[vineyardmike]

Maybe there’s value to classes outside of what employers want Especially for survey-level classes that aren’t specific to a specialization or major.

I think alternatively we need employers to stop asking for degree’s altogether so the enrollees are people who are there to learn for themselves not for employers. It’d reduce the crazy demand and cost around education.

[logifail]

> Maybe there’s value to classes outside of what employers want Especially for survey-level classes that aren’t specific to a specialization or major

(Full disclosure: I don't understand the US college system at all [sorry!])

In what circumstances would a student be already at college and wanting/needing to "survey" psychology by doing Psych 101?

More broadly, who wants to major in psychology .. and why? Do employers need more professional psychologists?

[vineyardmike]

1. Some people want to study psychology (or other classes) for pure intellectual reasons. They’re curious about the world. Shouldn’t that be enough?

2. “Survey” courses have 2 values through helping people learn new topics (1) gain broad understanding of the world, and (2) discover fields they may wish to major or study deeper in if they haven’t decided yet.

My caveat here is that I suspect (unsubstantiated) that some topics become filler by universities.

3. There are lots of jobs people do with a psychology major, besides a psychologist/researcher, but I don’t know how many of them require that deep knowledge explicitly.

Many jobs are probably better performed if you learn some psychology (eg a few classes worth) - marketing, non-therapeutic counseling (coaches, teaching, etc), HR, recruiting, doctors, nurses, organizational management, etc.

I want to reiterate point 1 - there’s value in education beyond employment, but it’s plausible that employers should care less. I doubt most employers expect candidates to take survey level courses, but requiring a degree of any sort implicitly assumes they have taken those courses.

[logifail]

> Some people want to study psychology (or other classes) for pure intellectual reasons. They’re curious about the world.

OK, so what proportion of college students choose their classes for those reasons?

Thinking back to my time at college, there wasn't a whole lot of purely intellectual motivation (or genuine curiosity) going around.

The overwhelming majority were there a) to have a good time, and/or b) because they saw it as a route to a well-paying job once it was completed.