Posted on 06/11/2003 11:23:53 AM PDT by Drew68
Wed Jun 11, 7:50 AM ET
Craig Wilson, USA TODAY
Years ago -- I don't need to say how many -- when I was a freshman in college, the first week on campus was filled with seminars and lectures and orientation meetings.
Upperclassmen set up tables on Syracuse's quad and dispensed the kind of knowledge only upperclassmen can dispense.
I remember chatting with one senior who proudly announced, ''I'm an anthro major myself.''
Maybe I didn't react fast enough, or act impressed enough, because she was quick with the follow-up.
''Anthropology?'' she asked as if introducing me to a brand-new world. ''Like Margaret Mead?''
''But doesn't Margaret Mead have the only job there is in anthropology?'' I naively asked.
She didn't like my question very much and didn't respond, turning instead to another freshman who had just strolled up to her table.
I often wonder whatever happened to her. What does happen to anthro majors? Or philosophy majors? Or art history majors, for that matter?
I came from a practical family. My parents were happy to send me to college, but they expected me to be employed in the end. A crazy notion, I know, but they were farmers, used to planting things in the spring and then getting a harvest in the fall. Even I thought it a fair exchange.
Kierkegaard and Caravaggio were all very well and good, but my dad had never heard of either, and he was damn well sure they weren't going to be very good references when the time came to hand over my résumé at a job interview.
I read the other day that this is the worst job market for recent college graduates in 40 years. The market for summer jobs is even worse, because the jobs usually taken by high school kids are now being taken by college grads who can't find jobs in, or out, of their fields.
So what's an art history major to do these days? Other than Prince William, an art history major with a somewhat secure job in sight, most everyone else will have to scramble.
The good news about a bad economy is that you have better-educated people working in the service industry. The bad news about a bad economy is that you have better-educated people working in the service industry.
I mean, do we need the woman at Home Depot telling us we're making a big mistake choosing the Ionic column over the Doric for the front porch?
There's a new radio commercial for Bud Light that salutes those out there working in the trenches, pursuing what seems to be the increasingly elusive American dream. The ad campaign is called Real Men of Genius, and it celebrates the common man, each with his own mini-bio, ending up with the not-too-surprising conclusion that we all need a cold beer at the end of a hard day.
The commercials celebrate everyone from the Mr. Wedding Band Guitar Player to Mr. Nudist Colony Activity Coordinator to Mr. Supermarket Free Sample Guy. All fictional, presumably.
Among the Real Men of Genius is Mr. Fancy Coffee Shop Coffee Pourer. And yes, you guessed it: He holds a degree in art history. A master's, in fact.
My dad would not have thought this fiction at all.
Sure, anthopology or art history looks impractical and a waste of time and money, but if we all studied business, computer science, or engineering the world would be a very dull place. Perhaps at fifty or sixty today's grads in technical fields might feel that it was wasteful not to have explored other interests. And from what I hear, today's computer science grads have to hustle harder to get jobs too.
I think college is finally being dethroned now. There are plenty of other opportunities to educate oneself today, from night school to distance education, to the Internet, so the BA doesn't have the weight it once did. Also, if we wanted to, we could so "front load" education, that we could trim a few years off the end and leave kids at least as well educated at 18 or 20 as they are now with a BA or BS. We could also combine education with internship work experience as some universities already do. But I don't think we ought to aim at a narrower education more focused on vocational or technical training, to the exclusion of general learning and the transmission of a cultural heritage, for that is very important.
Your Art History teacher, rather unsurprisingly, taught you the Marxist perspective. You might want to study the history of the Western University on your own. It's a bit more complicated, and far cooler than the Marxist version.
Actually, that's a pretty good stand-in for pre-Law.
Well, at least he could be philosophical about it.
I can't remember most of my 20s. I'm pretty sure I had fun though.
I can't drink like I used to. I'll drink maybe a sixpack of beer a week. No more whiskey --my body can't handle it at all. Plus, I can't even be *hungover* doing what I do. If I blow a 0.04 while operating a CMV, I lose my CDL for a year. If it happens a second time, I lose my CDL for life.
Three beers will knock me out now. I remember when I used to drink three beers first thing in the morning just to feel normal.
My dad and all his brothers served, although only one was career military. In my generation, including all my cousins, I was the only one. I really think people are missing out on a great experience that teaches lots of life lessons. Plus, its lots harder to sterotype and demonize the military if you've served and know what its like.
Speaking of college, I need to pull that CD out again soon.
I'm a former SU amunus and I can picture the scene on the Quad exactly. Fortunately, I took an engineering major...
Now your getting mean! :)
Maybe it's no so much what you want to, or try to, do with it, it's all what you end up doing with it.
I had a pretty good idea what I was going to end up doing with a BSEE degree. Now that I'm doing it, I like it.
I think that what one ends up doing with a lib arts degree is a lot more nebulous--and in that nebula is a lot more crappy jobs.
How true. I run an IT company. Business has been in the crapper for over a year now.
Or: Posthole Digger
Business students too, I haven't had an American professor in a year and half.
Comedian Richard Jeni had a great line about this. He said [paraphrasing], "I majored in philosophy. I then asked my professor, 'What can I do with this philosophy degree?', and he said, teach other people philosophy. 'And what can they do?' He replied, 'Teach others philosophy.' Oh My God? My University is Amway, but with a football team?"
Same here. I feel guilty for being a selfish dumba$$ by not serving my country as well as missing out on the benefits the military could have had on my life. The BS in Architectural Design was a little short on duty, honor, and country.
ROTC paid my way thru a BSEE degree and I was commissioned as a 2LT.
Once I was on active duty and the Clinton scum started turning the Army into a social experiment--'coed' barracks, OSHA oversight of army training, don't ask--smoke pole, women in combat positions...
A lot of us hard science guys said: "screw this!" and left to pursue good jobs in our fields with clearances and some experience.
Unfortunately, the 'Russian studies', 'English' and 'History' guys could either stay and enforce the Clinton doctrines or leave and trade in their rank and benefits for a crap job.
They stayed and were willing to push their subordinates under a bus if it meant they wouldn't have to lose their status job and bennies.
I saw it myself. It was awful to watch otherwise honorable men enforcing policies they did not and could not agree with in order that their families didn't have to suffer the slings and arrows on the real economy. Sickening....
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