#functionally useless

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I only ever use google to find images when duckduckgo comes up short, and lemme tell you it's gotten real janky since I started using adblockers. I typed something in, I hit enter, and it just started a second line of text in the search bar. WHAT?

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Tumblr won't let me post anything with more than 2 images, even though the limit is supposed to be 10. Every time I try, I get hit with a loading message for a few minutes, "processing media for your post," and then it just closes itself and deletes my post. Doesn't even save it as a draft, it just disappears. The app is barely functional, but maybe desktop is better; I'll give that a try later, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[wolveswithhats]

Instead of slipping into hopeless despair, I'm going to stalk the tags of attractive people. It's not productive at all, but....attractive people.

[absurdlakefront]

Sixty per cent of American college students are not liberal-arts majors, though. The No. 1 major in America is, in fact, business. Twenty-two per cent of bachelor’s degrees are awarded in that field. Ten per cent are awarded in education, seven per cent in the health professions. More than twice as many degrees are given out every year in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies as in philosophy and religion. Since 1970, the more higher education has expanded, the more the liberal-arts sector has shrunk in proportion to the whole.

Neither Theory 1 nor Theory 2 really explains how the educational system works for these non-liberal-arts students. For them, college is basically a supplier of vocational preparation and a credentialling service. The theory that fits their situation—Theory 3—is that advanced economies demand specialized knowledge and skills, and, since high school is aimed at the general learner, college is where people can be taught what they need in order to enter a vocation. A college degree in a non-liberal field signifies competence in a specific line of work.

Theory 3 explains the growth of the non-liberal education sector. As work becomes more high-tech, employers demand more people with specialized training. It also explains the explosion in professional master’s programs. There are now well over a hundred master’s degrees available, in fields from Avian Medicine to Web Design and Homeland Security. Close to fourteen times as many master’s degrees are given out every year as doctorates. When Barack Obama and Arne Duncan talk about how higher education is the key to the future of the American economy, this is the sector they have in mind. They are not talking about the liberal arts.