To Be or Not To Be an English Major
unknownlights asked:
I don’t know if this has been asked previously and if so, I am sorry! I am in my second year of college and stumped on what to do major/career wise. No one supports me in just going for English but writing is where I feel home. It’s what I do. I’m not decent at anything else. I’m so confused on how to go about my college life. One of my teachers who is also helping me with my schedule basically told me that writing is a waste of time and that I should go for something “real”.
Ahhhh, now this is a question I can answer (sort of). As someone who graduated with an English degree this last May I feel I have some insights to share! Observe above, my degree that just came in the mail!
First and foremost, I hate your teacher who said that writing is a “waste of time”. I cannot tell you how happy it’s made my employers that I know how to write, and what a rare commodity that is these days. That person is an idiot.
However, if your professor had said, “You need to have a backup plan because writing is very, very rarely a profession by which you can support yourself”, then I would have agreed with him/her.
There are generally two types of English majors...
- Type 1: The juxtaposition of courtly poetic language alongside the peasant's prose effectively demonstrates my point. One day I will write a critical article on this and earn many accolades.
- Type 2: Heh...Shakespeare made a fart joke. That's funny. Oh look, pretty poetry...
