This raises a question. Do these students not have a passionate love of the field they originally chose? If they do have such a love, why would they switch to a lesser interest simply because the economy happens to be down in that area now? The long-term reality is that any sector of the economy might rise and fall a half-dozen times in a lifetime. That is no basis for choosing a central purpose in life.

I describe my view of CPL here:

http://aristotleadventure.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-is-central-purpose-in-life.html

(The May 5, 2008 post on Making Progress: http://www.aristotleadventure.blogspot.com )

I fear that many students are merely choosing careers instead of a central purpose in life, or, worse, merely choosing jobs instead of careers. If so, that is a possible symptom of the pragmatism that pervades our culture. In the Fall 2008 issue of The Objective Standard, Tara Smith has described well the philosophical disease of pragmatism.