If someone asks me one more time what I’m going to do with my English degree, I might just scream. My favorite two remarks are: “What are you going to do with that? Teach?” and “You know just because you have an English degree doesn’t mean you have to teach.”
I know everyone means well, but I’m aware that I chose a major in the humanities. I can do the basic math that tells me that I would have had a far more lucrative career if I had chosen business, medicine, or law. The truth is, I didn’t pick my major for its paycheck; I picked it because I love it. I picked it because of what it teaches me about life.
“But money?” you ask. Yes, money is necessary for living comfortably. However, in my view, it should never be the guiding factor for your future. Do what you love and the rest will fall into place.
Also while you’re here, be smart about the skill set you decide to acquire. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “You only get four years.” To be fair, this is true in some regard. But while you may only get four years of undergrad, that leaves a whole lot of years in the future for you to figure out something to do with. So, why not pursue the liberal arts while you can as an undergrad?
Before anyone tells you that you can’t do well for yourself financially with a degree from Arts and Letters, I want to point out all of my economics friends who are employed at top notch consulting firms. I also have a slew of friends who went on to law school, often coming from political science or history backgrounds. It may take them three more years of school and passing the dreaded bar exam, but most of them are on their way to doing very well for themselves. I would also like to humbly point out all of the brilliant humanities majors who have gone on to publish most of your favorite books. Sure, writing is not usually a guareenteed profitable career, but real talent is almost always duly rewarded.
But money aside, why study the liberal arts? To quote Mr. Keating in Dead Poet’s Society, “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for…That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
I can’t quite top that in my own words, but in essence, the value of a liberal arts education and studying the humanities is that they teach us how to look at the world and find beauty and meaning in all things. They challenge us to put aside the practical in favor of the theoretical at times.
The humanities encourage critical thinking and creativity, innovation and intellectual exploration, passion and pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. Where other disciplines ask what the answer is, the humanities and ask why and how the answer came to be. Learning is pursued for its own inherent value, not for the prospect of some future payoff.
So the next time someone asks you what you’re doing with your history major, your design degree, or your theology degree, tell them that you’re studying what you love. If you know what you want to do with your degree, then I commend you, but if you don’t that’s okay too.
Profit cannot replace the value of passion. Learn because you love learning. Take a class because it interests you. Attend lectures that will make you a better-informed individual and a more rounded person. Dabble in the humanities and other disciplines too, if they interest you.
If I could go back and change one thing about my undergrad experience, I would have skipped getting a minor and instead taken a greater variety of classes that interested me. Odds are you’re only going to use one aspect of your degree most of the time, so why not take these four years to become a more diverse person? Study art history because you love looking at paintings, become an English major because the Romantic poets speak to you, pursue theology because it gives you a greater understanding of your faith, or take up theatre because it moves you.
You only get four years to study what you love. You have the rest of your life to work and be a practical and make money. For now, read books and learn about people, contemplate art and decide what it says to you, go to Europe to study Dante and Virgil. Pursue your passions and work on cultivating your understanding of people and the world. Allow your curiosity to flourish as you pursue a liberal arts education. In the unforgettable words of Mr. Keating, “Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
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