• mfed1122@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 day ago

    This is PURE speculation, but I feel like this could be caused by the only people who feel comfortable getting a philosophy degree being wealthy connected people. I know a lot of people from my high school that have stereotypical “be poor forever” degrees and are doing great - but if you knew them in high school, you’d know that they had millionaire parents. All the poor kids went for safer degrees because they knew they’d need money.

    To be clear: I love philosophy and think it is very valuable. But sadly it seems like something that only privileged people or the very passionate take a risk on.

    • dandelion (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      13 hours ago

      I didn’t want to say it, but I do think this is a possibility - people like Pete Buttigieg were philosophy majors. However, it’s probably a bit of both - being wealthy and connected probably still makes up a minority of philosophy majors, and yet they still outperform on graduate entrance exams generally.

      You might be interested in reading The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart for a non-wealthy philosophy major’s perspective on business. :-)

    • Pulptastic@midwest.social
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      1 day ago

      Yeah I agree, there is probably a bias effect here. That may or may not explain all of the difference. The one you’ve proposed makes sense.