“So what will you do with your English degree…teach?”
Dear God did I resent every single person that ever asked me that. It took every fiber of my being in college to not respond to that question with “I don’t know, what will you do with yours…get a high-paying desk job that sucks every bit of your soul out until you can’t stand to look at yourself in the mirror and you abandon your family because you’ve realized that money is not the most important thing in life?” Ouch. That was harsh.
When I was going into college, I originally wanted to be a teacher, but I’ve always been terrified of fully committing to any major life decision for fear that I’ll suddenly discover someday that I’m unhappily in the wrong place. So I majored in English and later added the second major of Art History--just to explore.
Yes, that’s correct! I majored in--as so many lovely people enjoy calling it-- “not getting a job.” When I landed a decent paying administrative role in a non-profit within 5 months of graduating, I wanted so terribly to scream to the world “JOKE’S ON YOU, SUCKERS!”…Until I grew to hate it. Now, to be fair, it was not the organization, the people, or the job itself I hated, but rather the fact that I knew it wasn’t what I should be doing.
I have the feeling--and maybe I’m wrong--that in America, humanities majors are seen as lazy bums who don’t know what they want to do with their life, so they major in something they like and hope it works out. They are severely undervalued. And because of this mindset, people like me second-guess every decision they make for fear that they’ll [never make money/be unhappy/be marginalized by society/be judged by their peers/choose their career based on what others expect of them instead of what they truly want/insert insecurity here]. Me? A few semesters into my major, and after hearing that “what are you going to do?” question too many times, I decided not to be a teacher because I was afraid that I was choosing it just because it was the only thing I could do with those degrees. Bottom line? It’s not. However, it’s still what I WANT to do.
I’m about to turn 25 and I’m completely backtracking to my original 18-year-old-self’s goal to become a teacher. To be honest, I’m glad I did it this way, but at the same time, I wish I could have had the confidence to go for it in the first place. However, now I know that in fulfilling everyone’s expectation, at least it’s mine as well. You can’t choose your career for others--only for yourself. Sometimes it takes a while to learn what that is, and over time it may change, but before choosing a path, you must ask yourself if it’s yours or someone else’s.
