“That’s what you get from an English degree. A pencil and a piece of paper to hang on your wall.”
My English professor chuckled when I told her that I received an English Department pencil when I declared my English major.
She, of course, was kidding. As an English professor at Georgetown University, she certainly sees the value in an English major. Instead, her comment ironically echoes the words that English majors so often hear from critics of the humanities.
Often, when I tell people I’m an English major, they ask somewhat skeptically, “What are you going to do with that?” Once, when I was interviewing for a job, my interviewer asked what my major was. When I told him English, he replied, “What a worthless degree. Your parents are paying thousands for you to have a piece of paper that says you know who Shakespeare is.”
I didn’t get that job, needless to say. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t get a job.
The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce recently did a survey on the college graduate labor market. As of 2010-2011, humanities and liberal arts majors had 9 percent unemployment, compared with computer and math majors (9.1 percent), psychology and social majors (8.8 percent), and social sciences majors (10.3 percent).
It is true that undergraduate business students make more money, on average, than English majors. The average English major’s starting salary post-graduation is 66,000 dollars, compared to the average business major’s 83,000 dollar salary.
But that does not mean that English majors are unemployable, as many think. And it does not conclusively mean that all English majors will be poor and homeless, a common misconception.
In fact, a recent MBA Social Network survey found that, of the top 20 MBA programs in the country, 25 percent of their incoming classes majored in the Humanities and Liberal Arts as undergrads. Harvard Business School admitted 40 percent humanities majors. Stanford admitted 47 percent.
The report states, “Humanities/Liberal Arts majors will likely exhibit these qualities (among others): intellectual ability, imagination, creativity, good written and oral skills, a sense of humor and self-motivation.”
Being an English major teaches people skills that are highly applicable in the workforce. Steve Strauss, a small business entrepreneur, wrote a Huffington Post column called “Why I Hire English Majors.” He says, “They know how to think, to think for themselves, and how to analyze a problem. Business majors are fine, but they are preoccupied with theory, proving themselves, and doing it ‘right.’ But the English majors are used to getting a tough assignment, figuring it out, and getting it done, (usually) on time.”
Yes, I got a pencil when I declared my English major. But that doesn’t mean, as many people think, that in forty years, I will still be unemployed, using that pencil to write angst-filled poetry and fill out bankruptcy forms. My English major will inform my ability to enter and contribute to the workforce.
