I should probably get this out of the way immediately--I'm a Linguistics major at the moment, French minor, studying Hindi possibly for a double major, and seriously considering pre-pharmacy. I'm keenly interested in medicinal herbs, foreign languages, conserving the environment and helping people. I also love to write. I'm pretty much the perfect candidate for the liberal arts college--and that's where I am at the moment.
So I am surrounded by philosophy, history, English, psychology, and government majors. The head of the freshman honors program encourages us every time he sees us to stay in the college of liberal arts. The other schools will only eat your soul. Especially the business school. The business school is ravenous for the souls of innocent, naïve liberal arts students.
Because liberal arts is all about the pursuit of knowledge. And that's what a university should be about--just as the Greeks and the Renaissance humanists ordained it.
I actually agree with this statement. Sort of.
Most of my friends from high school are in engineering, however. So while they're destroying all the synapses in their brain with computing and organic chemistry and physics and calculus all in the same semester, I'm...writing an essay, or something. Right?
What saddens me is that I'm the one that gets looked down on in this situation. Because I'm doing what I love, because I'm taking the time to figure out how I can turn doing what I love into helping my fellow man.
Maybe some engineering or business majors are people that have already figured all this out and that's why they are where they are right now. Who knows, maybe most of them fall into this category. I'm not trying to generalize here.
But I know at least a few of them are there because their parents didn't let them major in Geography or Design or Oboe Performance or something. And at least a few are their not because of their parents, but because of their own ideas of what kind of degree they need to make money in the future, have a stable career, etc.
I know you're thinking--um, isn't that kind of what college is for? Isn't that your responsibility as a future parent/husband/wife?
My answer to that is: I don't know. But I do know that it feels wrong when I hear about someone taking eighteen hours a semester of science in math when they'd rather be analyzing 18th century Romantic poets or something. I also know that business and engineering are ridiculously cutthroat, based on competition, and generally seem to cultivate only immoral behavior and lack of compassion for your fellow man.
I'll admit--I'm sort of an idealist, and sometimes my vision of the past, present, and future is a little pie in the sky. But the thought of selling my soul and squandering my passion by going into a field because I think it's going to make money is a little heartbreaking for me.
Besides that, just because you have a Money Major doesn't mean that you're going to find a well-paying job or that that field in particular will be in demand in a few years. It increases your chances, I suppose, but it's not a sure thing.
I'm going to hold onto my idealism for as long as I can. With my current plan (which could, of course, change--I'm a lib arts major after all) I'm hoping I'll find that delicate intersection I'm hoping for--something I'm passionate about that will help me contribute positively to society and still provide some measure of employment. I'm honestly not concerned about making horrific amounts of money--in fact, I think that only separates you from the sufferings of others and I don't think it's a good goal at all.
For all you business and engineering majors out there who love what you do and plan to help out the rest of humanity--God bless you. Fifteenfold. I think that's what we're created for.
And for you art and philosophy and music majors who are doing what you love or just confused--God bless you too--including the cornucopia of atheists who seem to inhabit this department. :)
I agree! I'm a liberal arts person at a liberal arts school, and my uncle (an engineer) was horrified when I repeatedly ignored his advice to major in engineering. He tried to convince me that it's a great job to have because there is so much opportunity and money in it- sorry Uncle, I'm not interested in selling my soul like you did (which is what I thought, but didn't say).
I think we have a problem in today's world of "hyper materialistic functionality." If something isn't materially useful, it's not worth pursuing. We no longer care as much about good old Romantic sentiment- because that certainly won't make you money or get you a promotion.
Haha. I totally understand the pressure. I'm kind of sad that there is so much focus on making money when it comes to choosing a career. I may end up living a cardboard box under a bridge for my feelings but I'll feel like I'm being true to my soul, at least.
I completely agree with your blog. I wish more people would realize this before its to late. I also wish older people would understand or make an effort to understand what we think college should be about. When I tell people what my major is I always get the same response with little varience "oh thats stable and makes good money too'. I am going to be a Nurse for crying out loud to HELP people not to make a buck or two. A nurse in for the money is going to have a hard time living that life, I personally think nurses, although in a science type field, are as they need to be ...passionate and liberal arts students at heart. I think those focused on the dime our sad souls bound for emptiness once they realize that love is for love, not money.
Awesome blog!
Love is like a box of chocolates; if you chose wisely you won’t be disappointed and have to spit it out. ~T
Thank you! I wish people weren't so cynical sometimes, and I applaud you for going into nursing for the right reasons.
Nurses don't make a lot of money, but they make enough to live in few enough hours to allow for personal development. Otherwise I wouldn't be blogging or going back to school! Nurses don't get rich unless they get a second career as an artist or writer or something else.
You are so right about nurses being lib arts majors at heart. Not necessarily active ones enrolled in school, but I know many nurses who have had many different jobs, careers or adventures.
My supervisor found himself in India with the World Corps in his early twenties in the 60's. He adopted a boy, built a home and helped a village to learn farming, irrigation and construction. He still goes there twice a year. He works his ass off for 9 month stints and goes back for 3 months. His daughter lives there with her writer husband and his two grandson's.
What a life!
I like what you said about how we do it for love not money. Strippers make more than nurses. Computer geeks make more, sales people make more, preachers make more. The job sucks! Help people clean up their piss, shit, vomit and drool. Make babies and small children cry, tell concerned parents they aren't going to take their kid home. All for $30,000 to $50,000 a year, depending on where you live.
I used to tell people I don't go to church because working at the psych hospital every sunday is going to church for me.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
I liked it quite a lot, and am glad that you have reached the conclusion as to what is best for you, and what you aim for in higher education.
I want to say more but since I am sometimes not the best with words, ingles is not my first lingua, I gave you 5 stars :)
"A person doesn't die when he should but when he can." - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude Fudge"It's the hard-knock life..."
gracias, dude. you rock. :)
but I think you rock more for trying to learn Hindi, good luck with that.
Are you learning the sanskrit or...well...clarify :)
"A person doesn't die when he should but when he can." - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude Fudge"It's the hard-knock life..."
I may take a class or two in sanskrit as well...it would probably help since some of the hindi devanagari script comes directly from sanskrit.
Anytime I tell someone I'm learning Hindi they ask me why--as though it's more of an unusual choice than french or spanish. I personally love Indian culture and I think it's an important language that will probably grow in importance and India and China start getting more powerful.
who kind of have a crush on India and Indian culture,..
The only thing I could think of as to why people would say that...they might think it is odd because in India, English is quite prevalent. The literacy rate for the country is pretty high, and they have actually made English the second official language. But actually knowing the language really does help understand people and the place, a lot more for an outsider. So, I wish you well in that journey.
On the sanskrit, well, I am quite intrigued by it too but...I leave it at that.
I can read and write Urdu since I was about 10 when I migrated here and I retained most of it, whereas my younger sister and brother were quite little so they don't remember any of it and they can only talk in Urdu.
"A person doesn't die when he should but when he can." - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude Fudge"It's the hard-knock life..."
Although we need to please the soul their should be a balance between reason and passion.
Do you want a family in the future? will you be able to support your family in the future with the type of major you received?
you are young right now, but i know too many older adults that regret their major because it didn't provide enough substance for their family.
I'm hoping that I can achieve that balance and support a family if I choose to have one. I"m going to have to take that as it comes, though--right now all I know for sure is what I love.
I think the kind of work that is done by most general business majors will be targeted for the next big wave of outsourcing. I see a certain poetic justice in this because it was business majors who pushed the first waves of outsourcing.
People who will do well will be the ones with technical jobs that are hard to outsource because they must be performed locally and jobs that are hard to insource (replace with immigrants) because they are protected by white collar unions. (Doctors, Engineers, CPAs, lawyers, Pharmacy, etc.)
If you don't want a technical profession then the next best thing is to become an expert in something unusual. I think Hindu is a good example or a relatively unique skill. Of course there are plenty of native Hindu speakers in America so maybe it is not that unique.
I hadn't realized that you had written a blog so similar to mine so soon! Well yet me address some of the points you make.
First off I think a fine distinction needs to be made between liberal arts and the arts that you can actually get a job in. Now I'm a journalism major and it always annoys me because people always put that in line with many "pointless majors" such as Latin American studies. Unlike that study, journalism is actually an existing career that someone can get into.
And look while it may be all idealistic in pursuing your dreams, in the end what can some of these liberal arts majors actually accomplish for you? I can only see possibly a teaching career but in the end that is just cutting around the bush because there are little other options other than to teach what you had majored in.
We don't live in a place where the arts are greatly demanded. Heck I'd say these types of careers goes against everything learned in economics! You need to enter a field where there is a demand so that you can sell your trade for profit. Bio majors and all those other math majors and whatnot, regardless of whether they like it or not, will be financially secure for the rest of their lives.
So some of you may say that you don't need an excess amount of money but when the bills start coming, we shall see if that still applies.
These liberal arts majors are idealistic, but will mostly lead to ruin....or grad school which I equally despise.
You do realize that having a degree in journalism does not guarantee you any sort of job, right? There are a lot of journalism majors out there, and they are all scrambling to get internships to get into the field. If you think your major is somehow above some of the liberal arts majors just because it trains you for a specific field and it provides a job at the end of it, you have another thing coming.
~C
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I think a person is better off with a more broad major, like communications. Look where it got Sarah Palin. ( sorry, couldn't help myself.)
In reality it's true though.There are certain majors that qualify a person for multiple kinds of jobs. Majors that are geared toward getting a specific job are less marketable.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
I completely agree