“I’ll be serving your table in a few years, don’t worry!”
“I’ll never pay off these student loans.”
“I’ll still have the job I got when I was 16... when I’m 25.”
“I guess I wanted to make sure I never built a career.”
“I have no idea why I chose to major in English.”
These and many other variations of the same jokes are the ones I make about myself after I inform someone that I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English. They’re about to make them, so I want to save them the trouble. It’s almost better if I say them, because then I’m laughing at myself, not being the subject of someone else’s ridicule.
It’s still annoying.
Honestly, I understand that I have set myself up for what will be a difficult journey. I understand that I might run into some difficulty when I’m job hunting post-graduation. Believe me: I’ve done the research.
But you have to believe me when I say that I’m completely happy and content with my choice. I’ve wanted this moment long before I knew what college and careers were. When we are children, we’re told that "we can be anything that we want." As we get older, it changes to "we can be anything that we want as long as we’re successful."
As I’ve gotten older, I realize that success isn’t everything. I look around and see people who have well-paying jobs and don’t need to worry about a thing, yet they don’t seem very happy.
Celebrities have all of the money in the world, but they’re always in the news for depressing situations: divorce, drug addiction and much worse. They are successful, yet they don’t seem very happy.
Do I know if I’m going to be successful? No. Do I know if I’m going to make a lot of money? No. Am I happy? Absolutely!
I’m still the little girl that re-wrote fairy tales starring all of her siblings. I’m still the preteen that spent an entire winter writing a 200-page novel. I’m still the girl that dreams of walking past a bookstore and seeing her name printed on the jacket of the newest bestseller.
Do I know if that is a dream or reality? No, but I am going to work my hardest to make it come true.
So, there are a lot more things that you can ask the next person you meet that’s majoring in English. Honestly, there are a lot more career paths we can go down that do not involve teaching.
For example:
“English? Wow, that’s so exciting! What are you planning on going into? I know that it’s such a broad field of study.”
“That’s really cool. I know English majors put a lot of work into their career plans. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to stay awake all night researching.”
“Your book bag must be heavy, those English classes are really demanding.”
Basically, don’t be patronizing. An English major did not choose the easy way out. They chose to follow their heart in the hopes of accomplishing whatever their dreams entail.
