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If you went to college what did you major | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work |  | |
| Louis Triglot Groupie Italy Joined 5733 days ago 92 posts - 110 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish | Message 113 of 169 06 October 2009 at 8:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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As a highschool senior applying to colleges now, I found this topic very interesting and informative. I will, assuredly, be a language major. :)
It's just a matter of what to supplement it with, be it a double major or a minor. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Belardur Octoglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5614 days ago 148 posts - 195 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2, Spanish, Dutch, Latin, Ancient Greek, French, Lowland Scots Studies: Biblical Hebrew, Italian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean | Message 114 of 169 06 October 2009 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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OK, I don't even see his reply, so...
Anyway, on topic, does anyone find the increasing prevalence of double majors a sign of an untenable model of skills-education that needs to be complemented in order to be competitive? Edit: I just realized that was my 100th post. What a waste. Edited by Belardur on 06 October 2009 at 9:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| -Kupo- Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6070 days ago 84 posts - 84 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Russian | Message 115 of 169 06 October 2009 at 9:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I am currently doing a double major in Spanish and German. Am just doing it as an interest degree rather than anything else.
If I was to do another degree a Korean major would be high on my enjoyment list. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| OneEye Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6853 days ago 518 posts - 784 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, Taiwanese, German, French | Message 116 of 169 07 October 2009 at 12:11am | IP Logged | |||||
Eh, he must have deleted it.
Maybe, Ｉ ｇｕｅｓｓ ｉｔ ｄｅｐｅｎｄｓ ｏ ｎ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｒｓｏｎ and situation． Sometimes there just isn't one major that fits perfectly, so a combination is preferable. And sometimes an additional major may require little extra work. I'm majoring in Chinese, but I've had so many History courses (between this degree and my first degree) that it will only take me one additional class to have a second major in History, so why not? It looks good when applying to grad school if I have a major in Chinese and History, and a minor in Japanese, especially if I end up doing graduate work in Chinese history (Japanese is a requirement for most PhD programs in Chinese studies). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Glendonian Bilingual Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5720 days ago 26 posts - 37 votes Speaks: French*, English* Studies: German, Italian | Message 117 of 169 07 October 2009 at 1:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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I appreciate the insight about gen eds as we call them (general education) consisting of things that should have
been covered in high school. Regarding the idea that universities should teach us more and educate us less, some argue that an educated citizenry - note that I said 'citizenry,' and neither 'workforce' nor the ineffably crass and cheap 'taxpayers,' which mercifully has not been written here - is essential to the maintenance of democracy. I wish I could find the scholarly article that I read lately arguing this. I guess I'll be back if I succeed. Incidentally, one of the gen eds that my university requires us to take is a course that falls under "modes of reasoning;" it can be a philosophy or a logic class and so on. To satisfy this requirement I took a course called - wait for it - Critical Thinking. Edited by Glendonian on 07 October 2009 at 1:11am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Rhoda Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5603 days ago 166 posts - 196 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Latin, Swahili, Ancient Greek, German | Message 118 of 169 07 October 2009 at 1:12am | IP Logged | |||||
Everyone I know who is a double major, including myself, is doing it primarily because they like both subjects and can't decide. That said, in the past year or so, I've found I have a definite preference for one of my majors--but I'm hesitant to drop the other because my parents would flip. So I guess it's the idea that one of my majors is more "practical" and it's not a bad backup plan if things with my first major don't work out. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| JasonBourne Groupie United States Joined 5755 days ago 65 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Written), Turkish | Message 119 of 169 07 October 2009 at 4:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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The idea of focusing on an "education" rather than actual practical work skills is a very western approach to education. Colleges in the UK, Middle East, and China, as far as I know, are much much more vocational oriented.
Your worry that Americans students are too focused using college as a stepping stone to a certain job is baseless. In my experience, foreign exchange students and first generation American citizens are MUCH more likely to view college as a stepping stone. I don't want to stereotype but very rarely will an Indian or Chinese student go to an American college to gain "critical thinking" skills; he/she wants to go in order to become an investment banker, or a doctor. American students are much much less likely to seek out careers which require specialized education. So you really should be pointing the finger at foreign higher education, not our own. The debate has no clear cut answer, though, and depends largely on individual experience. You, OneEye, have aspirations of gaining a PhD in Chinese, and if you follow that route (don't take offense to this) will probably spend your entire life in the safe world of academia. I, on the other hand, graduated in Finance/Economics, cast out into the real world with zero applicable skills, loaded with debt, and can't even land an interview let alone a job. I'm not BLAMING college for my failures per say, I'm very happy for my experiences and liberal arts education. But I look at me and all of my graduate friends working at McDonalds, right now, and can't help but think that some basic applicable job skills could have been a BIG help. Vocational job skills don't build an aristocracy, they build a strong middle class. You may scoff at the "lowbrow" culture of vocational education, but not every American college kid wants or has the resources to be a doctor, lawyer, or Chinese PhD. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Saif Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5615 days ago 122 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Levantine)*, French | Message 120 of 169 07 October 2009 at 4:59am | IP Logged | |||||
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I graduated recently, aerospace engineering. Language learning is a hobby of mine.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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