Some weeks ago, riding in a cab from Boston to Cambridge, my driver turned and asked me wh

at I did for a living. "Teach English," I said. "Is that so？" The young man continued. "I was an English major." But then, instead of chatting idly about Joyce or dropping the subject altogether, this driver caught me short. "You guys," he said, turning back so that his furry face pressed into the glass partition, "ought to be shot." I think he meant it.

The guilty party in this present state of affairs is not really the academic discipline. It is not the fault of English and philosophy and biology that engineering and accounting and computer science afford students better job opportunities and increased flexibility in career choice. Literature and an understanding of, say, man's evolutionary past are as important as ever. They simply are no longer perceived in today's market as salable. That is a harsh economic fact. And it is not only true in the United States. Employment prospects for liberal arts graduates in Canada, for example, are said to be the worst since the 1930s.

What to do？ I think it would be shortsighted for colleges and universities to advise students against majoring in certain subjects that do not appear linked (at least directly) to careers. Where our energies should be directed instead is toward the development of educational programs that combine course sequences in the liberal arts with course in the viable professions. Double majors--one for enrichment, one for earning one's bread--have never been promoted very seriously in our institutions of higher learning, mainly because liberal arts and professional-vocational faculties have long been suspicious or contemptuous of one another. Thus students have been directed to one path or the other, to the disadvantage of both students and faculty.

A hopeful cue could be taken, it seems to me, from new attempts in the health profession (nursing and pharmacy, for example), where jobs are still plentiful, to give the humanities and social sciences a greater share of the curriculum. Why could not the traditional history major in the college of arts and sciences be pointed toward additional courses in the business school, or to engineering, or to physical therapy？ This strategy requires a new commitment from both the institution and the student and demands a much harder look at the allocation of time and resources. But in an age of adversity, double majors are one way liberal arts students can more effectively prepare for the world outside.

What is the chief purpose of double majors？

A．To help graduates of history major become successful businessmen

B．To provide liberal arts graduates with a method of meeting effectively the challenge in employment.

C．To extend their knowledge learnt in the college.

D．To moderate the tension between liberal arts and vocational faculties