The 13 Most Useless College Majors (As Determined By Science)
1. Fine Arts
3. Film, Video, and Photographic Arts
4. Commercial Art and Graphic Design
5. Architecture
6. Philosophy and Religious Studies
7. English Literature and Language
8. Journalism
9. Anthropology and Archeology
11. Music
12. History
13. Political Science and Government
(Ed: Your primary tumblrs majored in two of these and now work in the field of a third.)
These statistics are precisely what’s wrong with the job market and the education system these days. Choosing a subject to study doesn’t only mean ‘following one’s dream’ or picking a career path. It should be something that allows individuals to put their skills and talent to good use, while educating them and helping them to blossom as human beings. This means ensuring that people are allowed to function within areas that will enable them.
Take my example. I am a moderately intelligent person, blessed with a number of skills (so are you, by the way, whoever you are. It’s just a matter of discovering which ones you have been given). I find it easy to learn languages (I studied six, and speak four, more or less fluently), I can cook, I have good analytical skills, I can talk in public, and I am a good teacher.
This hand of ability-cards I have been dealt would not help me in science-based subjects. I am cursed with squeamishness, physical clumsiness, and a mild dyscalculia. Hard as I might try, studying a ‘useful subject’ such as medicine, physics, or engineering would turn me into an incompetent, or at least mediocre doctor, technician, businesswoman. I would be miserable because I would be constantly reminded that I am a human being unfit for the purpose. This could lead to a number of consequences: my bad performance in a job I can’t do very well could lead to mis-diagnosis of patients, houses collapsing, businesses to go bust - not to mention social withdrawal, depression, neurosis, things that might affect me personally and make me unable to function as a human being.
I have a BA in English literature and Theatre Studies, an MA in Dramaturgy and Directing, and a PhD in Film Studies. All ‘useless’ subjects. My work (and I am currently in the limbo between finishing grad school and entering the dreaded job market) is never going to be as important as any medical student, physicist, or war correspondent. And yet my studies have moulded me in a way that means I am an active citizen with a social and political conscience, a contributor to a number of activities that are important to the various social groups with which I interact, and a functioning adult who has learnt both to pay bills and to survive psychological trauma. Judging the usefulness of a degree or a course of study solely on the amount of jobs and dollars it might lead to totally discards the purpose of education.
Literature, art, theatre, music, films have equipped me with the tools to grow up. There is nothing useless in that.
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