In a recent article about college majors that are useless, there were five top majors that “need to be avoided.” The list was compiled from the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) 2012 Job Outlook study, which surveys almost 1,000 employers on their future hiring plans.

The degree on top the list was agriculture. Between 2008 and 2009, 24,988 people received an agricultural degree. The degree consists of crops, plant diseases, animal husbandry, and basic veterinary science. It is projected by the U.S. Department of Labor, that there will be a 5% job decrease with-in the next ten years and a 64,600 projected decrease in the actual number of available jobs. Dr. Frank Ewell, a professor at Tarleton State University said, “I understand where they are coming from but I believe that they have misread the numbers. There’s no doubt that they have gone down, but there is a difference now then there was in the past.” Ewell continued to talk about the differences in the past and present agricultural situations, “In 1776, 97% of the population lived on farms. Now it’s only about 1%.” But the situation is that most farms have turned into commercial operations.  

Coming in at number two was fashion design. Dr. Laurence Shatkin, the author of “The 10 Best College Majors for Your Personality,” states that, “Fashion never dies out, never ends, and even though everything gets made overseas now, there’s always a need for designers. But it’s incredibly competitive. It’s one that you have to establish yourself in.” The degree is said to increase by 200 jobs by the year 2018.

The third degree deemed useless is theater. The problem is actors deal with long periods of unemployment and frequent rejection. The Department of Labor said that because earnings are erratic for actors, producers, and directors, most hold a second job. The number of jobs projected to be available in 2018 is 16,900 more than there was in 2008, over a 10% increase.

Two more degrees involved in the agricultural field, were animal science, which came in at number four, and horticulture that finished off the top five. An animal science degree is made up of animal breeding, reproductive physiology, nutrition, meat and muscle biology. While the Department of Labor predicts that the field will grow by 13% and 500 hundred jobs, they say that the total number of available jobs will only be 5000 by 2018. The article stated that almost 2,500 students were awarded this degree in the 2008-2009 school year. This made sense when Dr. Ewell said that, “animal science is the largest major at Tarleton.” But not everyone is as sure about this degree . Dr. Shatkin stated, “An animal science degree is so specific that trying to apply it to anything else means a tough time convincing people it gives you any useful skills for jobs outside animal science jobs.” The department has a number of opportunities with in itself, but not so much outside of it.

As for the horticulture field, which covers, crops, plant diseases, fruit science, and agricultural business and economics, it’s not growing. Predictions are that by 2018, the percent change in jobs will have decreased by 8%, and the number of available jobs will decrease by 79,200. According to a current horticulture instructor for Tarleton State, Mrs. Manon Shockey, said that, “I am highly skeptical about the noted statistics and would be interested to see how may peer reviewed articles are cited, how many state and federal agriculture agencies were consulted, and whether or not the statistics were correctly interpreted. I feel that the horticulture industry is holding steady and should continue to hold steady, if not continue to grow.”