Fast Growing College Major

On April 8, 2008 the most e-mailed story from the New York Times online edition is about the popularity of philosophy as a major at Rutgers and other universities. Philosophy graduates have doubled in the past five years. It's a trend that is evident at other colleges and universities according to Winnie Hu, an education writer for the paper.

There are more colleges than ever before offering philosophy majors and in schools with well-known programs like UMass, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Texas A&M the number of majors has doubled just like Rutgers.

The attraction to philosophy? Surprisingly it's quite pragmatic. Students say the major is equipping them with tools for success. David Schrader, executive director of the American Philosophical Association says, "It's a major that helps them become quick learners and gives them strong skills in writing, analysis and critical thinking."

Philosophy programs have changed over last couple of decades. Today the major is less about dusty texts and more about cutting edge, interdisciplinary fields like cognitive science. It's often followed as a double major by students planning on careers in the law, medicine, finance, and even investments.

Students say philosophy has a couple of other attractions. It helps them make sense of the big questions that face society like globalization, the environment, war, and technological breakthroughs. Even more pragmatically, it is a field that helps them with a set of skills that can be applied in the range of uncertainty that faces many graduates.

For years one of the three most common questions I've been asked as a futurist has been, "What should my child choose as a college major?" My answer has been to seek out a strong liberal arts education with an emphasis on critical thinking, broad exposure to thought, and the development of communication and persuasion skills. Philosophy answers that description.