Major Regret? See How These Americans Feel About Their College Degrees

[LevelUP]

Fox News, ya I know, REEEEE.

Major regret? See how these Americans feel about their college degrees after graduating
https://www.foxnews.com/us/major-regret-...graduating

Some people overthink their major and some unthink their major. What do you think?

[davewill]

Another good reason for young people to start in community college. Changing your major is a much less costly endeavor if you're doing mostly GenEds those first two years. Asking an 18yo to choose their permanent career trajectory is a recipe for poor decisions.

[jsd]

Another good reason for young people to start in community college. Changing your major is a much less costly endeavor if you're doing mostly GenEds those first two years. Asking an 18yo to choose their permanent career trajectory is a recipe for poor decisions.

Agreed. It's also a great argument for requiring a wide swath of subjects in general Ed, to give people well rounded exposure so they can better determine their individual interests and competencies, setting them up for a better chance at success.

[dfrecore]

Another good reason for young people to start in community college. Changing your major is a much less costly endeavor if you're doing mostly GenEds those first two years. Asking an 18yo to choose their permanent career trajectory is a recipe for poor decisions.

Agreed. It's also a great argument for requiring a wide swath of subjects in general Ed, to give people well rounded exposure so they can better determine their individual interests and competencies, setting them up for a better chance at success.

I really hate 2 things: 1) pushing kids to go to a 4yr school when they don't know what they want to do (either major or career); and 2) telling kids to take GE courses for 2 years, without exploring majors/jobs, because at the end of 2 years, they are generally in the exact same boat as they were at the beginning, with no plan, and no clue about what they want to do.

Please, please, please - if a kid does not know what they want to do for their major, help them figure it out!  Some things they can do: 1) work in the field they're interested in; 2) take lots of personality tests and aptitude tests to help them figure out some things; 3) take classes in a major (or several majors) they might be interested in.

Whatever you do, do not JUST take a bunch of GE courses.  It can take more work than that to figure out a major/career.

BTW - this is not an attack on davewill or jsd, but rather an extension of their comments, because both are correct - but need to be expanded upon.

[Johann]

Another good reason for young people to start in community college. Changing your major is a much less costly endeavor if you're doing mostly GenEds those first two years. Asking an 18yo to choose their permanent career trajectory is a recipe for poor decisions.

Agreed. It's also a great argument for requiring a wide swath of subjects in general Ed, to give people well rounded exposure so they can better determine their individual interests and competencies, setting them up for a better chance at success.

I really hate 2 things: 1) pushing kids to go to a 4yr school when they don't know what they want to do (either major or career); and 2) telling kids to take GE courses for 2 years, without exploring majors/jobs, because at the end of 2 years, they are generally in the exact same boat as they were at the beginning, with no plan, and no clue about what they want to do.

Please, please, please - if a kid does not know what they want to do for their major, help them figure it out!  Some things they can do: 1) work in the field they're interested in; 2) take lots of personality tests and aptitude tests to help them figure out some things; 3) take classes in a major (or several majors) they might be interested in.

Whatever you do, do not JUST take a bunch of GE courses.  It can take more work than that to figure out a major/career.

BTW - this is not an attack on davewill or jsd, but rather an extension of their comments, because both are correct - but need to be expanded upon.

I think there's an argument for doing those GE things  properly at the high school level - or at least most of them. That's the usual process in UK and mainland Europe. I know in Germany, at least, by the time a student finishes their high school "Abitur," they have been "majoring" in something for a while. Same in UK with "A" levels. In most of the euro-orbit countries, large amounts of critical thinking, analysis etc. are required in the highest-level HS courses. Students need to write well, too. They go to University prepared.

Maybe there's a case for such preparation and a National exam, like the French Baccalauréat, for students intending to go to University?