Posted on 01/04/2012 1:23:06 PM PST by SeekAndFind
College kids may choose to spend their campus days studying the glories of Plato, Shakespeare and Le Corbusier.
But, as a new study points out, there may be a steep price to pay.
Recent college graduates with bachelor’s degrees in the arts, humanities and architecture experienced significantly higher rates of joblessness, according to a study being released Wednesday by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.
Among recent college graduates, those with the highest rates of unemployment had undergraduate degrees in architecture (13.9 percent), the arts (11.1 percent) and the humanities (9.4 percent), according to the study.
The recent college graduates with the lowest rates of unemployment had degrees in health (5.4 percent), education (5.4 percent), and agriculture and natural resources (7 percent.) Those with business and engineering degrees also fared relatively well.
“People keep telling kids to study what they love — but some loves are worth more than others,” said Anthony P. Carnevale, one of the study’s authors. “When people talk about college, there are all these high-minded ideas about it making people better citizens and participating fully in the life of their times. All that’s true, but go talk to the unemployed about that.”
The analysis, which was based on 2009 and 2010 data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, comes amid an increasing debate over the value of college education as an economic investment. Over the past two decades, the average amount of debt a student takes on has roughly doubled in real terms, leading to greater scrutiny of the financial returns of college.
Carnevale and his team have also quantified the value of various majors in terms of wages. Over a lifetime, the earnings of workers who have majored in engineering, computer science or business were as much as 50 percent higher
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I absolutely love the second sentence in the last paragraph. Beautifully stated.
To copy something I heard long time ago: you perhaps have mistaken me for someone who gives a damn. I really don’t care what goes on in colleges (well, I don’t like the teaching of America as a worthless place by some professors) or how students do or don’t benefit. I have no children and thus no dog in that fight.
I just am bemused by the constant blather of some Freepers who are convinced that they—and only they—know what people should study: ENGINEERING.
At this point in my life (old age) I just hope that this country holds together. It would be a shame for 237 years of war, strife, democracy, constitutional government and other ideals that men and women have stood for to go under.
And so can becoming a professional athlete.
For the vast majority of kids, neither pursuit makes economic sense. For the small minorities of kids who have the drive and passion to become the best in those fields, yes, they can (and probably will) cash in.
The difference is that the taxpayers aren’t on the hook for HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of student debt that won’t be repaid for athletic kids who can’t get a job.
When I see kids with artsy-fartsy degrees who are in debt over $100K... and I have a pretty good handle on what their field pays the average/median/exceptional graduate... I can predict quite safely that the next debt-inflated bubble to pop will be the education bubble and ground zero of that explosion will be liberal arts and artsy-fartsy degrees.
Re: your second point: One of the reasons why conservatives are hostile to the arts is NEA. Others are CPB, PBS, public funded art exhibits, museums and so on that make it their mission to offend the sensibilities of the public.
The following quite nicely captures the attitude of public servants and “the arts:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvNw0P5ZMbA
GEORGE: I don’t know what’cha had to tell her that for. You put me in a very difficult position, Marine Biologist! I'm very uncomfortable with this whole thing.JERRY: You know with all do respect I would think it's right up your alley.
GEORGE: Well it's not up my alley! It's one thing if I make it up. I know what I'm doin, I know my alleys! You got me in the Galapagos Islands livin' with the turtles, I don't know where the hell I am.
JERRY: Well you came in the other day with all that whale stuff, the squeaking and the squealing and…
GEORGE: Look, why couldn't you make me an architect? You know I always wanted to pretend that I was an architect.
That’s really wonderful. I’m glad you were both able to make it.
That’s not architecture, those are tasks incidental to architecture
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And my point is...ARCHITECTS are incidental to architecture! Hence the unemployment rate.
You may be describing the OWS movement.
ART VANDALAY!
Except there is a little blip called virtually NO CONSTRUCTION going on and no capital to available to get construction going. Architects being out of work are the leading indicator that the construction industry is not coming back soon.
However, I will agree with you in one way ... that there was/is a glut of architects even before the construction bust.
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