whakahekeheke

Listen kids, you can learn something important from the #occupy movement!

And I don’t mean some political platitude about teh evil 1%.

I mean something practically important, something you can personally control right now, and something that will shape the rest of your life.

Please direct your attention to this typical grievance:

She is college educated, probably in debt, and unemployed.

A central complaint for occupyers is that they (1) have student loan debt and (2) don’t have jobs or don’t have good jobs. That makes sense.

Over the last 25 years, the total number of university students in the US has risen by over fifty percent. A lot more kids are going to college. However over that same time, the total number of students majoring in the most in-demand fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) has decreased. What are students majoring in instead?

Why are students majoring in soft-studies degrees that are not in demand and don’t pay? In part because government subsidizes all degrees. Government subsidizes (and sometimes guarantees) all student loans, regardless of what degree they’re in. You get grants regardless of what you major in etc. So lenders and universities have no incentive to really care what you major in. They get the $$. It doesn’t matter.

That distorts the natural information signaling of the higher-education market. Private lenders would otherwise offer much lower-interest loans more readily to biochem majors than queer theory majors. Many of these occupyers likely have degrees in fields with little-to-no career value, all of them government subsidized at least in part.

So what’s the lesson you should learn? It’s clear. College is expensive and the generic “college degree” doesn’t necessarily help much if at all. For most people:

• If you do go to college, do not major in a field that is not in demand unless you’re sure you want higher risk of a much harder life.

What majors are not in demand? Avoid:

• psychology
• psychology
• psychology
• we don’t need more psych majors
• sociology
• philosophy
• arts (visual, performing, studio, theater, whatever)
• communication
• journalism
• literature
• education
• social services
• history
• area “studies”

Obviously this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn about these subjects or even take classes in them—maybe do a minor. Just don’t major in them if you’re considering career prospects. And if the fields that are in demand absolutely do not appeal to you, consider putting off college or dropping out rather than racking up pointless debt and wasting your time.