Earn Big Money!

Commencement season is upon us again.  Along with the joys of the season, these days there is a twinge of anxiety among the recently-minted graduates about their employment opportunities.  Some encouraging signs are beginning to emerge, however.  As reported in The Atlantic yesterday, the unemployment rate for 20 to 24 year olds with a Bachelor’s degree nearly doubled between 2007 and 2011, but began dropping by 2012.  While the types of available opportunities may be a factor in the lowering unemployment rate, the skills recent graduates developed through their courses of study may also play a role.

At least that is the suggestion from the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) recent study about skills valued by employers.  The report, entitled "It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success," highlights the idea that students should have "both field-specific knowledge and skills and a broad range of skills and knowledge" upon graduation.  Further, recent graduates should be able to apply their skills and knowledge to real-world situations in order to solve problems effectively.  As it happens, students develop these kinds of knowledge and skills through their studies in the liberal arts and humanities.

I have written before about the dangers of linking education only to potential employment opportunities, essentially arguing that learning should lead to a broadening of the mind or an appreciation of the aesthetic.  I also have suggested, however, that even given the employment-outcome orientation of education, schools should teach students the creative, problem-solving skills which they currently are not.  Adaptability – that is, learning how to learn - in our ever-changing world can ensure some degree of success in the workplace and can come from studying broadly and widely.  Such is the essence of the liberal arts and humanities.

Image from The Radical History Review. Available at http://chnm.gmu.edu/rhr/rhr.htm

The idea of education’s relationship to employment reminds me of one winter from my youth.  My eldest brother had returned home from his first semester at college, where he was majoring in history.  One day around the house, he was wearing a tee-shirt he had acquired while at school.  The shirt bore a caricature of Karl Marx.  The words “Earn Big Money!” appeared above Marx, while those below him inveighed, “Become A Historian”  The idea of Marx endorsing the pursuit of the almighty dollar struck me as funny, while the thought of becoming rich doing history was no less amusing.  (Nevertheless, that image likely influenced my own academic pursuits; though for the record I am still awaiting my big payday.)  In retrospect, my brother’s tee-shirt seems prescient.  While mastering Marxist interpretations of the past may not directly lead to vast riches, understanding that one’s studies are not an end unto themselves, but rather are an entrée into new and rewarding opportunities, could provide some degree of stability and security if not happiness.

By way of a Postscript, I have come to learn that my brother’s tee-shirt, which originated at The Radical History Review, was quite popular among particular generations of historians.  You can order your very own at The Radical History Review’s website.