Posted on 11/29/2012 8:48:03 AM PST by Kaslin
Payscale.com analyzed the data in its online salary database and has revealed the college degrees that go along with the jobs that have the lowest median pay for their respective career professionals in its 2012-13 College Salary Report. Note - these figures represent the typical annual combination of pay, bonuses, commissions and profit sharing earned by people who have been successful in working in these fields for at least 10 years and were willing to participate in Payscale.com's survey, which means the reported median incomes will likely be inflated above each field's actual median incomes....
|
College Degree |
|
Median Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Child and Family Studies |
$37,700 |
|
|
Social Work |
$45,300 |
|
|
Elementary Education |
$46,000 |
|
|
Human Development |
$47,800 |
|
|
Special Education |
$48,900 |
|
|
Culinary Arts |
$49,700 |
|
|
Athletic Training |
$49,800 |
So what possesses people to take out big student loans to go into professions like these that offer such little compensation? Payscale.com offers the following insight:
"According to our research, people in these majors typically believe their work makes the world a better place," says PayScale’s lead analyst Katie Bardaro.
To translate, the people in these majors are perhaps so disconnected from reality that they do not recognize that the reason their trades provide so little return on their educational investment is because they really do not require unique ability, which is why society does not reward them with greater compensation.
These people are then exploited by the higher education establishment, which really does know better, but can't help noticing that these same people are willing to pay nearly the same amount of money for their college degrees as do people in careers that society values a lot more.
And let's not forget the role of the U.S. federal government in guaranteeing and issuing student loans, which has its own ulterior motives for pushing higher education that offers little real benefit to society.
Say what you will about the careers that go with the degrees above, but at least many of the people who pursue these degrees might actually get jobs in their fields of study, if only low paying ones. Kiplinger's Caitlin Dewey takes things several steps further and identifies the college degrees in Payscale.com's database that combine low pay with high rates of unemployment for their graduates!
Also, this isn't just an American phenomenon. Don't miss this perspective by a recent PhD graduate in Britain who complains that the "real world" doesn't understand or appreciate their skills.
Image Source: Global Elites.
“...a ticket to high-paying non-job jobs...”
And almost every major university has a bureaucracy for minority outreach, inclusiveness, etc.
A typical look at the employment section of a university will show openings for something like “Deputy Assistant to the Dean for Diversity and Student Issues”.
But they have no chance of landing a cushy government job unless they are a member of a protected minority.
Formally known as parenthood.
Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in college (1973-77 to be exact), that degree at my school was called Family Relations and Child Development in the College of Home Economics. Observational realists, like myself, called it the Mrs. degree.
I call them.......victimhoodlums.
Today that would easily be Industrial Engineering. Dumb as a bag of hammers they are.
“...when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in college (1973-77 to be exact)...”
I was at Western Kentucky University those exact same years and much later got a grad degree at Alabama. Now I have a son in college and it seems the lib activist professors are the same now as then. The difference is there were also some conservative professors when I was in. Now the conservatives seem even more endangered than the snow leopard.
I don’t mind the process, what is irritating is having to wait to get in. If I could just pay and write a test and be done, I’d be thrilled. But it’s up to the colleges to admit me first, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
That’s my laugh of the day. I told it to my wife and she thought it was funny too and she doesn’t usually appreciate scatological humor, I told it to her in the form of a question, I got to tell her she didn’t know shit, without getting knocked down.
Oklahoma State was my school and I only occasionally had to deal with lib-profs during undergrad, usually on days I had to wear my Army ROTC uniform. OOTH, I had some great professors that taught straight down the middle and would engage in discussion from either side. A couple of the history professors were particularly good at this.
When I returned for graduate work in the 2000s, much had changed, along the lines you note your son is experiencing. Much more in-your-face libness but I gave back as good as I got...at least I believe I did, anyway.
Good one!
Now a PHD in astrophysics can get you a job teaching MS physics majors working toward their PHDs...and so it goes!
Regards,
GtG
OOTH - should be OTOH...FR edit function in the future, I hope.
From the article: "Note - these figures represent the typical annual combination of pay, bonuses, commissions and profit sharing earned by people who have been successful in working in these fields for at least 10 years">
I don't think those fields qualify, since there are no jobs in those fields.
>>I don’t mind the process, what is irritating is having to wait to get in. If I could just pay and write a test and be done, I’d be thrilled. But it’s up to the colleges to admit me first, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Have you tried this?
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=7073
More than a degree in Anthropology with a minor in Climate Change from the University of Michigan!
She is now working for $9.50 and hour part time!
Have not. Thank you. :)
A long time friend of mine has a grand daughter in UCLA.
She is now a junior, and has been in a Political Science major for all 3 years.
She did NOT know who George Soros was when he questioned her. She voted Obama.
He is a staunch Republican conservative.
‘Rent seeking.’ You must have gone to George Mason University (Public Choice Center, Econ program).
;)
I am sure they can find jobs in HR departments in large corporations and government everywhere.
I imagine that is a state-by-state thing. I don’t know whether Virginia requires an education degree. I think they do. I know that people who quit working where I work to go into teaching went back to college to get an education masters degree, don’t know if that was required, or just the best way to get into the job market.
My daughter is hitting all the “right” notes. She’s double-majoring in Criminal Justice and English, she was going to minor in psychology, and then get a masters in education. She understands she won’t be making much money that way.
She could have done science, but she simply doesn’t like it, even though she was pretty good at it.
My son fell in love with chemistry. We’ll see how THAT job market works out.
Still, I think and keep telling them that it’s not just what degree you get, but also how well you do getting it, and then how well you can work once you land a job.
A good friend of mine is a Chemistry PhD who used to work for Thiokol Corp, the company who make the solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle. He has taught college and is an expert in polymer chemistry.
He recently went back to school for mechanical engineering because Obambi gutted NASA, space shuttle is dead and he couldn't get any other work. Now that he has a BS in ME, he has a pretty good chance to find employment.
YMMV
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