Why Aren’t Black Students Picking Majors That Lead to High-Paying Jobs?

[Dominic Decoco]

My mom been telling me for years I should go to school in the medical field.

It's just I really, really don't like school at all.

Or wiping asses.

Bruh lol nurses rarely wipe shyt, they leave that for the CNAs. Now blood? That's another story...

 

[Neil Tyson]

Some places have PSWs and placement students to do that shyt. You will have to wipe an ass at some points tho.

 

[NaijaProdigy Redux]

A lot of people were just not adequately prepared in elementary and high school for the demands/rigors of a STEM education.

Having said that, networking + school prestige goes along way to employment -- moreso than the degree from what I've seen

 

[KravenMorehead™]

 

[BrothaZay]

Black people in general don't come from "succesful" families. They don't have anyone to teach them whats the right move and whats the wrong move to make as far as life. Alotta blacc ppl are still apart of the first generation in their fams to go to college, and when they do, they have to figure out everything on their own. They dont have a granddad who was a CEO and mom and dad making 200k a yaer to take advice from.

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

Some of that makes no sense...

As a black man who holds an engineering degree .. i picked a school that had the major I wanted... i didnt pick answer school hoping to transfer. I applied for school that had what I wanted.. I knew what i wanted to do since a child and it expanded once i applied for a technical HS and got accepted... Problem is ALOT of people are underdecided becasue they coast through life then when its time to settle and start thinking about life and family and career, its to late and they pick the easiest. Which in some schools is Liberal arts and Science

My wife is a teacher and she chose her field becasue she likes children..

Yes that article is partly correct because minorities arent in the STEM majors.. but its reasonings aren't 100% accurate..

 

[Grand Cru Boo]

Damn if we do, damn if we don't if you ask me

 

[lowkey0z]

happy i came into college undecided..nikkas wanted to be swimming history majors and education majors and shyt, didn't really see the positives in those..researched every major my school had, saw that engineering paid the most, switched to an engineering major during and still managed to graduate on time

 

[NinoBrown]

Not just Blacks, but young people in general are taught from a young age that STEM is:
Hard
Lame
Nerdy
Geeky

While non-STEM degrees:
Easy
Fast
Cool
Modern
Stylish

If there isn't guidance or self-reliance, then it is no wonder kids are 20+ living at home with basket weaving degrees or sorry English Lit majors....

 

[Drake is God]

Well you won't be wiping asses as an RN (or anything higher). Those are Nurse Assistants.

Side note: It's funny to me how annoyed RNs get when CNAs call themselves nurses, lol.

RNs gotta deal with a code brown breh

 

[BlackAchilles]

This IMO is not a race thing ... A whole generation got fed the idea of college without really thinking about... Got told we could study whatever interests us like it would translate to a career

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

This sums of my thought except experience is higher than school prestige in my view. A guy from a reputable state school with say 5 years experience will fair better in the market, for non-entry-level jobs especially, compared to a grad from MIT with no more than 1 year of experience. There are many things school can't teach.

This article is talking college grads tho, my post was in relation to that. That first job outta college thru the first 5 years, in which case both are equal in terms of experience, but the person from MIT is likely to get more looks than the state school (depending on school and location) grad.

 

[Audemar]

This article is talking college grads tho, my post was in relation to that. That first job outta college thru the first 5 years, in which case both are equal in terms of experience, but the person from MIT is likely to get more looks than the state school (depending on school and location) grad.

Fair, but internships or co-op experience could help. It all depends.

 

[Dr. Acula]

This IMO is not a race thing ... A whole generation got fed the idea of college without really thinking about... Got told we could study whatever interests us like it would translate to a career

This is definitely the problem.

The idea of the "College experience" is no more and needs to be scraped for now until college tuition goes down or the bubble finally busts and everything baselines. Not saying you can't have fun in college, but the decision to go to college needs to be treated as a business decision instead of "finding yourself" and "enjoying the college experience".

If you want to just better yourself, then go to community college and take classes there or hell, at this point you could just do online courses.

 

[Arishok]

My degree is far from useless, just hard to find an entry position