今天华尔街日报的评论栏目，让读者评论大学人文专业的衰落， 我马上就想到文城教育坛的现状， 看看来自哈佛的评论

连哈佛英文专业都要揭不开锅了， 哈。

The Rise of STEM

The decline of liberal-arts majors is a function of the zero-sum nature of degrees: more computer-science majors means fewer English majors. Thus, we should think about this trend less as the decline of liberal arts and more as the rise of STEM. Much of this, too, is driven by women, who were disproportionately likely to pursue humanities degrees, now entering STEM fields at a higher rate.

The cause of this trend remains to be seen. If you look at student surveys, pecuniary factors weigh on their minds when choosing a major, but it’s not the only influence. A survey of Northwestern students, for example, found that parental approval and course enjoyment were the most important factors in major choice. At Harvard, the average English major can expect to make six figures 10 years after graduation, yet the department still teeters on the edge of extinction, with English majors reportedly declining by about 75% by the start of the pandemic.

A decline in liberal-arts degrees is also as much a reflection of changing preferences on the part of admissions officers as it is of changing student preferences. Given the precipitous drops in liberal-arts degrees, however, admissions offers will likely try to counterbalance this trend in the years to come by accepting more liberal-arts students and fewer STEM applicants.

—Aden Barton, Harvard University, economics

所有跟帖： 

• Has something to do with the booming of new immigrants -fakegreen- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 06:55:22

• Teachers colleges probably also declined a lot -fakegreen- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 06:58:51

• 搞便宜了，人文专业才读得起 -tibuko- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:05:16

• 难道不是相反像日本那样，新闻说日本公立大学要取消所有文科 -Amita- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:12:09

• 原因很多，高学费是一大原因，使得学生选专业时不得不考虑将来的工作能不能还得起贷款 -STEMkid- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:07:29

• 比如欧洲，文科没有像美国那样下降那么严重，一大原因是欧洲学费少甚至全免 -STEMkid- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:11:36

• 欧洲失业率那么高，还不是一回事 -Amita- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:12:50

• 两码事，公司又不是因为stem学生少招不到人 -STEMkid- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:15:02

• 他们难道没想过，主要原因是文科教育质量大幅下降？ -甘家口的巷子- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:09:19

• 我感觉文城在这方面是领先全美国的，早就是CS一统天下， 开先锋之路。 -WaldenPond- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:10:41

• 起码早了6-8年。我老大就是滚滚热浪中学计算机的。本来也是没方向，喜欢数学，物理。本来要读物理专业，但也不反对学计算机， -yzhl888- ♀ (111 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:55:36

• 认识的和我同龄的学物理的100%都转行了。其中还有Ivy毕业的 -rr6mumu- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 09:05:17

• , -randomness- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:12:01

• 哈佛足够有钱了，但是， 好像也不能给人文专业学生全部免费。 那样其他专业会抗议的。 -WaldenPond- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:20:40

• 文科不教思辨了，只琢磨着喊口号估计不行啊 -大西洋里来的人- ♂ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:12:00

• 原文谁贴一下呗。 -gossipgirl8- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/29/2023 postreply 07:52:48