If you are in any humanities major — English, History, Foreign Language, the Classics, or a number of others — then you have most likely had this one-sided conversation more than a few times. It is incredibly frustrating to have the field you have chosen to dedicate your life to put on the backburner in someone’s esteem because it is not profitable in their mind. And while this is often rage-inducing, it is important to remember that these people are making these assumptions and asking the questions because they are not educated on the opportunities available for these majors.

Many people think that the only pathway after a humanities major is a teaching job, and if you’re lucky you might land a professorship.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Avenues in publishing and editing, journalism, television, movies, books and magazines, social media, museums, corporations, law firms, medical offices, retail, restaurants, and literally thousands of other things are viable pathways that make sense for these majors. Teaching is not the only way to go after graduation, and an English major can have a job that is equally as lucrative as a position held by an engineer.

It also seems that what many thinks is so admirable about non-humanities majors is the fact that they do intensive research. This makes no sense to me because humanities majors are some of the most research-intensive majors around. Writing research papers is literally our job. It is all we do. We research the past cultures of the world, we make earth-shattering discoveries by following the smallest of leads based on minute inconsistencies. The literature of a time describes the time. When people look back on our days, they are going to see all the amazing scientific advancements and new ideas through the eyes of the humanities. That’s why what we do is so important.

Without philosophy and literature and historical texts, we wouldn’t have any information about those that came before us. Imagine knowing nothing of Rome. Imagine not knowing the story of Jesus or never having heard of Buddha. Imagine that we spent every day only looking forward without a past to learn from. While science and math majors work towards the future, those in the humanities make sure they have a base to work with. Humanities majors remember the past so that we can learn from it. Be it that we take parts of the good (like forming a Democratic Republic based on Rome before it was an Empire), or we learn to avoid parts that were bad (like working our hardest to never ignore another Holocaust), the past has an indefinite amount of information to impart upon us about our history as human beings and our place in this world.

So, the next time someone tells you that if you don’t want to be a teacher that you won’t find a job, tell them of how you will change the world and dare them to try and stop you.