It's kind of stressful trying to figure out my college future. Came across an article from Newsweek that mentioned some 'useless' degrees and got me wondering. What are the degrees commonly labeled as 'useless' when looking at job prospects or utility in today's job market?
To answer your question, it's important to emphasize that no degree is completely 'useless', as each contributes to a person's intellectual growth and personal development. However, it's true that some degrees translate more directly into job prospects than others.
In terms of employment rates and average salaries, degrees in the humanities and fine arts sometimes face more criticism. For instance, subjects like philosophy, religion, art history, and English can be less direct paths to specific career routes compared to degrees in STEM or business.
Similarly, degrees in fields such as fashion design and culinary arts are highly specialized, and job availability can be highly dependent on location and market conditions.
However, it is key to remember that the usefulness and value of a degree go beyond just immediate job prospects and earning potential. It also includes aspects such as intellectual fulfillment, personal growth, and the development of skills that might be transferable across a range of professions. For example, a philosophy major often develops excellent critical thinking and argumentation skills, which could be highly beneficial in law, business, or academia.
So, when choosing a college degree, consider not only what you might want to do career-wise, but also what subjects truly interest you. In this day and age, we often need to keep learning and developing new skills throughout our careers, so the ability to learn, fostered by studying something you love, could be the most useful skill of all.
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