• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
    • About Current
    • Masthead
  • Podcasts
  • Support
  • Way of Improvement
  • About John
  • Vita
  • Books
  • Speaking
  • Media Requests

So What Can You Do With a History Major: Part 15

John Fea   |  January 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

I am a Katherine Brooks fan. Her book You Majored in What: Mapping Your Career Path From Chaos to Career has changed the way I think about the value of an undergraduate history degree in the marketplace. I have blogged about her work here and here.

Brooks recently did an interview with “Marketplace” on American Public Media. You can listen to the interview or read the text here.

Here is a snippet:

Brooks: Well, I think, you know, we are seeing some changes in higher ed. We are seeing some shift towards more “practical” degrees, such as business or engineering. And I think it’s… You have a headline on your Web site today that says something about retail adjusting to the new normal. And I think higher ed is adjusting to a new normal as well.

Brooks: … I think that fields like the liberal arts have always been excellent preparation for the workplace. They’ve always been a great start to becoming a better communicator, a good thinker and other skills. But I don’t know that the general public always sees it that way and I think sometimes, particularly now when money’s a little tight, people are saying, “Hey, I want bang for my buck in higher ed and I’m not sure what one does with a history major.”

Brooks: …I think liberal arts, in particular, will need to be more creative in the next 10, 20 years. I think they’re going to need to look at a blending more of, “How do we take this major and apply it to the workplace? How can we train our graduates through internships and other programs to be more valuable to employers?”

Ryssdal: Should we be worried then about a whole generation of lawyers and Wall Street bankers, without art history in their background…

Brooks: To be honest, I would worry about that, because I think that’s the value of liberal arts. It enhances the person, it gives you new ways of viewing a situation and I’ll tell you, it might have helped if some of our leaders of AIG and Wall Street and elsewhere had had a little classics training in their background.

I have said this before here, but I think history departments need to do a better job of teaching their students the benefits of a liberal-arts degree. It seems we have all forgotten.

Filed Under: Way of Improvement Tagged With: job market

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Patron Access

Way of Improvement blog banner

Episode 51: “The Politics of Tinky Winky”

January 27, 2023 By John Fea

He was Florida’s professor of the year in 2006. Today his courses would be illegal.

January 27, 2023 By John Fea

Zakaria: The nation’s policy on classified documents and “secrecy” is “out-of-control”

January 27, 2023 By John Fea

Teaching John Henry Newman’s “What is a University”

January 27, 2023 By John Fea

What is popular this week at Current?

January 27, 2023 By John Fea

More Blog Posts

Subscribe via Email



Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

Footer

Contact Forms

General Inquiries
Pitch Us

Search

Subscribe via Email



Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
Subscribe via Email


Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide