CONNECT YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

From a speech by Geoffrey Galt Harpham, Director, National Humanities Center Bruce Cole, appeared at the inauguration of the new governor of the State of Mississippi, one of the most deeply conservative states in the union, to state that the humanities speak to “what makes us human:  the legacy of our past, the ideas and…

read here: http://chronicle.com/article/Is-ROI-the-Right-Way-to-Judge/138665/

Is college about broad intellectual cultivation, research and self-discovery or is it about learning job skills? This is the subject of a current debate in Texas, which reflects a nationwide debate over the purpose and future of higher education. As in many such debates, high-level decision makers in Texas want to streamline college degrees and…

More important for many jobs, according to a recent AACU survey of employers, are skills such as analytical thinking, persuasive communication and problem-solving. read more here: http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2013/04/10/your-college-major-is-a-minor-issue-employers-say/?mod=e2fb *thanks to Barbie De Soto for link

Thomas Friedman of the NYT argues that economic growth and long-term employment depend on innovation… that the jobs of the future don’t yet exist, they need to be invented. His big point is that American education needs to be reinvented to focus on the skills of innovation and creativity. If Friedman’s general point is important…

Today’s NYT has a discussion forum for college bound students, tackling the question: is there a safe major that will guarantee career success? You’ll hear the typical arguments: “Study science and technology…. English and philosophy are a waste of time…” “No, study the liberal arts… value is not defined by return on investment, but by…

To the question: Does Your Major Matter? the authors of this article respond “yes” and “no”. Various studies show that engineering and tech majors are the most employable and highest paying majors immediately out of college. The story becomes more complex and counter-intuitive when you factor in long-term pay, career advancement over a lifetime, job…

According to this BBC report, science and art, once taught in tandem in the time of Da Vinci, have become too radically separated in the modern university. Science and engineering are now paying the price because they are focusing too much on data and rote knowledge and not enough on unique combinations of scientific know-how…

According to a recent study, employers are finding that recent college grads lack the skills required for entry into the labor market. Even students with “marketable” technical training often lack the kind of liberal arts training that most innovative companies need. One problem is that employers no longer do job training–they expect students to be…

We’ve posted on this before: polls show that a majority of students see college as career preparation and credentialing. They most often choose their major based on salary. This logic obviously excludes the humanities because entry-level salaries for humanities majors are comparatively low. See here: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=24196914&nid=148&title=students-consider-salary-trends-when-choosing-major&fm=home_page&s_cid=queue-5 This article effectively pushes back against the conventional bromides…