“What in the world are you going to do with an English major?”
What in the world are you going to do with that attitude, Stacy? Can you answer that?
Listen, going to the University of Washington is both a blessing and a curse. With a reputable English Department, I could get a job simply due to my alma mater alone.
Actually, scratch that, I can get a career. And, yes, English majors can actually have a career.
But, with UW being a STEM school, people are consistently second-guessing your educational choices for you. I bet half of campus doesn’t even know what you’d do with an English major. I only say that because someone tries to sell this to me every other day.
Just like STEM majors, though, we have something called an advising office. Just like STEM majors, they can provide career options for you. We can make plans for (insert gasp here) actual careers.
Listen, we don’t need you worrying about our futures. We are doing perfectly fine with that on our own, thanks. Not only are we great at worrying about our future (like most young adults), we are great at envisioning it.
And just for the record, becoming a writer or a teacher aren’t our only two options. That is some unsound logic right there.
English majors aren’t struggling with two options; we are struggling with millions: do we want to go into Business? Law? Politics? Public Relations? Entertainment? Technical Writing? Who knows!
“Well, you won’t make any money!”
Some of us don’t want to be billionaires, John. And if an English major wants to be a billionaire, they can. We spend a majority of our time thinking both critically and creatively. You bet your business degree we can become a billionaire if we want to.
“… You sound pretty upset there. You okay?”
Well yeah, I’m upset, and I just so happen to be shocked as well. Barely anyone reads anymore, and the minute I major in something that requires me to do some reading of literature I become a failure?
Since when?
You to realize the literary arts keep our freedom intact, right? You do realize, if fascism is actually here, the first thing they will do is censor literature with “dangerous” viewpoints, right?
Take good old Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax for example. Super cute children’s book, except when you look at it through the scope of propaganda and see that it may be a very effective way of taking a stance on a political issue.
The literary arts are essential for both change and stability. Here I go majoring in the study of it and then I’m the oblivious one who “doesn’t know how the world works.” Listen, you don’t have to be a science major to be useful.
And while I wish I could rant a bit more, I’ll keep my promise and leave you with these 500 words.
