The Elite Overproduction Hypothesis - by Noah Smith

Did America produce too many frustrated college graduates in the 2000s and 2010s?

“We're talented and bright/ We're lonely and uptight/ We've found some lovely ways/ To disappoint” — The Weakerthans Here’s an eye-opening bit of data: The percent of U.S. college students majoring in the humanities has absolutely crashed since 2010. Benjamin Schmidt@benmschmidt @ipeds_nces just released new data on degree completions for the 2021 class (the first class with a full semester during the pandemic.) History and Religion have both joined English in being down to half their 2000s peak; philosophy's rebound persists, while area studies falls. 10:57 PM · Aug 23, 2022 163…

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