Forget majoring in history, English or philosophy. These days you might be better off choosing sports sales, video-game development, casino studies or homeland security.

So says an article in the Christian Science Monitor, which shows that undergrads are beginning to choose more targeted majors designed to track them into (they hope) high-paying careers.

Is this wise? What about the well-rounded products of a liberal arts environment? Don't they succeed?

"Graduates employed in fields closely related to their major generally earn much higher annual salaries than graduates employed in jobs that are unrelated to their major," states The College Majors Handbook, according to the article. So much for the philosophy option, unless you're planning to hang out with Sherpas. Says one of the book's authors: "Specific knowledge has big payoffs. Kids who have this idea of where they're headed, they're generally going to find themselves substantially more advantaged."

That's super. But what happens when the latest techno fad, the field you spent years studying, suddenly fades out of fashion, and the next wave of whatever's hot washes away your job? What's Plan B?

I'm reminded of a saying about eggs and baskets....