“I hope that you don’t mind being poor for the rest of your life.”
That’s a pretty typical response that I receive when I tell people that I graduated with a degree in English. I’m used to it, but in reality it is quite offensive. People have a tendency to think that they know what you should be doing with your life better than you do. But, shout out to all of my humanities majors out there. You keep doing you. What you’re learning is valuable and highly applicable.
There’s this idea that the purpose of college is to train students for specific trades that they will carry throughout their life. Yes, in many ways college does do this. However, for me, my English degree has taught me how to live. In my opinion, that is way more valuable. It carries more value in my eyes than knowing what career I want for the rest of my life. Because guess what...I will probably have more than one career for the rest of my life.
What I find valuable is the critical thinking skills I developed, the fine tuning of my communication abilities, the growth in my ability to empathize, and the depth of my knowledge and acceptance of diversity. My English degree has taught me how to be a free, independent thinker. Will I be the next Bill Gates? No, probably not. Odds are though that most Business Administration students won’t be either. That doesn’t mean that their degree is a waste, though. It is just accepted by society more.
The path of education that an individual chooses is a personal and important choice. It is a reflection of their passion. Someone else has no room to decide if it is a viable choice or not. It is brave to go after your passions and interests in life, rather than what will make you the highest salary.
Any experience in life is one that you can grow and learn from. Choose the experience that you find ignites your passion. After all, isn’t that what life is all about? Finding what sets your soul on fire and pursuing it. So, do it.
So, yeah. I don't mind being "poor" for the rest of my life. In my eyes passion can provide me with way more riches than wealth ever will.
