My "useless" English degree

"There is something fundamentally human that connects us, and the fact that a piece of literature can accomplish that connection is what drew me to writing. I want to create that magic for others."

This excerpt of a Harvard student's story popped up on my Facebook newsfeed the other day and it was probably the most relevant thing I've ever "saved" on Facebook to go back to later. Normally I just save all of those Tasty videos on Facebook and watch them for hours and then forget about them when I go to the grocery store. Anyways. This girl's experience as an English major is soooooo relevant and encouraging but also frustratingly accurate of what I felt as I studied English for undergrad. 

You can read her whole response here: https://www.facebook.com/portraitsofamerica/posts/1324060214343374:0 

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me that my English degree was obsolete, I would EASILY have enough money to pay off all my student loans that got me the degree in the first place. 

I just had this conversation with my sister who is studying art at UNH. She was feeling discouraged about this path that she chose for herself as other friends are going into engineering or business. If you have ever seen my sister's ceramics or pretty much anything she does that is art-related, SHE IS SO TALENTED. It breaks my heart that she would feel discouraged about this passion and that others make her feel so terrible about choosing that as a major and as a path for herself. 

When I was "just" an English major with a creative writing concentration, I would seriously dread the moment when someone asked what my major was. Most of time time I was be like "I... um... English. I'm an English major."

Literally 99% of the time, the first response would be:

"So what are you going to do with that?"
or
"So you're going to be a teacher?"
or
"So how are you going to support yourself?"
or
"Good luck finding a job with that one!"

Like... I actually got all of these responses! When I am older and wiser than I am now, talking to some young college student about the good old days when I was in college, PLEASE help me to remember that these responses are honestly the least helpful things to say to a college student. If they feel good about what they chose and are spending a million dollars to study something they love, TELL THEM IT'S A GOOD IDEA! There was nothing worse than leaving a conversation where I...

1) felt stupid for even responding to their question
2) felt even more stupid for not being able to answer their question about what my favorite book is
3) felt like I should've lied to say I'm just going to be a teacher
4) felt terrible about my decision to study something that I LOVE

Did I ever regret my decision to pursue my English degree for undergrad? Um yes. Every time I procrastinated and then had to write a huge paper on a novel that I probably should've spent more time reading. But these small moments of temporary regret were just the result of me being a bad student. I had the BEST professors and the best classes. I read books, I (reluctantly) discussed books, I wrote papers. I had a chance to develop myself as a writer and could learn from the best writers out there - my professors who were writers themselves. I wrote poems, fiction, nonfiction, and could even spend a whole semester working on my senior thesis (all posted under "Creative Writing" at the top of this blog!). How grateful I am to have had those years to read and write while learning how to communicate and argue through writing.

In my recent post about teaching my students, I mentioned how my job is to give these little guys the tools, vocabulary, and skills to communicate in this world. My English degree prepared me for this role and I didn't even realize it. By practicing my written communication skills in all of my English classes and through working as a writing tutor, I was learning how to do these very basic steps of communication and learning how to communicate effectively.

Did I find the perfect job after graduation? Yes. Did I know it was the perfect job for me at the time? Definitelyyyyyy not. I felt like I was settling - taking a job at Gordon while my other friends were moving on to bigger and better things. I was denied from so many jobs and it hurt. I felt like a failure and I could hear these voices of all the people who told me that I wouldn't be able to get a job with my useless English degree. I wasted my time! I wasted my money! Why did I think this was a good idea? They were all right! I feel so stupid! I was ashamed of my choice but it was too late to change. I graduated with honors in English but it felt like I had failed and wasted my education on reading books and writing a few research papers.

How wrong I was and how wrong those people were - my English degree was EVERYTHING and continues to be everything to me. It prepared me and laid the foundation for my first job, for my work in my graduate classes, and for my first teaching job. There is honestly no way that I could've been as successful in any of these places without the classes that I took during my undergrad career at Gordon.

I've had a few people ask me if I wish I had been an education major for undergrad. I have never replied "yes" to this question because I know that this wasn't the plan for me. There is a reason why I needed this time to read, write, and learn from my creative writing professors. There is no way that I would've been prepared to jump into education classes at 18 years old. My love for writing has never waivered and although there are times in my life where writing is put on the back burner for a little while, it never weakens and will never stop being one of passions. How can I regret any minute of a degree that brought me to this understanding?