[fecklessyouth]

What you major in isn't that important. This community needs to break out of the "choose a major for the job you want" shell. That same line of thinking is partly to blame for this whole mess anyway, since college departments can't possibly keep up with changing job markets. College students should learn skills, and their major is simply one way to do that.

[bunderbunder]

Speaking as someone who puts his life in engineers', chemists', and clinical biologists' hands on a regular basis, I think there's at least some wisdom to the idea that folks should be specifically educated for the job they're going into.

Granted, there's also a whole range of people who major in subjects that aren't closely tied to much in the way of non-academic jobs, and end up in careers that aren't closely tied to much in the way of academic subjects. For that case, I have to wonder if it wouldn't be better to reconsider the basic structure of higher education from the ground up, rather than picking at the margins.

The standard bachelor's degree program is fabulous for certain purposes, but other cases make it look very similar to the "bundled channels" thing that is popular with cable and satellite TV providers: An archaic business model which primarily serves to disserve customers by forcing many of them to choose between paying for much more service than they actually want, need, or will use, and getting no service at all. In one corner, you have lots of people who don't really need a full bachelor's degree, but end up going into serious debt pursuing one anyway because no better option is available. In the other, you have lots of people who would love to take some individual classes, but find that the university won't let them if they are not enrolled in a 4-year program. Even if they already have a bachelor's degree. Even if it's in a related field.

[InclinedPlane]

Better yet, people should stop thinking that a 4-year arts&science college degree is a prerequisite for any sort of grown up job. More people would be better served by going to trade or technical schools, or learning on the job, and spending their free time indulging their educational passions or intellectual hobbies via self-study instead of digging themselves into 5 figures of debt learning nothing more than what they could with a mere library card.