Writing in The Atlantic, Benjamin Schmidt chronicles the decline in Humanities majors at colleges and universities across the nation. Unsurprisingly, students are taking the advice we, and others have given repeatedly, and are selecting majors which offer them a better chance of remunerative employment.
STEM is doing well as are Business (my field), nursing and computer science. Philosophy, English, History and Languages are on a downward path at most campuses.
One thing not mentioned in the article is that Humanities majors were used as pre-law choices. Law school enrollments are down dramatically in recent years.
I wouldn't want to be a Journalism major, for example, in this age of dying papers and magazines. Some of the changes affecting public K-12 education have made teaching a far less attractive career choice, too.
Later ... anything labeled "________ studies" is likely to be a complete washout employment-wise, too. Examples include Women's Studies, LGBTQ Studies, Black Studies, Hispanic Studies, Native American Studies, etc.
Try to imagine an employer thinking of a victim group studies major, "Wow, I want to hire that person, they'll be a neat colleague, a great team player." Hard to imagine, right? Instead you imagine that person filing grievances, organizing protests, suing, and experiencing slights where none are intended.
