College majors and career opportunities don’t always match up. Students have always majored in subjects that have few job prospects. Take philosophy, for example. Every year students major in philosophy, yet I can’t recall ever seeing a help wanted ad for a philosopher. Similarly, for years, students interested in aviation careers majored in programs such as flight operations at respected aviation institutions, even as flying jobs dwindled or their pay became less than a stock boy’s at Wal-Mart. Now, it seems, students are not willing to be the philosophy majors of the aviation industry. They’re saying no career, no major. And that will have a tremendous effect on the future of aviation in the U.S. If we don’t have a steady supply of pilots and mechanics entering the workforce, who will fly or maintain our airplanes in the future?
This all hit home for me when I heard that Daniel Webster College was discontinuing its flight operations degree program. Maybe it’s because the college gave me an honorary doctorate several years ago, or because it’s in my hometown of Boston’s extended backyard, but I was particularly dismayed by this news. Daniel Webster College has provided a fine aviation education for decades; its professional pilot training program was one of the best I had seen. Ending the program after its current students graduate is a loss for students who want a flying career and for the airlines that would have employed them. Clearly the decision to end this program was not made quickly or easily. Student enrollment, I’ve been told, just was not there.
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