Living and Learning, and Hopefully Picking the Right Degree

As I approach the final few weeks of my first semester of sophomore year, I cannot help but question where my education is taking me.  I have so many decisions ahead of me.  I have recently switched out of the college of engineering at the University of Michigan in order to pursue a liberal arts degree in the field of political science and economics.   Much to my parents dismay, I dismissed the prospects of receiving my degree, finding a six figure job, having 2.8 children and living the quintessential American life from the day I graduated college for a much more complicated route.  

As I think about the true gravity of my decision, many things come to my head, first and foremost every person that has ever told me,  “Do what you love, or else you will be miserable…” surfaces, but secondly, an article I read at the beginning of the semester hits me with a suddenly profound meaning.  Louis Menand’s article, “Live and Learn” explores the exact problems I am faced with when deciding on a major and dealing with the possible effects it may have on my search for a career.  As a statement of full disclosure, I have always aligned my views regarding university with that of a Theory 1 believer.   Theory 1 states that Society needs a mechanism for sorting out its more intelligent members from its less intelligent ones.  Higher education is meant to funnel the most qualified people into the toughest careers to maximize society’s efficiency.  Although I will admit, this seemed to be a somewhat cynical view; I truly believed that it was a valid viewpoint regarding university.  

Society's perception of a Liberal Arts Degree can be found everywhere.

In the past few months, throughout the course of reconciliation of my switch to a liberal arts degree, I have decided that Theory 3 seems to be the most fitting.  Theory 3 states that advanced economies demand specialized knowledge and skills, and since high school is simply a broad education, college is the opportunity needed to gain these specialized skills.  A theory can be judged by its ability to explain numerous factors regarding the phenomena it attempts to explain, and in this case, I think the best part of this theory is its ability to not only tell us why as an 18 year-old, I am paying over $25,000 to receive a degree, but also, why different degrees have a larger pay-off, furthermore, it can also explain why the number of awarded graduate degrees raises by the year.   To me, it makes a world of sense, under theory 3, it seems logical to state that if the purpose of college is specialization in a certain field, than the more specialized (to a certain extent) you are, the more marketable you are.  What is a liberal arts degree?  St. Mary’s University College Belfast defines a degree in the liberal arts as a high-quality, multidisciplinary degree that does not try to prepare you for a specific discipline or profession, but rather gives you a well-rounded education in many fields. 

  I could easily be convinced that it some cases, a liberal arts degree could be construed as a mere continuation of high school, only with more alcohol.  Society has placed a certain stigma on the liberal arts degree, and when searched for, it is quite easy to find these biases throughout the inter-webs   Likewise, this theory explains why a degree in a specific field such as engineering, or education is oftentimes more lucrative; it is preparing its recipient for a very specific career by providing her or him with a very specific skillset.   

If I were to look at this journey through university in a purely Theory 3 mindset, I would almost definitely still be in the College of Engineering here at Michigan, but unfortunately enough for my future salary, the first priority in my mind is doing something that I love and if a liberal arts degree does this for me, then here’s to an unspecialized liberal arts degree!