Social Background And The Choice And Consequences Of Undergraduate Field Of Study

Throughout high school, students are prepped for college. Almost the entire curriculum revolves around getting into or being prepared for college. Many of these students are independent and intelligent individuals. College may be the perfect place for them. Linda Lee contemplates the fact that even though statistics show that college graduates make the most money, the statistics also point out that these students were “the brightest and hardest-working” students. There are also students that fall between the cracks of these statistics. Some students may be skilled in certain areas, but do not make the test scores to apply for a university. Others may be on the

Being in college has taught me that what you majored in does not matter when it comes to finding a career, as long as you have the experience you will be fine. I tend to question myself all the time as to “Why am I attending college when most employers probably would not care about my Bachelors or Associates Degree.” My doubtfulness of college brought me to come across the article “No, It Doesn't Matter What You Majored In”, by Carlo Rotella. Carlo Rotella is a director of the Americans Studies Program and the author of several books. The author believes that “Prospective employers frequently don’t really care what you majored in” Page 468.

“Who Gets to Graduate’ by Paul Tough, publish May, 2015 in the New York Times discusses. The story of a young girl’s mindset on college. It begins with her starting in college and first failure on a test. It highlighted the doubts she had in her abilities. This opening introduces the article’s man discussion, which involves low income students who want to earn a four year degree but experience “troubles” along the way. It then discusses statistics that show dropout rates are highest with low-income students. The author included ability versus economics status.

In the shifting landscape of higher education today, questions continue to be raised about the value of a liberal arts education. It is constantly claimed that subjects like science, technology, engineering, and math, are more valuable in today’s economy and culture than a liberal arts major such as philosophy or history. In the essay “Tuning in to Dropping Out” Alex Tabarrok argues that majors in the STEM field are worth more than those in the liberal arts. He claims that “It matters what subjects students study, and subsidies should focus on the subjects that matter the most” (Tabarrok 17). He even goes as far as to say that “An argument can be made for subsidizing students in fields with potentially large spillovers, such as microbiology,

In his essay, The New Liberal Arts, Sanford Ungar addresses common misperceptions related to a liberal arts education. He speaks to their usefulness, the employment opportunities after graduation, their value despite the cost of tuition, and other misconceptions. His overall message is, despite the recent emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math degrees, as well as technical or vocational training, liberal arts degrees are still important and are a valid option to consider when deciding on your educational future. While his essay could easily apply to anyone with these misperceptions, it appears to be targeted directly towards students in high school or early college who are trying to decided on the direction of their education

Charles Murray’s essay proposes that American colleges are being flooded with individuals who are either unprepared for higher education or who are simply forced into attending college and can’t succeed because of the lack of certain innate abilities. Murray’s essay goes on to take issue with the idea that the pursuit of a traditional college education is somehow strategically creating a separation of the American class system. While Murray makes many salient points with regards to America’s obsession with college education as a standard into a class of the intellectual elite, the essay fails to take into consideration the various motivators that can lead to student success, despite

One month, the family is struggling to pay for groceries and rent, the next they are all living in mansion, driving expensive cars, and eating at expensive restaurants. In White households, the expectancy to go through many stages of school and earn various degrees in order to achieve this level of living is more standard. “The percentage of associates degrees attained increased by a small amount over bachelors degrees attained by Blacks in the academic year of 2000-2001. In all of the masters degrees acquired, Blacks were accountable for 8%, and a small portion of first professional and doctoral degrees, only accounting for 7% and 5% of those. Whites were said to have obtained the highest number of degrees,” (Hoffman, 2204: 1). It is our goal to use our research to prove this point.

However, in Ho’s selection, investment banks, the high forces on Wall Street, take the cultural narrative, “culture of smartness” into consideration to strongly impact and manipulate the undergraduates’ choices (Ho 167). Although the Asian women tried to reset the boundaries for undergraduate students, the investment banks’ domination over these students forces them to take follow a specific path. Wall Street’s anxiousness to employ the best undergraduate students, urges the students to get into the top university and to select an uninteresting major that satisfies their desired luxurious lifestyle. For example, Karen Ho states that “470 Princeton students pursued law or medical degrees [and] – about 40 percent of Princeton students choosing full-time jobs directly after graduation – decided to work in the financial services sector” (Ho 170). This supports the upward trend of students’ interest in majors that have the most renowned jobs. These Wall Street’s qualifications, and student’s determination to aim high, construct the societal norms and confine the student’s variety of available educational options to explore. Hence, societal norms for education and career, set by high forces through cultural narratives, greatly affect the behavior and the career choices of the undergraduates in Ho’s essay.

The report analyzes the college degree choices of African American men and women. The author used the two-sample hypothesis test for proportion. The editor made some very concerning comments about post-high school education in the African American community. By age twenty-five, forty-five percent of Black males and fifty-three percent of Black females have attempted college, and sixteen percent of Black men and nineteen percent of Black women have completed college. Black males and females represent about twelve percent of the U.S. population but account for only seven percent of all people with at least a bachelor's degree. Black men are underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) disciplines. The study concluded that Black females with college degrees are increasing, while Black males with college degrees is decreasing (Toldson,

Everyone who decides to enroll in college must, at some point, think about what area they want to major in. There are many things that students consider when choosing a major. Some make their decision based on what they think can make them the most money once they begin their lives in the work force. However, many students believe that if you choose a major that interests you and challenges you then you can use those skills that can help you in any career. (R. Landrum & S. Davis, 2014) Let’s face it. Employers know that when they hire someone straight out of college they are not immediately going to know

“Misconception No.1: A liberal arts education is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. ‘Career-education’ is what we must now focus on.” (Ungar, 2010, pp.191) As Ungar has claimed, there is a recent misconception that a liberal arts education is no longer a necessity but luxury because it doesn’t provide an instant career launching education. With so many people having to a need to spend as little money as possible, they are determined to only spend money on preparation for their future career. For this reason they go to college only to take courses that are necessary for their future. “She is in college to take vocational training. She wants to write computer code. Start a business. Get a job in television. She uses college to take vocational courses that pertain to her career interest.” (Murray, 2008, pp.228) Murray explained the story of a girl who is in college solely for preparation for her career. Because of this, she isn’t interested in a liberal arts education. If the course doesn’t directly pertain to her desired career, she prefers not to take it.

“Kids who are the first in their families to brave the world of higher education come on campus with little academic know-how and are much more likely than their peers to drop out before graduation” (1). Many people believe that school isn’t for everyone, and whoever goes is privileged for doing so. Countless people in the world today do not attend college, and this is mainly due to an influence of those in their family. Perhaps they are unsupportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as a break in the family system rather than a continuation of their schooling and higher learning. Most of the first-generation students decide to apply to colleges, because they aspire to jobs which require degrees. However, unlike some students whose parents have earned a degree, they often seek out college to bring honor to their families, and to ensure they make a decent amount of money for their future.

The literature thus firmly supports the thesis that socio-economic status is directly correlated with academic success, due to the superior financial and social capital resources available to the middle-class student. Furthermore, the interdependence between multiple factors means that the cumulative impact of risk factors may be greater than the simple sum of separate factors (Sparks, 1999:10)

As a pre-service educator it is imperative to understand a student’s social background and their connections within society. Julie Matthews regards education being concerned with the transmission of culture, values, beliefs, knowledge and skills (2013,p166). Social insights into learner’s backgrounds can expose how and why student’s act and think in a particular way. Developmentally the sociology of education has provided numerous theories, the functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, Forms of Capital and the Virtual Backpack Theory, which contributes to and underpin the skills teachers can employ into their learning environments and practice. Theorist Matthews believes that effective pedagogy occurs only when one has gained a thorough understanding and sensitivity of past and present social conditions (2013,. P167). The development of professional practice, curriculum and educational policies can be created using pedagogical knowledge of a student’s social context (socio-economic status, demographics, and cultural differences), therefore creating an enhanced educational outcome for learners.

“Too many students aren’t sure what job they could get after four, five, or even six years of studying a certain major and racking up education loans”(255). Singletary is given the fact that numerous students are confused on their own majors even though they have studied for years. And parts of the students even start realizing their majors might be in a hopeless employment situation after they graduate from that particular field. Therefore, before choosing a field of study, it is necessarily worthwhile for students and parents to check out the majors whether in the highest or the lowest unemployment. According to new statistics on unemployment for recent college graduates by The Huffington Post this June, majoring in social science and creative fields, such as anthropology, film, fine art, etc. have earned the top three of the unemployment rate. In contrast, engineering technologies, math, and computer science remain at the top of the employment chart. Alex Tabarrok mentions the harsh unemployment rate in his article, “…More than half of all humanities graduates end up in jobs that don’t require college degrees…”(250). The society has never shown mercy to students who are unlikely to be employed with the majors they have. Graduating without employment must be one of the biggest nightmares for most students; however, selecting an in demand major can surely decrease the chances of being