Questions 34-44 are based on the following passage.
The Consolations of Philosophy
Long viewed by many as the stereotypical useless
major, philosophy is now being seen by many students
and prospective employers as in fact a very useful and
practical major, offering students a host of transferable
skills with relevance to the modern workplace. 34 In
broad terms, philosophy is the study of meaning and the
values underlying thought and behavior. But 35 more
pragmatically, the discipline encourages students to
analyze complex material, question conventional beliefs,
and express thoughts in a concise manner.
Because philosophy 36 teaching students not what
to think but how to think, the age-old discipline offers
consistently useful tools for academic and professional
achievement. 37 A 1994 survey concluded that only
18 percent of American colleges required at least one
philosophy course. 38 Therefore, between 1992 and
1996, more than 400 independent philosophy
departments were eliminated from institutions.
More recently, colleges have recognized the
practicality and increasing popularity of studying
philosophy and have markedly increased the number of
philosophy programs offered. By 2008 there were
817 programs, up from 765 a decade before. In addition,
the number of four-year graduates in philosophy has
grown 46 percent in a decade. Also, studies have found
that those students who major in philosophy often do
better than students from other majors in both verbal
reasoning and analytical 39 writing. These results can be
measured by standardized test scores. On the Graduate
Record Examination (GRE), for example, students
intending to study philosophy in graduate school 40 has
scored higher than students in all but four other majors.
These days, many 41 student’s majoring in
philosophy have no intention of becoming philosophers;
instead they plan to apply those skills to other disciplines.
Law and business specifically benefit from the
complicated theoretical issues raised in the study of
philosophy, but philosophy can be just as useful in
engineering or any field requiring complex analytic skills.
42 That these skills are transferable across professions
43 which makes them especially beneficial to
twenty-first-century students. Because today’s students
can expect to hold multiple jobs—some of which may not
even exist yet—during 44 our lifetime, studying
philosophy allows them to be flexible and adaptable.
High demand, advanced exam scores, and varied
professional skills all argue for maintaining and
enhancing philosophy courses and majors within
academic institutions.