The Atlantic: What College Graduates Regret

This makes sense, I wish I had been more serious about finding work whether a part-time job or an internship before finally getting my sheepskin. Who knows I'd have been a lot more focused if it has worked out that way.

A recent Pew study complicates this picture a little bit. It found that, yes, a third of college graduates who majored in social science, liberal arts or education regretted their decision. (In comparison, 24 percent of people with science and engineering degrees wish they'd studied something else.) But overall, when asked what they wish they'd done differently in college, "choosing a different major" wasn't the top answer. The most popular answer, given by half of all respondents, was "gaining more work experience." Choosing a different major was the fourth most popular response, after "studying harder" and "looking for work sooner."

A possible lesson here: Picking a major with a real-world application might be overrated, at least as college graduates themselves see it. What students really need is experience putting their knowledge to practical use while they're still in school.

I majored in political science, there certainly was a way to use my degree in that particular field surely. Only really used it once having worked polls doing exit polling during a research project. I wrote about it here.

In any case, it's not enough to say if you major in art history who's fault is that? Yeah you might have a better shot if you majored in business, a science or engineering. At the same time work experience counts, find a job in your field while you're still in school or if nothing else just find a job period.

It won't matter in the long run if you got the right degree because just coming out of college it will be about your work experience. Why not come out of school armed with it!

Via Instapundit another sign of the "higher education bubble"!

The Atlantic: Why the U.S. Economy Is Biased Against Men

Oh I wonder how so?

The 77-cents-on-the-dollars statistic is calculated in a way that is biased against men. For example, while among all physicians, men earn more than women, men are more likely to be in specialties requiring longer training, high-stress, and irregular hours, for example, surgery and cardiology. In contrast, women are more likely to be pediatricians. Despite that bias, across all careers, surveys report that childless women under 30 make more than men. More than 90 percent of workplace deaths, military deaths, and severe workplace injuries (e.g., amputations, black lung disease) occur to men. Such dangerous work justify higher pay for men.

Visit American workplaces, especially major corporations, and you'll find that anti-men practices are not only tolerated but routinely imposed by employers. Women but not men are encouraged to form committees and caucuses to advance their sex's causes in the workplace, often at men's expense. Examples:

• Mentor programs for women only

• Special training for women only

• Fast-track-to-executive position for women only

In honest conversation, most people will agree that, on average, men are more often willing to do the things it takes to get promoted, for example, to make time to take advanced technical courses by forgoing recreation such as sports or shopping. Men are more likely to be willing to move to a God-forsaken place (Montgomery, Alabama, anyone?) for a promotion, and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to work longer hours.

Hmmm, I wish I had an excuse to move to Alabama and that's not the only place I would like to go. There are other places in the south or even in the west I would like to live.

That being said you should read the whole thing! This is looking like a good article.

Hat-tip Newsalert!

FuturePundit: Olive Oil Cuts Stroke Risk?

Well I won't excerpt this one, but this is worth sharing. Cutting stroke risks is one thing, but I saw a news story on TV years ago that suggest that consumption of olive oil staves off some of the worse effects of aging. In fact this story had a 77-year-old man who said that he had taken up roller-blading. I just hope that we can all be so lucky and you out there as well!

Via Instapundit!