I’m a history major with a concentration in public history. Why? Because I like history, and studying it makes me happy. That being said, there are a few things I hear constantly directly relate to being a history major, and frankly, studying liberal arts in general. Let me tell you what I’m done hearing, and why’s it’s so obnoxious.
My problem as a history major is the oh-so-unique comments to the effect of: “you’ll never get a job,” “you’ll die in debt,” “it’s a waste of time,” and so forth. I’m not offended by the general “so what are you going to do with that” inquiry because I understand the lack of direct translation.
A business major goes into business, a criminal justice major goes into law enforcement, a pre-med person goes to medical school. While the job title “historian” does exist, it’s not a terribly common profession. Beyond that, the college equivalent of “what do you want to be when you grow up” is asked to people who aren’t history or liberal arts major, so that’s not my issue. It's also just a normal question to ask, because it's also the college equivalent of "what do you do for a living."
My problem, I guess, is the inherent assumption that lies in the proclamation of unemployability.
First, the speaker assumes I care about their opinion of my employability. I could care, this could be a relative or old friend, but then again, it could be a random classmate or one of my parents’ friends.
Second, when someone says something to the effect of my major being a waste of time, they assert that somehow, a degree from a ranked university will make me a lesser candidate for a job. That seems a bit silly to me because, even if my specialty isn’t valued by a given potential employer, having a college education is better than not.
Third, and laughably, most people who tell me things like this act like it’s a novel thought being presented to me.
Everyone seems to think they’re the first person to snarkily tell me that I’ll never get a job, or that a STEM field would be more useful. I did my homework, I knew what was coming. It’s kind of insulting to assume I’m so naïve as to think that there are endless jobs for people in my field, but oh well. I know what I’m getting into, thanks.
Kind of a me problem, not a you problem, actually. And yes, I know that the jobs available aren’t super high paying.
Fun fact about me: I’ve always liked history, but I actually started college as a computer science major. I wasn’t just in there for two seconds and tapped out, but started a comp sci program in high school, which including a year of dual enrollment of my community college.
When I enrolled at my four-year institution last year as a freshman, I took computer science classes then, too. But it wasn’t making me happy. It actually stopped being something I enjoyed some time in eleventh grade or so, but at that point, I thought I could ride it out. It took me until my second semester of my freshman year of college to figure out that computer science wasn’t for me (and I mean no shade onto the field itself, but it was not for me) and decide to switch majors.
I knew what I really wanted to do, what I’d major in if one of my books sold a million copies or I won the lottery: I’d major in history.
When I told my mother I wanted to change my major, she asked me what I wanted to do. I told her what my fantasy option was, but I didn’t know what I’d do, realistically, because I the “you’ll never get a job” lie was embedded in me as well. She’s a STEM person, so I expected a suggestion in another STEM field. Instead, we had a two-hour discussion on what I could do (assuming I went to grad school) with a history major and I decided that this was the path I wanted to take.
As soon as I made the decision to switch majors from the “make a lot of money” option to the “do something I think is cool and fun” option, it was as if a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders. I found out about the dozens of things I could do with my degree, with or without grad school as I took classes, talked to other people in my major and concentration, and met with my advisors.
So what do I want to be when I grow up?
I want to make history be more palatable to the masses, which in all likelihood means working in a museum. If that doesn’t work out, my degree will qualify me to be a genealogist, or maybe an archivist. I’m 19. I don’t need to know everything yet.
It’s not the path for everyone, but what I’m doing makes me happy.
And that should be good enough for the nosy acquaintances in my life.
