Here's The Nation's Easiest College Major

A college degree is just about essential to make a lot of money in a career, but what if you don't want to work all that hard to get a diploma?

Slackers wanting to earn the country's easiest college major, should major in education.

It's easy to get "A's" if you're an education major. Maybe that's why one out of 10 college graduates major in education.

Research over the years has indicated that education majors, who enter college with the lowest average SAT scores, leave with the highest grades. Some of academic evidence documenting easy A's for future teachers goes back more than 50 years!

The latest damning report on the ease of majoring in education comes from research at the University of Missouri, my alma mater. The study, conducted by economist Cory Koedel shows that education majors receive "substantially higher" grades than students in every other department.

Puff GPA's

Koedel examined the grades earned by undergraduates during the 2007-2008 school year at three large state universities that include sizable education programs -- University of Missouri, Miami (OH) University and Indiana University. The researcher compared the grades earned by education majors with the grades earned by students in 12 other majors including biology, economics, English, history, philosophy, mathematics, chemistry, psychology and sociology.

Education majors enjoyed grade point averages that were .5 to .8 grade points higher than students in the other college majors. At the University of Missouri, for instance, the average education major has a 3.80 GPA versus 2.99 GPA (science, math, econ majors), 3.12 GPA (social science majors) and 3.16 GPA (humanities majors).

Consequences of Easy Grades for Education Majors

Why should we care if education majors, who must survive classes like "kiddie lit," coast through school?

For starters, easy grading can prompt students to slack off. If you can earn an "A" with little effort why exert yourself? What's more, if most students are getting A's then how can employers distinguish the future teaching stars from the academic slugs?

Koedel also suggests that the low academic standards required of education majors can extend to low expectation of teachers after they leave college.

Low grading standards in education departments may contribute to the culture of low evaluation standards in education more generally. Although the existence of such a link is merely speculative at this point, there is a striking similarity between the favorable grades awarded to prospective teachers during university training and the favorable evaluations that teachers receive in K-12 schools.

It sounds like the only ones who are flunking these days are the education professors, who are handing out all these easy A's. These profs should spend time with teachers in departments like chemistry and economics to see how real grading works.

Read More About College Majors on CBS MoneyWatch:

5 Hardest and Easiest College Majors by GPA's
Grade Inflation: Colleges With the Easiest and Hardest Grades

Engineering Degrees: How Tough Is It To Get One

8 Reasons Not to Get a Business Degree
Lynn O'Shaughnessy is author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller, and she also writes her own college blog at The College Solution.
Education major image by Heather Dowd. CC 2.0.

[Silent_Majority]

Maybe it has to do with education majors wanting to know enough about their task to teach that they can do a good job and not dam all the children whose lives depend on a solid education. Maybe it's because of the "no child left behind" tests that we know we have to study hard in order to retain employment, maybe its the praxis tests in each area of study, (equivilant to the Law BAR exam) or maybe its because some one is upset that their college professors so illfully prepared them that they spent their entire lives pursuing a career that left them unfullfilled and sunken into a deep pool of despair; which ultimatly led to unsucessful marriages and kids who hate them, and a fumbled career. Ultimaly leading to a life of solitude and drunkeness.

Maybe that's just a rant, but sense you shared your opinion with the world I just assumed I had the right to share mine. Which is a right I learned about from some aparently overly easy Political Science prof. who simply wanted to see me graduate and become a teacher.

[LearningIsKey]

I agree with you Silent_Majority. The best teachers are those who can relate to the struggles and successes of their student. FYI: I worked equally as hard as other students to get my degree. Any college student knows that the first two years of college are basic requirements that all students must pass. The last two years are spent in ones area of concentration. Students should always endeavor to enter the field for which they have a passion. Perhaps another way to look at it is that you wouldn't be half as smart as you are today if we didn't have an abundance of educators; and maybe, just maybe, those who major in education have that thing called "passion" and they WANT to be the best teacher that they can be, so they work harder to excel in their courses.
Challenge: if you have never taught in a classroom, sign up as a substitute teacher for a couple of days.

[O7Knight7O]

Wouldn't it make sense that education majors get good grades? The entire major is about how to make students get good grades; if they pay attention at all, they would learn how to do great in school themselves. It also makes sense that they would have the best teachers, as they are teachers which specialize in teaching.

[bonadventure100]

In university I found that many of the professors were horrible teachers. Just because you can earn a phd in a subject should not mean that you are automatically qualified to teach it.

I say all of this to point out that it is very possible that education majors are the only people who are taught by phd's who are able to teach so they get better grades.

[countrysong28]

I agree 100%. I am an Ed. Major and I have to work my tail off. I had great grades in grade school. The classes outside of my major are mostly taught by people who did not have a clue about teacing. My Ed classes are taught by former teachers and people who have a clue about teaching! I believe that it may look like education is that easiest major, but in all reality it is because it is a great program being taken by people who want to do well.