Yesterday we had a retirement luncheon at a restaurant in town. On the way there, I managed to hear a bit of Neal Boortz’s program. It was pretty good, and Neal was true to his slogan, “Somebody’s gotta say it!”
The caller wanted to complain about the economy. Boortz calmly explained all the positive data, but this man would have none of it. “We’ve lost 2 million jobs in this country!” and went on to spew about out-sourcing. Neal was having none of it, and asked where he got his numbers. “It’s common knowledge.” No, where did you get the number? Neal pressed until the man told him he could look it up on the DNC web site. Aha!
Boortz asked if the Bureau of Labor Statistics would be okay as a reference. It was. He quoted the site as saying 2 million jobs had been created in 2003. The man went histerical, and complained “I’m not talking about jobs flipping burgers. I can’t afford to pay my health insurance.”
Now we get to the real issue. Boortz wanted to know what the man was doing for a living. “Working for a patent attorney.” What did he do before? “Well, um, I was…in the product development business.” I would have asked what that meant, but Neal was more polite. What education level did he have? “I have a BA.” In what? “Psychology.”
At that point, Boortz could stand it no longer. “If I owned a company that did product development, I would be searching for someone with a psychology degree.” The caller took the bait. “Why?”
“BECAUSE I’M AN IDIOT!” He went on to deride this 50-year-old man for making bad decisions, and wanting the government to make up for it.
I’m interested in education. And Neal made a very good point about choosing a degree program with some research behind the decision.
There are many degree programs at colleges around the country that do nothing to prepare a graduate for employment. Personally, I think a Liberal Arts degree is valuable as education. Yet it does nothing for someone’s employment prospects. It is also an education someone can get on their own by reading and being involved in life. There are degrees in Gender/Women’s Studies which don’t seem like much of an education at all. In fact, Bogey has friends who have this degree. I asked what jobs they might qualify for, and he responded “Teaching, writing, or journalism, maybe.” I doubt there are recruiters signing up students for interviews every semester in the Gender Studies Department, but maybe I’m wrong. The same can be said for a degree in English Literature. Getting a PhD in one of these makes sense, if your goal is to teach at a university. Other than that, the job market doesn’t offer much. Even something like microbiology, which is not an easy program, has limited employment opportunities unless you get an advanced degree.
Now that I have my degree in engineering (which puts food on my table) I enjoy taking liberal arts classes like world literature. It’s my own version of self-actualiztion. I got my masters in International Relations because I was in Special Ops, and the world was my playground. I thought it would help me do my job better. But it also allowed me to indulge my interest in history. So there are certainly ways to get a degree with practical application while satifying your personal interests outside that program. Certainly there is no law against getting some degree with a direct job path at the same time as you take courses you simply enjoy or feel will help you intellectually. I could have taken three engineering courses and three history courses each semester.
The problem is that you won’t finish in four years. So what? If you want an education, why not take six years? But get a degree which will help you get a job doing something you want to do! Best of both worlds. Pick a program which leads to a job that interests you, and also has a good rate of hire.
>>In fact, Bogey has friends who have this degree.
Actually, I don’t think any of my friends have that (gender/women’s studies) as their primary degree. Several of them probably minored in it. And although I was hard-pressed to think of any during our conversation, there are other very well-suited jobs for folks in those majors; the problem is there aren’t quite enough of them. The ones who know how to keep their options a /little/ more open within the liberal arts majors often wind up in marketing or human resources jobs, for example.
/I/ actually had a concentration (around 12 credits, less than a minor) in “issues of race & gender” along with my Communications degree. I only wound up with that, however, because I was given 12 credits in that field for participating in Cornell’s “Urban Semester,” which allowed me to get an internship in the field of my choosing and take one class a week on the race & gender stuff (then I had to write a term paper on my observations of those issues at work at my internship).
I definitely wish I had minored in Computer Science as well, though. That’s where my career has led me, and I could be taking even greater advantage of it if I had the coursework. I agree with you completely that most folks need to focus on the more practical aspects of their educations. I’d just like to add that I think universities need to stress the role of the academic adviser much, much more. Kids who go straight from high school to college are at a poor age to listen well to their parents’ advice. They need to be shown clear examples from folks who aren’t that much older than them.
Still, the 50-year-old underemployed Psych major that you heard on the radio has no excuse. He should have been back in school in his 30s if he didn’t have an idea by then where his career was going.
After reading and writing all this, I think I’d like to volunteer to do some career counseling at a local school. I’d better go look into that…
Comment by Bogey Mulligan — March 4, 2004 @ 8:12 pm
bogey, that’s sad that you have friends like that
Comment by birdie — March 5, 2004 @ 10:19 am
Birdie chirped! Finally got an internet connection at his post, and feels he needs to speak up!
My feeling is that too many kids leave high school without a clue as to what they want to do in life. For that reason, a liberal arts degree is a good starting point. Unfortunately, too many feel they need to finish in four years, and stick with something with little opportunity rather than telling themselves it will take them another four to finish what they should have done in the first place.
This has much to do with parental involvement, but even parents who are involved with their kids get “I don’t know” when they ask about the future.
Look at Birdie…
Comment by Bunker — March 5, 2004 @ 11:22 am
I see how it is, pick on the little guy. That’s alright. I live by the rule of “small victories”. I do have long term goals in life, and yes the biggest one is getting a degree in liberal arts, so I can hang out with bogey’s friends
Comment by birdie — March 5, 2004 @ 7:03 pm
That sure was a clever dig at all my friends, most of whom you’ve never met. Score!
Comment by Bogey — March 5, 2004 @ 10:42 pm
Settle down, boys. Good thing neither of you can swing a club. There might be blood flying!
Comment by Bunker — March 6, 2004 @ 6:14 am
Well, I think we might be playing up this little feud for the public forum a little… You know, something to amuse the digital passer-by. We’re having a parallel conversation by e-mail that’s a lot friendlier!
By the way, I think either of us is probably a LOT better at swinging a club to inflict damage than to gain yardage…
Comment by Bogey — March 6, 2004 @ 6:52 am
I’m going to have to agree with bogey on that one. I have plenty of practice swinging a big metal stick.
Comment by birdie — March 6, 2004 @ 1:01 pm
There is no benefit in the gifts of a bad man.
Comment by Thompson Jason — March 17, 2004 @ 10:38 pm
We are the master of
Comment by Bowman Rob — May 2, 2004 @ 4:05 pm