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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/education/06p...
re: money
like inigo montoya sez: you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means...
try hart: "The idea of money as a source of social memory was also crucial for John Locke, who figures prominently in our story as the philosopher who inaugurated the modern age of democratic revolutions. Locke was obsessed with money’s role both in establishing a progressive social order and in subverting it as its criminal antithesis. Indeed, he believed that money launched humanity from the state of nature onto the road to civil government. As long as men’s possessions were limited to perishable products, the scope for property was restricted. Money, by offering a durable store of value convertible against all useful things, unleashed the potential for property accumulation and for the intergenerational transmission of inequality. For Locke, then, money was indispensable to that development of cultural memory on which civilization depends." http://www.thememorybank.co.uk/book/ cf. http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/8/26/172939/637
With the link you sent, "embarrass" might be a little strong (156 versus 155.3; plus, just to play around with the data, I'd like to see standard deviations and philosophy/religion breakdowns (although the sample size is large enough that I would guess the difference is significant)). And unfortunately, no one will be more aware of the crushing ennui of serving one's life as an indentured servant to a vengeful legal system than a philosophically-trained lawyer.
P.S. With my economics major, I landed a 179, and the JD/PhD track can be quite lucrative.
Will, are you willing to bet that within five years philosophy majors will be outearning any of the top eight other majors? How about in a decade? Right now I suspect some self-deception/cognitive dissonance is causing your unrealistic projections.
Disclosure: I'm a Computer Science major, and yeah, it's not really science and we shouldn't be allowed to get degrees from a College of Engineering.
The primary reason is this: Some disciplines add to the sum total of society's wealth while other subtract.
I'm not saying that everyone should be an engineer, farmer, or miner. A society with professions only such as these would be drab indeed.
What I am saying is that it is important to note that many professions survive off of the wealth created by others. A society full of philosophers, artists, and lawyers would all be starving living in grass huts. Obviously, a society full of these professions would be far from ideal as well.
I simply lament that many Americans hold a certain degree of contempt for the disciplines that create the surplus wealth which is a requisite for their leisurely professions.
So, mission accomplished.