Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush earned a lot of attention for his "warm kiss" remark during last night's debate. But he's also getting attention for a comment made earlier in the week about the limits of a psychology degree.
The Washington Examiner reports at a South Carolina appearance Saturday, Bush said:
"Universities ought to have skin in the game. When a student shows up, they ought to say 'Hey, that psych major deal, that philosophy major thing, that's great, it's important to have liberal arts … but realize, you're going to be working [at] a Chick-fil-A.' "
As you might imagine, that comment has not sat well with psych majors who mounted a #ThisPsychMajor Twitter campaign to defend the value of their degree and their work. (No word yet from philosophy majors, one of whom is my oldest son. Perhaps, they're still contemplating.)
We spend a lot of time discussing the best college majors despite evidence college grads often end up in fields outside their areas of study and do fine.
I've had mechanics who were journalism majors -- I'm partial to them -- and doctors who studied art history. I have many friends in computer-related jobs who studied urban planning or sociology.
Every college publishes a pep talk about choosing a major on its website. I like the advice to students on the Yale site:
We encourage you to pursue a major that you're passionate about, focusing on subjects that you will enjoy studying and have a genuine engagement with. Through your extracurricular activities, leadership roles, and internship experiences you can explore the applications of the skills and knowledge you're gaining through your liberal arts curriculum, and try out the diverse range of careers where you can apply your skills and knowledge.
Several of you have asked what psych majors earn so I pulled this chart from PayScale.com:
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