"I Don't Want to Be a Barista Forever, I Think"

My Career Advice to a Dejected Liberal Arts Graduate

A college graduate did everything she could to land a good job after college graduation but the best she could get was to be a clerk at a car rental agency. 

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer some advice. 

Why I've Grown to Devalue a Liberal Arts Education

A reader, John Taylor, asked me what I thought about liberal arts education today. I sent him a quick response, to which he said, "Great answer," so I'm posting it here.

 

I am concerned about four things regarding a liberal art education as dispensed today:

 

1. The absolute censorship of right-of-center thinking

 

2. How bad a job that university professors do of teaching. By talent, predilection, and reward,  most faculty are about research, scholarship, graduate students, and undergraduates, in that order.

 

3. The focus on theoretical models and creating liberal activists rather than on what should be the true purposes of a liberal arts education: actual critical thinking (not all wisdom resides left of center) and an exploration of life's universals: love, materialism, fear, work, beauty, the meaning of life, etc.

 

4. The near-open admission policy at the vast majority of colleges and universities that forces professors to dumb-down instruction. A college degree is now, in most institutions, evidence of very little.

 

Getting Hired With a Liberal Arts Degree

A 2012 study found that 53.6 percent of college graduates under the age of 25 are unemployed or doing work they could have done without a college degree—read: cab driver or hotel room cleaner.

A 2014 study that tracked college graduates since 2009 found that a quarter are living at home two years after graduation, 20 percent were earning less than $30,000 a year, and half of those less than $20,000.

The news is even worse for liberal arts majors. A 2014 study found that only 2% of employers are looking for candidates with a liberal arts degree. 49% believe there are “no jobs” out there for those with a liberal arts degree.

But there you are with your B.A. in psychology, sociology, English, ethnic or gender studies, art history, etc.  You also have a mountain of debt. You want a job. You need a job. But how do you defy the odds?  I offer suggestions in my PsychologyToday.com article today.