History degree???? What the HELL would they be good for in the workplace?? NOTHING but be Mr. KnowitAll.
Oh well......
“Meuth, who lives in San Antonio, said she knew the job market for history majors without a master’s degree or teaching certification was limited but decided to go for a major she was passionate about, even in a slumping economy. She wants to work in a museum eventually, which requires a master’s, but is putting it off for now to avoid taking out any loans.”
Again, we see so many seeking the least common denominator (easy path) as a means to gain. Notice that the engineering grads have no issue finding a job?
History majors are often fairly smart.
Now finding a job that ‘uses’ an undergraduate psychology degree, on the other hand...
Do any of these young twits do any research at all into "where the jobs are" before settling on a career choice? Psychology?? History?? Basket-weaving??
Degrees should have different values monetarily. I cant understand why someone would waste so much money on a history degree. I’m on a plan to get my masters in accounting and my CPA so hopefully I will be straight
History degree???? What the HELL would they be good for in the workplace?? NOTHING but be Mr. KnowitAll.
Ha ha ha. I have a history degree and wish I was a know-it-all! I fly jets off carriers now:)
Yeah, we’re completely useless. Let’s see.
I’ve done advertising (since I can do public speaking, know how to write, and know how to appeal to other people).
I’ve done research (since I know my way around a library and can dig through any archive)
I’ve done freelance writing (since I can write just about anything your little heart desires from technical reports to poety).
I’ve done database work, since I’m trained in systematically organizing information so as to be accessable and understandable.
History majors have quite a few talents that are hard to find in other occupations. I can do most anything because most of all, if I don’t know how to do it, I know how to learn it.
“History degree???? What the HELL would they be good for in the workplace?? NOTHING but be Mr. KnowitAll.”
The value of a liberal arts education is rarely preparation for a specific job classification. Instead its value should be in improving communications skills (reading, writing, speaking), honing critical thinking skills (reason, deduction), and providing a broad perspective of history, philosophy, math, science, which provide a framework for life. Most of the founding fathers, even though most were self taught or tutored, had what today would be considered liberal arts educations. Many spoke multiple languages, were extremely well read in history, philosophy and law. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were conceived, developed, argued, and written by men with strong liberal arts backgrounds.
Liberal arts graduates can find jobs even in this economy. Many retail executives are liberal arts graduates who started on the floor as a sales associate in a store. Tellers and administrative staff members in banks often rise to senior management roles in retail banking, they all don’t have MBA’s from Harvard. Large companies in many industries have sales training programs hiring thousands of recent graduates to pitch products to customers. It is hard work and performance is measured everyday numerically. Many junior military officers and policemen are recent liberal arts graduates. Low paying jobs with temp agencies result in assignments at companies that then turn into full time employment.
The job market is tough out there for college grads without technical degrees but there are jobs out there for people who don’t mind working and who can suppress their egos. Someone who is bright, energetic, and a high performer can work their way into a management position within 2-3 years, even starting at the very bottom. What most recent grads don’t realize is how many people in organizations do only what is required to get by. Particularly at the lower levels, the stars really shine and get pulled up in the organization. The key is getting into the organization even if it means sweeping the floor or carrying boxes in the warehouse.
If I were a college grad today with an English, history, or political science degree who couldn’t get into the management training program of the corporation, I’d go to work in a really good McDonalds or Chick fil A store. A quick learner and high productive worker could reasonably expect to be a unit manager within 5 years and owner of at least one unit within 10 years. i know a guy who started cooking hamburgers in a McDonalds who today is 42 years old and a multimillionaire owning 5 restaurants as well as being involved in other business interests. Like the new CEO of McDonalds he is also an African American but that isn’t his identity. He’s an American who still believe in the dream and has worked to earn it and live it. Perhaps a history degree in some small way contributed to his success. It certainly didn’t hurt.
The universities and colleges are turning out thousands of feel good generic degrees that have no practical use in the real world.
The purpose is not to learn history, just as Izaak Walton's real purpose in fishing was not to catch fish.
History (properly taught) teaches you how to read and digest large amounts of written material, how to write, and how to think analytically. Almost any workplace can use somebody with those talents.
In many places, a history degree is nothing but a "social studies" degree -- b.s. with a politically correct coating. THAT sort of degree is as useless as one in sociology.
Once again, Start making collages & university issue the loan to pay for their degree program and tie repayment to the students income over the next 10-20 years and you will see university start offering education for worthwhile fields in which there is demand.
Right now the university system is build upon a foundation of reputation bordering on outright fraud. They don’t care how successive the vast majority of their students & degrees are because they get paid upfront by the ignorant student.
Wether the student can get a job from their degree pay back their loans(now issued by uncle Sam) is largely irrelevant to the university. All the university has to do is convince the child & their parents that they can & must if that at all. With Federal taxpayer dollars on the line nether is necessarily too inclined to be worried about payback.
As you may have guessed by now, this one is a nominee for ignorant quote of the day :)
A good education with a major in history is a solid start to a career in business as a manager or entrepreneur. The history major may end up with a group of his pre-professional peers (engineers, IS, accountants) working for him. Pre-professional is the easier path to a guaranteed job right out of college, but longer term the history major (or other quality liberal arts grad) can be highly successful.
It's sad to think that conservatives would fail to see value in a classic liberal education.
You're 100% correct. Without a Masters at the least a BA or BS degree in History is useless, except for hanging it on your wall to cover a hole.
Ditto for a BA in Psychology. A friend of our oldest daughter (whom we've known most of her life) has that and she works as a babysitter in a daycare center - until she gets fired for her 'lib know-it-all' attitude. She met her hubby in the same Psychology classes and he also has a BA in Psychology. He works in a Shoe Store. I call him: 'Al Bundy' ;-)
Personally I love History and now that I'm 'sorta retired' my kids say I should go to college and get a degree in History - but just for the fun of it.
“History degree???? What the HELL would they be good for in the workplace?? “
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I majored in History as it was an accepted prerequisite (pre law) to Law which my plan back when I was at university. Switched majors eventually to Business Management but I did have the required GPA and course units to attend Stanford Law school.
My history profs got annoyed when I kept referring to the Civil War as the “War of Northern Aggression”.
“History degree???? What the HELL would they be good for in the workplace?? NOTHING but be Mr. KnowitAll.”
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More like Mr. Knownothing! I have known a couple of recent university graduates who majored in history and I have been amazed to discover that they could not pass the seventh grade history final from 1957. When a history major cannot name the only president of the CSA and cannot correctly name the decade of the American civil war it is pathetic. Words such as Battle of Hastings and Magna Charta went unrecognized.
The main problem is not that college EDUCATED people cannot find jobs, the worst part is that college GRADUATES don’t have a real HIGH SCHOOL education, let alone a real college education.