The Decline of the English Department
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The Decline of the English Department
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Re: The Decline of the English Department
#2This is just an honest, curious question as a CS undergrad right now: what jobs are there for english majors?
As much as I might love reading and writing, and as much as I believe that a lot of literature is an overall human good, even writers & scholars need to feed and clothe themselves, right?
Re: The Decline of the English Department
#3tl;dr
Re: The Decline of the English Department
#4This is just an honest, curious question as a CS undergrad right now: what jobs are there for english majors? As much as I might love reading and writing, and as much as I believe that a lot of literature is an overall human good, even writers & scholars need to feed and clothe themselves, right?
Unless you plan on teaching the subject, a lot of places don't care what your major was, so long as you have the piece of paper that says you graduated. My dad is a Mech. E. with a music education degree, for example. He still makes music, and knows music theory better than anyone I know. A major in English would likely be valuable in almost any field, so long as you could use it to play up your communications skills. Grammar, written and verbal communication are skills that are often found lacking in today's technical work force.
Re: The Decline of the English Department
#5This is just an honest, curious question as a CS undergrad right now: what jobs are there for english majors? As much as I might love reading and writing, and as much as I believe that a lot of literature is an overall human good, even writers & scholars need to feed and clothe themselves, right?
Unless you plan on teaching the subject, a lot of places don't care what your major was, so long as you have the piece of paper that says you graduated. My dad is a Mech. E. with a music education degree, for example. He still makes music, and knows music theory better than anyone I know. A major in English would likely be valuable in almost any field, so long as you could use it to play up your communications skills…
In particular, my impression is that outside of technical majors (CS, math, sciences, and engineering) the classic liberal-arts degrees can often be more valuable than one tied to the particular job. I've heard lots of places hiring for nominally "business" type jobs actually skeptical of people with BAs in Business, for example.
Re: The Decline of the English Department
#6I am a native English speaker and an American. I would never major in English because the grades are too subjective. I would not want to put my future outside of my own hands.
I prefer my grades to be based on quantifiable data, not subjective gobbledy-gook.
Re: The Decline of the English Department
#7This is just an honest, curious question as a CS undergrad right now: what jobs are there for english majors? As much as I might love reading and writing, and as much as I believe that a lot of literature is an overall human good, even writers & scholars need to feed and clothe themselves, right?
Ironically English majors typically don't fill the literary world, or even the ranks of journalists and magazine writers. Quite frankly, when have you ever read a magazine about any topic touched by an English major. How will an english major help you write about mechanics, make-up, or interior decoration? It won't.
I got work as a reviewer at 16, why? Because I love movies, video games, books and people can't get me to shut the fuck up about them. It only helped that I'm a naturally talented writer. In fact the information I gained from doing the job was that taking courses in Journalism and English typically excluded you from doing the work, New Journalism killed any prospects of a classically trained Journalist from hitting it big.
Re: The Decline of the English Department
#8This is just an honest, curious question as a CS undergrad right now: what jobs are there for english majors? As much as I might love reading and writing, and as much as I believe that a lot of literature is an overall human good, even writers & scholars need to feed and clothe themselves, right?
Python developer. That's where I ended up.
For those who wish to pursue their passion for literature, a lot end up as teachers or indentured servants for the university system. Louis Menand explains the dynamics behind this latter phenomenon in his recent book The Marketplace of Ideas.
Re: The Decline of the English Department
#9Our society simply does not value intellectual achievement or learning as ends in themselves.
What is valued and rewarded is making money, entertaining, acquiring power, and being "practical", which the humanities are just not focused on.
The humanities are also constantly denigrated (especially by the right-wing, but also by many in the sciences). This trend is fueled largely by ignorance, but also somewhat by a reaction to the criticisms they see coming from the humanities departments towards the status quo, "traditional institutions", and the view of science and technology as savior (ie. scientism).
Given these attitudes, financial disincentives, and attacks, it's really no wonder fewer young people choose to major in the humanities.
Re: The Decline of the English Department
#10Our society simply does not value intellectual achievement or learning as ends in themselves. What is valued and rewarded is making money, entertaining, acquiring power, and being "practical", which the humanities are just not focused on. The humanities are also constantly denigrated (especially by the right-wing, but also by many in the sciences). This trend is fueled largely by ignorance, but also somewhat by a rea…
Our society simply does not value intellectual achievement or learning as ends in themselves.
Does intellectual achievement or learning happen in the typical English department? Frederick Crews,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Crews
mentioned in the submitted article, is a smart man whose essays are well worth reading, but he is very much of an exception among professors of English.