I wish this report, Employment Outcomes for Humanities Majors: State Profiles, would have come out before we entered advising. With the high cost of an education, our students are often driven to a major by its perceived earning potential. With a daughter who graduated with a liberal arts degree in English and French, I grow weary of trying to defend her choices over our son’s math and computer science major. (She is gainfully employed; he is romping around New Zealand on a post-graduation gap year). Audrey Williams June summarizes the report in the piece, How Do Humanities Majors Fare in the Work Force?
More to the point, in Sarah Wasserman’s opinion, The Best Reason to Major in English, it is more important than ever to encourage students to pursue the things they love. |