Businesses Find the Right Intellectual Wattage in Students of the Humanities
Business leaders around the world have told me that they despair of finding people who can help them solve wicked problems — or even get their heads around them. It’s…
Why Employers Seek Students with Liberal Arts Degrees
Students, listen up! In his book Excellent Sheep, William Deresiewicz explains why liberal arts graduates are so highly valued by employers. He says that the liberal arts are not just…
The hottest job skill is…
The Army, NYPD and State Department can’t get enough workers with this job skill. Neither can Fortune 500 companies, hospitals, local courts and schools. What is it? Fluency in a…
The Value of a Humanities Degree: Six Students’ Views
As the cost of an undergraduate education soars, does it make sense to invest one’s future in the humanities? Does a humanities degree pay off, one way or another? Three…
STEM and the Humanities: a False Dichotomy
Testifying before Congress a year ago, Hunter Rawlings, President of the Association of American Universities, noted that a survey of employers by his association indicated that 73% rejected the trend towards…
Looking For a Job? Cash in on the Humanities
When you think “job opportunity,” you probably think technology, science, and business. You may think that a professional degree is a singular path to your success. Think again. In this economic situation in which no job is assured,…
Executives Say the 21st Century Needs More Skilled Workers
“As the U.S. economy begins to show signs of improvement, executives say they need a workforce fully equipped with skills beyond just the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic (the…
A Reason to Major in the Humanities
“Daniel Jelski, a chemistry professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz and previous dean of New Paltz’s School of Science & Engineering, argues in a New…
Higher Education Misconceived
. . . “A second misconception by policymakers is that the only important benefit from a college education is the opportunity that it gives graduates to find a middle-class job…
Lessons from the Humanities and Social Sciences
“Surveys conducted this year for the national Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences confirmed that most U.S. employers are looking for these broad-based benefits of a liberal arts education…
On Creating Your Own Path Through Life
“I hear far too often, “What can I do with a degree in X?” This question comes with a false assumption: what you do after college must directly follow from…
Are you encouraging your child to choose a major that will pay a high salary?
If so, think beyond the moment they step off of campus; think beyond the first job and beyond the first five years. Here is why: you are setting them up to fail. You see, you are right about…
Disconnect Between Public Discourse and Employer Needs
There seems to be a disconnect between public discourse and employer needs related to the arts and humanities in the job market. Parents seem to be guiding their children into majors that will “land them jobs,” worried that…
Dis/Connection and Mis/Guidance
In a recent piece in the Harvard Business Review titled “Want Innovative Thinking?: Hire from the Humanities” a student commenter made an excellent remark. S/he said: “As a current undergraduate, I see the balance between critical thinking and…