burrrton wrote:Well, it's not just the initial job that's difficult to get- it's subsequent jobs, too. In other words, yeah, maybe things like effective communication are emphasized more and those transfer well from career to career, but they're no more useful (or lucrative) in your 2nd and 3rd careers than they were in your first.
The research out there on the subject suggests that although career switches are difficult for everyone, they go more smoothly for those with liberal arts degrees. The point I was making wasn't about them being more useful or lucrative in the 2nd or 3rd, it's that they make the 2nd and 3rd more likely to happen. Someone with an architecture degree, for example, will have a harder time transitioning to a career in business management than someone with a history degree. That's just what the research on the topic has found. So while getting a good job with a history degree might be more difficult than with an architecture degree, the person with the history degree is more likely to develop a long and successful second career in a new field than the architect. (We're talking in averages, of course.)
burrrton wrote: Debatable in 2016 for way too many BAs (Comm yes, Grievance Studies no way), but either way, those aren't generally listed as job-specific requirements for six-figure positions- they're typically minimum expectations that anybody can develop far beyond the competence necessary.
I'm with you part-way on this one. As much as I am skeptical of Grievance Studies (or Peace Studies or any other "Studies" major), the fact is that their courses are filled with assignments requiring them to use a variety of sources of information to make an argument. Now, it might be a shitty argument unconnected from the real world, but that kind of assignment repeated over the years does strengthen the ability to think critically insofar as that means thinking creatively about evidence and argument. It likely involves working independently on big projects, or in teams, both of which are skills that employers want out of new employees.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/ ... fb8d81752dSo although the knowledge base built in that major might be worth very, very little, it does develop some skills employers want applicants to have already. But I'm with you in that these majors aren't pitched in this way, and students [mistakenly, I think] believe that they are acquiring the skills necessary to go into a lucrative career in these fields. Basically, those degrees lead to careers in non-profit organizations and, although potentially fulfilling for those students, sure as s*** aren't lucrative or stable. So students think they're getting a "skill" degree like architecture when they aren't really. And if they think that there are good careers out there looking for Grievance Studies majors, I agree with you that they are going to end up with a degree that doesn't do much of anything for them.
The key, I think, is for liberal arts colleges and universities to be clearer with students about what they will be getting with their degrees. Be clear that they are building skills more than they are mastering knowledge that will lead to a career. If students know that, they are more likely to realize that they need to be getting internships or jobs to get the career-specific knowledge, while getting the skills in their degree programs.
But from surveys of employers (e.g., the link above), I think you have it backward for many careers, including business. Employers in business are more likely to say that they would rather hire employees with these broad skills (creative problem solving and ability to work independently are always in the top 3 or so) and train employees on the technical skills, rather than hiring employees with the technical skills and developing competence in writing and thinking along the way. They tend to report that those
aren't things most employees can develop along the way.
There are obvious exceptions where there is a minimum knowledge base that will make liberal arts graduates unqualified, which is why I'm not saying that liberal arts degrees are the best. I'm not. My sister's degree in occupational therapy is a fantastic degree, and I think we don't have enough people getting those kinds of degrees and we have too many people getting liberal arts degrees who have no idea why they're doing that. With my own daughters my wife and I stress math and entrepreneurship, so I am putting my money where my mouth is. But I am saying that the market can support both the technical and liberal arts degrees.