Let’s establish from the get-go that the American education system and the Canadian education system, and the respective economies of the two countries, have major differences.
Still, I noticed with horror a story on The Daily Beast that lists the two occupations closest to our hearts at The Western Producer as Number 1 and Number 3 on a list of the most useless college majors.
The website calculated the top 20 most useless majors based on fewest job opportunities and lowest pay. It looked at starting and mid-career salary levels, expected change in total number of jobs from 2008-18 and expected percentage change in available jobs over the same period. See the details here.
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Journalism.
Number 3: agriculture.
What that means for the future of agricultural journalism is frightening to contemplate, though we have to think that regardless of delivery method, the news will still be desired and required by future farmers, ranchers and agri-business people.
The finding also contradicts what we are seeing in the agricultural field. A new cultural and economic awareness about the importance of food, its origins, its safety and its security bode well for the future of agriculture.
Also on the list are college degrees in nutrition and in animal science. And again, we have to wonder how that can be, given the above-noted interest in food, the importance of the livestock industry to nutrition and the burgeoning pet populations.
So, there’s more to this than meets the eye — and the criteria on which the list is based. Here is the complete list compiled by The Daily Beast:
1. journalism
2. horticulture
3. agriculture
4. advertising
5. fashion design
6. child and family studies
7. music
8. mechanical engineering technology
9. chemistry
10. nutrition
11. human resources
12. theater
13. art history
14. photography
15. literature
16. art
17. fine arts
18. psychology
19. English
20. animal science
