The Chronicle welcomes correspondence from readers about our articles and about topics we have covered. Please make your points as concisely as possible. We will not publish letters longer than 350 words, and all letters will be edited to conform to our style.
Send letters to letters@chronicle.com. Please include a daytime phone number and tell us what institution you are affiliated with or what city or town you are writing from.
To the Editor:
As dean of an AACSB-accredited business school within a nationally ranked liberal arts university, I was disappointed to read Johann N. Neem’s “
Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.
A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.
To the Editor:
As dean of an AACSB-accredited business school within a nationally ranked liberal arts university, I was disappointed to read Johann N. Neem’s “Abolish the Business Major!” (The Chronicle Review, August 13), much like I am when I see calls to abolish liberal arts majors.
Neem made three major claims about business majors. All three are incorrect and harmful to academia.
Neem’s first two claims are related – that business majors don’t do as well on the job market as proponents claim and don’t gain skills employers value.
There are many flaws with Neem’s reasoning and analysis. I’ll point out two. First, he cited survey data indicating midcareer salaries for “business management” are lower than many other majors. However, he overlooked business majors other than management in that same survey. Graduates from business majors such as finance, marketing, management information systems, and economics all have salaries in the top half of the survey for midcareer salaries.
Neem also posited that factors other than coursework might lead to higher salaries. He specifically mentioned that business majors are better integrated with the business community, leading them to better internship opportunities. While true, it is hardly worth criticizing. For example, in the Sigmund Weis School of Business at Susquehanna University, we guarantee to place our students into an internship in a foreign country. This fulfills two best practices noted by the AAC&U, global learning and internships. Yes, this intentional design of the curriculum leads to higher salaries – but that isn’t problematic.
Once we agree that firms pay good salaries to business majors, one cannot credibly buy into the claim that a business major “is less likely to foster the skills that employers value.” Employers pay high salaries to those who study business, hence employers value skills and knowledge from a business degree.
Neem’s other main claim is that “business majors are antithetical to college education and unworthy of a college degree” and unprepared to be effective citizens and leaders. He also wrote “To reduce this beautiful complexity to questions of maximizing profit or creating efficient supply chains confuses means with ends.”
Within the limited scope of a letter, I present a couple of counterarguments to Neem’s claims. (For more, see Tyler Cowen’s book.)
Neem specifically criticized supply chains and maximizing profits. But increased efficiency in production and the resulting expansion of free markets promoted by business and economics majors are precisely why incomes have risen – leading to the reduction of poverty for billions worldwide. Is there a more noble mission for universities than reducing poverty?
Further, using Neem’s logic, he could criticize several other great non-business majors. For example, could we change his quote to criticize the engineering major to say it would “reduce this beautiful complexity to questions of building better roads or power grids?” Or to criticize chemistry majors as they would “reduce this beautiful complexity to questions of creating new life-saving pharmaceuticals?”
While I defend the business major, I agree with Neem that – regardless of major – the liberal arts are incredibly valuable. I am proud to work at a liberal arts university with a strong central curriculum for all our students. There are many paths to a happy life. But for millions, studying business is that path.
The more policymakers hear ridiculous arguments that business majors aren’t ready for jobs or that they don’t deserve a college degree, the more they will think academia is out-of-touch and should receive less funding. Let’s not further contribute to the public divide about higher education. Instead, let’s focus on how all disciplines can prepare their students to make positive contributions to society.
Matthew Rousu
Dean and Professor of economics
Sigmund Weis School of Business
Susquehanna University
