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Opinion
Justin Fox

American Students Have Changed Their Majors

Health professions are in, education and the humanities are out. Here are some reasons for the shift.

With the right major, that’s not a problem.

With the right major, that’s not a problem.

Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Of the 839,730 recipients of bachelor’s degrees in the U.S. in the 1970-1971 academic year, 176,307 got education degrees. Other big fields of study included the social sciences, business and English.

In 2016-2017, nearly 2 million bachelor’s degrees were awarded. Most of the top 10 majors from 1970-1971 were still in the top 10, but the order had changed a lot.