Harvard's Worthless Degree

I've got one (not from Harvard). I majored in history, and as fun as some of the memories are, it was a waste of time and money. I don't want to dismiss the whole experience as worthless, but looking back, that's pretty much the extent of my ejerkashen at the school.

And look at what they want you to get a degree in:

"Harvard encourages dusting off the classics; Says esoteric courses enrich learning" by Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | March 30, 2009

I guess, if you don't have to worry about money or future employment!

.... Although most students may deem the undersubscribed subjects impractical, the bastion of liberal arts education has in recent years begun promoting learning for learning's sake as a worthy and enriching pursuit.

As long as you PAY the TUITION and FEES, right? God! This is about COLLEGES MAKING DOUGH!!!!! Another front-page special agenda-push from the Boston Globe!

Rather than viewing a major solely as a stepping-stone to a career, the university is pushing students to broaden their interests and explore more esoteric topics. Professors and students in those subjects insist that studying even the most obscure disciplines can lead to jobs in a variety of fields, from academia to finance....

Why you gotta lie to the kids? For a buck?

Harvard President Drew Faust, a Civil War historian, has said that education in the humanities prepares students to challenge the status quo.

"That kind of critical thinking and questioning is something we should encourage and instill more fully than we do," Faust said in a recent interview about the value of a liberal arts education when jobs are becoming hard to come by.

While most students think of government and economics as more practical majors, leading to careers in politics and business, said classics major Veronica Koven-Matasy, "Classics is something you just want to do for its own sake."

That was the philosophy I took when I decided my course list -- and here I am!

That's the best advice I can give you, kids.

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At Harvard, other small departments are considering introducing new focuses to make themselves more attractive to students. The university has discussed expanding Sanskrit and Indian studies to a more broad-based South Asian Studies.

Not that they shouldn't have those programs; however, once again we get division and agendas pushed by our schools.

And the Near Eastern languages and civilizations department would like to beef up its offerings in the contemporary Middle East. But their ambitions may be stymied by Harvard's budget crisis.

See: Harvard Hoarding Cash

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