For John, BLUF: The rich do as they wish. The rest of us need degrees that get us good paying jobs. Nothing to see here; just move along.
Over at the Althouse blog is a further discussion on President Obama making a reference to people who major in art history in college. (The teachers who feel disrespected by what the President said in Waukesha.) This quote is from Ms Virginia Postrel:
[A]rt history isn’t a major naive kids fall into because they’ve heard a college degree — any college degree — will get you a good job... [I]t’s famously elitist.... It’s stereotypically a field for prep school graduates, especially women, with plenty of family wealth to fall back on. In fact, a New York Times analysis of Census data shows that art history majors are wildly overrepresented among those in the top 1 percent of incomes. Perhaps the causality runs from art history to high incomes, but I doubt it.Hat tip to Ann Althouse.
and
Hat tip to the Instapundit.
Regards — Cliff
4 comments:
So does this mean that if people were generally more financially secure there would be more art history majors? Is the income potential and financial insecurity suppressing those numbers? What would you study if money (and future income) were no object?
History and Physics and Economics. And, Physics aside, that is what I am doing to the extent that UMass Lowell let me take courses under the special rules for those over sixty and those who are vets.
But, we are not all economically free to pursue whatever we wish. My guess is that we need to (1) improve the economics of all of us and (2) provide education at a reasonable level of cost.
Regards — Cliff
"But, we are not all economically free to pursue whatever we wish."
Sure, but surely the income potential of certain degrees plays into the choices. What I'm wondering about isn't radical - a world in which education isn't primarily a tool to ensure class lifestyle, our choices might be different. If we happen to notice that the choices of people who don't depend on degrees for monetary security, we might see what those choices would be if anyone else also didn't depend on those degrees for monetary security.
The guy from America's Test Kitchen has a degree in Art History.
If a degree improves writing and critical thinking skills it is of value. Art History does that.
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