Dear young Cameroonians, here are the 8 most ‘useless’ degrees not to pursue

By Hans Ngala

As Cameroon, and indeed the rest of Africa, continues to grow, there will be a high demand for skilled labor in various fields (to be discussed in a separate article later on).

Africa with a population of over 1 billion people needs competent professionals to fill the growing job market that is expected to open up in the next 20 to 30 years.

However, a close observation in Cameroon reveals that some people are pursuing degrees that will not necessarily be useful in the job market. Degrees which will not be in high demand and won’t necessarily help put food on their tables.

Don’t get it wrong, the aim of a degree is not solely to get a job, but to gain knowledge first and foremost (but if you are going to pay 600, 000 CFA to 800,000 CFA in a professional school) then you may want to actually be sure that you will be graduating with marketable skills and from a recognized institution too. This is NOT an attempt to discourage you from studying what you like, rather it is an admonition to make your academic choices wisely before you end up frustrated and unemployed in the end.

That said, here are some of the degrees that are not worth the stress:

1. Drama and Theater Arts: A degree in drama and theatre arts is not necessary for you to become a movie director, actor, or producer. Acting is most times, not something that can be taught to someone. Most professional actors just grew up and developed their talent. However, that is not to say that a little coaching or mentorship from the more experienced actors is not necessary. It can be useful but spending huge amounts of money and 3 to 4 years of your life to get a Bachelor’s degree in Drama and Theater Arts is not really necessary and that is not what casting directors look for anyway. If you want to become an actor, just act. That’s what most directors look for anyway.

• Linguistics: Sometimes referred to as Language Studies, a degree in linguistics will not guarantee you a job because most times, employers who hire people in this field tend to be huge international or diplomatic organizations which are not so easy to get in. They tend to also desire experience as a translator. You are better off moving to a country where the language you want to learn is spoken, and that way you’ll learn from native speakers than wasting precious money and time learning a language far away from your homeland and maybe never getting to use that degree.

• Music: Music like Drama and Theater Arts is one of those things that are not worth studying in university – at least not with the intention of getting a job. Most times, you either have musical talent or you don’t. And sometimes, it is even harder to teach someone how to play an instrument too. However, you may realize that instead of paying hundreds of thousands of CFA, you can pretty much just buy an instrument and practice regularly to improve your skills. With time, you will be good at playing the instrument without having to stress about passing a music test/exam etc. A lot of Youtube tutorials teach this nowadays.

• History: History is probably one of the least useful degrees so far. In countries with a rich culture and where cities have large museums that are often packed with tourists, a historian may have a fairly decent job acting as a tour guide. These include places like Rwanda where museums are huge and South Africa and Kenya but not in Cameroon. Cameroon’s history is not well documented and museums are quite a few. Also, the fact that a history degree doesn’t teach you any practical skills makes it quite broad and worthless. However, you could use a history degree to further your studies into the Master’s and Ph.D. level and become a writer or a journalist but this would require further training in journalism of course. Also, you can learn history by pretty much just buying a textbook on the subject.

• Photography: A degree in photography will not guarantee you a job especially nowadays when everyone is practically taking their own photos. Photography like music and theatre arts is an art that just requires you to buy the tools (a camera in this case) and practice on your own. You don’t need to spend a year or two of your life learning what you can teach yourself pretty much. At the end, when people need you to take their graduation or wedding photos, what they will ask for is your portfolio (samples of your work) and not your photography degree. No one cares about that.

• Anthropology/ Archaeology: Like a history degree, this is a humanity that does not build any professional skills but teaches you about past events and human societies, customs etc. An anthropology degree will not land you a job simply because you have it. You may want to ask yourself why you want to study it.

• Fine Arts: A degree in Fine Arts is very similar to one in Music or Drama and Theater Arts. This is because it is also a very hands-on type of field. Fine Arts include things that you make with your hands such as sculptures, paintings, architecture etc. And as you may realize already, these are things that don’t require a degree per se as they are mostly about using your imagination to create works of art. No one can actually teach you how to be creative and imagine things. What you can do is to watch the more experienced people and learn from them, but not spend years of your life and money studying this in university.

• Women and Gender Studies: Yes the world is becoming more awake to women’s rights issues and women’s empowerment. But do you need a degree to prove that you are for women’s rights? This degree may be worth rethinking before you pursue it. If you are passionate about women’s rights and things like that, you are better off just volunteering with an NGO that does work in this area than studying it in university.