Why dont we get paid more.

[sakky]

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Sakky, you seem to make the assumption that history majors <em>want</em> to get a job in their field. Outside of academia (which requires at least six more years of schooling), archival/museum work, and elementary and secondary school teaching there just aren’t any jobs designed specifically for history majors. I chose history as a major because I like the subject material and find it interesting and engaging. I did not choose it to land myself a specific job as none of the options above interest me. Liberal arts degrees are valued for the general skill sets that come with experiencing the education. They are to separated from professional degrees (engineering, business, architecture, etc.).

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<p>They are to be separated only because we as a society have * chosen * to separate them. In theory, any particular degree program can be ‘professionalized’. We, as a society, have simply chosen not to do that (yet) with history. But we could. For example, back in the old days, mathematics was considered to be a sub-branch of philosophy and was enjoyed basically for its own intellectual sake. Computer science as a discipline was a subsector of mathematics. We as a society branched off CS as a ‘professional’ version of mathematics because it proved to have value in the market. I’m quite certain that if we really wanted to, we could branch off a ‘professional’ version of many social sciences or humanities. For example, economics begat finance. </p>

<p>But in any case, that’s really neither here not there. I am simply pointing out that just because you major in something doesn’t mean that you should automatically expect to get a job in it. The liberal arts majors clearly don’t. So why should engineering be so different? I know people who just want to study engineering for the sheer intellectual interest in it, not because they actually intend to do it for a living. And as I have pointed out in other threads, there are plenty of engineering students who decide to take jobs in management consulting or banking, or head off to law or medical school, and thus will never work as engineers a day in their lives. I see nothing wrong with that. Nobody says that you have to work in the field that you majored in as an undergrad, nor should you necessarily expect to. CNN has reported that the average American changes careers (not just jobs or employers, but entire careers) about 3-5 times in their lifetime. Hence, it is likely that sometime in your career, you will be holding down a job that has little to do with whatever you majored in as an undergrad. </p>

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OP: If you want money, then you don’t have to major in engineering. It’s your choice. Oakland PD pays a $69,162 to $87,172 starting salary plus benefits. Become a cop. <a href=“http://www.oaklandpolice.com/jobinfo/benefit.html[/url]”>http://www.oaklandpolice.com/jobinfo/benefit.html&lt;/a&gt;

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<p>The major issue with that is that it isn’t exactly ‘easy’ to become an Oakland cop. Otherwise, far more people (from all majors) would be doing it. To become a cop, there has to be openings, and the Oakland PD doesn’t have a lot of openings. The same thing can be said for being a cop in San Francisco. Openings are few and far-between. Hey, if you can get it, good for you, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Otherwise, you would expect all those people making minimum wage at Walmart to all become Oakland cops.</p>