
The world’s top economists just made the case for why we need English majors - sonabinu
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/19/worlds-top-economists-just-made-case-why-we-still-need-english-majors/
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SamReidHughes
The decline in English majors precedes an overall decline in college
attendance, I hope. Regarding STEM long term prospects, well, a lot of
graduates there simply aren’t very good. Rigorizing standards would lower the
STEM unemployment rate. But every school’s got to make a buck.

Maybe instead of English majors, these kids could spend a stint in the
military. Or join an orchestra. Or work in sales at a car dealership.
Something that involves developing a skill and exercising discipline.

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vastoi
To imply that the pursuit and achievement of an English undergraduate degree
confers absolutely zero benefit or skill (or that everything even needs to be
a “skill”, but that’s another conversation) is inaccurate at best. The ability
to parse complex written information/documentation and distill value from it
as well as to clarify your own thoughts in writing and communication is
absolutely valuable and enriching for an individual.

Though I could very well be wrong and it is an absolutely useless degree,
after all, I majored in philosophy ;)

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SamReidHughes
You can train people in reading and good writing far more efficiently than an
English degree. Edit: And I'd value students who take their study more
seriously a lot more, but most are just third-rate students at third-rate
schools getting a piece of paper.

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scarejunba
This is all nonsense. You know, it's like when we say communication is
important in the workplace. I don't want to replace my engineer with a
communications major. I want all the engineering prowess and the communication
skill multiplies that effectiveness. If I get a comm major I get engineering
prowess of zero multiplied by some amount of comm skill and that's useless. I
don't want that.

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7thaccount
This arguments in this article aren't convincing.

Having well rounded citizens is good, but I don't think that means we need
more English majors struggling to make a living.

