Earlier this week the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, threatened to move state funding away from the liberal arts and into more “practical fields.” He argued specifically that something like anthropology was not worth of public support because,
You know, we don’t need a lot more anthropologists in the state. It’s a great degree if people want to get it, but we don’t need them here. I want to spend our dollars giving people science, technology, engineering, math degrees. That’s what our kids need to focus all their time and attention on. Those type of degrees. So when they get out of school, they can get a job.
Many critics pointed out that the undergraduate major wasn’t supposed to be preparation for a career in anthropology so much as preparation for a huge variety of professional jobs.
It turns out Scott might sort of understand this, at least in his private life. According to an Associated Press article:
His daughter, Jordan Kandah, has an anthropology degree from Virginia’s College of William & Mary. She was a special education teacher before enrolling recently in a Masters of Business Administration program.
The College of William & Mary is a public institution.
