I was born in the mid-70s, and nobody told me "Just go to college, any college, and major in anything." That was never the narrative.
It was "Go to a top-N college, major in one of these very carefully enumerated majors that tend to result in good career trajectory (business, engineering, medicine, and so on), and maintain a very good GPA throughout." The messaging was very clear, from parents, teachers, and guidance counselors: Don't go to film school or a Tier-2 university and major in history, if you want a career.
I'm not sure when the "Go to any school, and do whatever" messaging started but it was not happening in the 90s when I was in high school.
I grew up in the latter half of the 90's and the narrative I remember was that it was a time when even like entry-level secretary jobs started requiring degrees (a phenomenon which may or may not have been exaggerated), and the reasoning was "it doesn't matter what it's a degree in, they just want to see that you have the capability to see something through to the end and not drop out"
was still told this and i graduated college in 2024. it did work out for me, but for the vast majority of ppl in my graduating class, unless they double majored from B School or did a proper STEM degree, they’re unemployed
It was "Go to a top-N college, major in one of these very carefully enumerated majors that tend to result in good career trajectory (business, engineering, medicine, and so on), and maintain a very good GPA throughout." The messaging was very clear, from parents, teachers, and guidance counselors: Don't go to film school or a Tier-2 university and major in history, if you want a career.
I'm not sure when the "Go to any school, and do whatever" messaging started but it was not happening in the 90s when I was in high school.