDeleteThis writer seems blissfully unaware that there might be larger social forces underlying the numbers (s)he quotes, and larger social consequences thereto. Perhaps an anthropologist, a major in family and consumer studies (though I do have to wonder what in the world that is -- pre-Mrs./SAHP, perhaps? If so, that might explain the lack of income, though not, of course, social contribution), or even an archeologist investigating some society that became dangerously stratified could help explain? Or, I suppose, one can just set out to major in something that will yield a high enough income to allow one to live in a walled, guarded compound (and pay through the nose for private school).
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell is Family and Consumer Studies? And the fact that Social Work and Elementary Ed are preprofessional degrees in fields that pay their professionals like shit would give me reason to pause if my kid wanted to major in them at the undergraduate level.
ReplyDeleteBut look, does it really bear saying anymore? Degrees like Theater and Anthropology are not "get a job immediately in the field" degrees. They are critical thinking degrees, not preprofessional degrees. Maybe it's stupid to get those now without a double major in a more practical field. I'm beginning to think so. But that doesn't render them valueless. You want to do them for real, you go to graduate school.
"US News and World Report" USED to be a printed publication, but it collapsed sometime just before the 2007 meltdown. Nando of "Third Tier Reality" constantly gives it to Bob Morse because of his shitty Law School rankings (the only thing USN&WR still publishes.)
ReplyDeleteMy point is: these people know jackshit about ANTHING, and should be completely ignored.
Should be ANYTHING, not ANTHING.
DeleteI don't have a problem with income statistics, apart from the fact that they are statistics. But that's not this article's fault.
ReplyDeleteI do have a problem with an exclusive focus on income statistics, suggesting a financial outcome is the only meaningful measure of a college education.
Whenever I hear a claim that a college education pays less than being a janitor, I wonder: does the person making the claim want to spend their life as a janitor?
DeleteThat social workers are on this list doesn't speak well for society today. That teachers are on this list doesn't speak well for society's future.
ReplyDeleteI think family and consumer studies might qualify one to conduct research in those areas or perhaps teach home ec or consumer ed. The latter was a state requirement when I was a student, and the former at least used to be a de facto requirement for those of us with two X chromosomes.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an interesting point: what is the gender balance in those majors? Off the top of my head, I would guess that three of the five (Elementary Education, Social Work, FCS) are female-dominant.
DeleteElementary school teachers in California public schools earn 'way more than $40K/year. Of course, it takes a while to get to the top of the salary schedule, and some kind of masters degree is necessary, but top pay can be around $100K.
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ReplyDelete