Bankrate: Rhetoric and Composition one of the least valuable degrees

[kb88]

https://www.bankrate.com/career/most-valuable-college-majors/

By "valuable," they mean salary and unemployment rates.

For me, I believe the job market changes over time. Twenty years ago, rhet/comp had amazing placement with small class sizes and loads. Now, you're lucky if you're not grading stacks of 100+ essays every 2 weeks. You really do, nowadays, have to commit to the idea that even with a PhD from a top-20, you may very well be a freeway flier teaching freshman comp x5 forever.

I, personally, would (and have) found great value in rhet/comp and teaching freshman comp because you can have an extremely positive influence on students' lives.

What is everyone's thoughts on their degree's "usefulness?"

Edited November 11, 2019 by KennethBurked

[The Hoosier Oxonian]

As someone on the literature side, I feel unqualified to weigh in on a rhet/comp degree's usefulness, but I definitely want to second your remark about the possibility for a positive influence on students' lives. Having worked for several years as a writing tutor, I know rhet/comp is not for me, as I'm just not excited by writing pedagogy, etc., but I can strongly attest that my rhet/comp profs in undergrad have been some of the most formative positive influences on my college experience.

[Glasperlenspieler]

I'm confused as to why you provide an article addressing the "value" of different undergraduate majors to address the state of the field for Rhet/Comp PhDs. I suspect that your description of the state of the field is largely accurate, but the data from that article pertains to a clearly distinct (albeit not entirely unrelated) issue.