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Liberal Arts: Yes or No?
Topic Started: Oct 2 2011, 03:51 PM (74 Views)
Helpless Historian

I want to major in history, but my parents tell me that my degree will be useless. They say I should instead go after something that will earn me more money, like a degree in business or engineering. I'm not even sure what I'd do with a degree in history. I don't want to teach, but I want to study the subject. What should I do? :-/
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Chromodynamics

Well, if your goal is to earn a good salary, then you should definitely look at going into engineering. Out of the top fifteen most lucrative majors, twelve are engineeringi. They certainly lead to more money faster than any other degree would, but, if history is your passion, go ahead and follow it. Unfortunately, there isn't much of a need for historians in this day and age, so good luck getting a job with it.
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Stonewall

What can you do with a degree in history? Just about anything. In the process of earning a history degree, you'll be learning analytical skills that can become useful to any career. You might not be hired right off the college campus and earn as much money as an engineer, but you will be making a salary comparable to that of a business major. Your major isn't your career, so you don't have to be a historian or teacher. A family friend of mine majored in history, and he now works on computer security for a pharmaceutical company. Major in what you want and don't worry about it.
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Chromodynamics

Are you really sure that a liberal arts degree is that marketable in our society? With a degree in business, a student actually learns business skills—the exact skills he'll be using in his job—and probably looks better than a liberal arts student to a business. Liberal arts degrees teach things that will be irrelevant to modern careers. You can major in history, but you probably won't get paid to discuss the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina in the 1830s.
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Stonewall

Yes, I am sure. If the liberal arts student markets himself well, he'll be able to convey to possible employers all of the skills he has learned. Also, a liberal arts degree gives one a broad knowledge of various subject areas, and that can help him out when applying for a job. The broader the knowledge, the more prepared he is for tackling new ideas or relying on things he already knows.
Also, I note that in your last post, you implied that knowledge of history is a bad thing. Is that really what you meant?
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Chromodynamics

I didn't meant to suggest that the knowledge is a bad thing, I just meant to suggest that it's irrelevant to our modern society. Knowing about South Carolina in the 1830s won't get anyone any job besides teaching, writing history books, or working in a museum. No one really seems to care about learning history for its own sake, or about learning any of the other arts, for that matter.
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Stonewall

And, that's a real pity. I have my own theory on the reasons why the liberal arts are losing their value in our society. Want to hear it?
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Chromodynamics

Sure.
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Stonewall

Okay. I think the roots of the reason why the arts are becoming devalued are greed and laziness. People want to earn money, and they don't want to do lots of work. I think this has become a bit accentuated in modern society, thanks to the modern media, and society's strong emphasis on making money.
Take the television as an example. It could have been used to educate the masses, but was almost instantly used instead for its commercial potential. An excellent, recent example of this is the History Channel. It was originally designed to show documentaries about historical events, but has instead transformed into a channel that shows reality programs and even a documentary about how fallen angels mated with mankind. The reality programs are great value for money in the eyes of the television company, because they are cheap and easy to make. A people can be filmed for hours, and the footage can be easily edited and manipulated to tell a storyi. Reality television presents a garish, exaggerated, edited form of reality, and it is very popular. It entertains people.
Meanwhile, bookstores are closing. This is because of laziness. People are happy to get their entertainment from television and its spectacle, instead of reading a book about historical events and learning things. Learning is too hard. And, as you said above, “knowing about South Carolina in the 1830s won't get you a job.” Greed and laziness are causing the arts to become devalued in our society, and we may be headed down a very bleak path.
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Stonewall

I think that's a very, very pessimistic view. I don't think our society is in that much of a decline. I'd argue that the devaluing of the liberal arts stems not from the evil side of human nature, but from the good side, and from just a little bit of ignorance.
People may want to major in engineering so they can earn more money. They want to earn more money so that they can improve their lives, and also their children's lives. This is not a bad thing, it's a simple reflection of the maternal instinct.
Secondly, the reason that I think there are less liberal arts majors then there are, is ignorance. People don't know that they can go into a variety of fields with a liberal arts degree. There is nothing sinister going on.
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