Talking with some friends over the weekend, who expressed that the value of communication & liberal art degrees is useless. A perfect example of this would be graduating from University with a major in English. What job do you get? It’s not like getting a degree in Finance, that you hit up the financial sector and search for a job in Finance. Since most of the friends agreed mutually that most communication and liberal art degrees are useless, I argued the case. Being a rebel that I am, I felt the need to defend my communication degree. I went to college and received my diploma in Marketing. I have that communications degree as it’s called now a days.
I started my post-secondary education in University. All through high school I believed computers was my thing. I excelled in them. Took every single IT class there was. University was a different story though. I got into University for Computer Programming, but going from a class of 20, to a class of 40+ & I felt out of place. By the end of first semester, I had also realized that University, nor the program I was in was for me. I finished the year off & dropped out at the end of it. I took the summer to decide my plan of action. I opted to go to College for Business, eventually majoring in Marketing. This was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, yet looking back today, I’m glad I made this move when I did.
The same group of friends agreed that communication degrees and liberal art degrees are useless for many reasons; “market is over saturated with communication and liberal art degrees”, “you get nothing out of these degrees” and the best type of job you can gain are those “entry level & low paying jobs”. Say what? I regress. I was once a communication student, who happens to be on his 2nd job since graduating 6 years ago. This communication student also happens to be with the same company for the last 5 years, has gone through 2 promotions and half-dozen salary increases. Narrow minded people really bother me, but than again their narrow mindedness just shows the box world that they live in. Oddly enough I found it particularly funny, that this was coming from two people with not even a sniff of post secondary education.
Somehow I argued the point from a mild stance, but rather shared a laugh in a scary yet very factitious tone. Who am I kidding? It killed me inside, but I knew it just was not worth it to argue, on who’s right or wrong. Were all entitled to an opinion.
Jobs are out there. Every corner, newspaper, job shop, online-job site offers advertising, marketing, administration, journalism, executive assistant, personal assistant and more. So what are these? Oh yeah, communication and liberal art degree jobs.
I’m not surprised that there are some who argue that communication and liberal art degrees are useless. There are also those, much like my self, who traveled the same path of post-secondary education in communication and are doing exceptionally well.
In the same breath, I’m happy and proud of my education. It has gotten me exactly where I wanted to be five years ago. Living a comfortable life, owning a home & car, having enough to save for the future and equal opportunities for a better job.
At the end of the day I firmly believe any education is better than none. We all do what’s right for us, even if that means getting a “lousy” & “useless” communication degree. Like any education, it will give you the basics for the real working world. Research, critical thinking, utilizing different resources and so on come to mind. Your success solely depends on you and how hungry you are. In any economy jobs are out there, just waiting to be filled. It’s up to you, as the individual to market your self, your education, life experience and job experiences accordingly.
There is also a great deal of value in specializing in how to use language and communicate with others, which English and Communications degrees do.
Also, I love to read – do you think editors of the books I read had a finance degree? Nope. What about journalists who bring us world news?
If your friends are only focused on earning the highest possible salary, then sure, maybe finance is for them ;)
I totally agree with you. Language and communication is huge. Sadly though, even the most people in the workforce do not know how to communicate properly, especially in mangers with those below them.
Totally agree! An education is an education. If you want job training, take up a trade.
Yes education is education, but what I was getting at, is that some people view communication & BAs as a waste of time and money!
A liberal arts degree is not useless! It just means you must go into a training program. My daughter has a communications degree, she went into a retail management raining program. She was promoted 8 times in 6 years. She then switched companies and and kept getting promoted. She has done very well. It is not the degree, but what you do with it!
That’s awesome! I totally agree with you, that it’s not the degree, but rather what you do with it. At the end of the day, we all have our niche and what works for us.