Future is not necessarily bleak for English majors
By Kerstin Alston
As the world moves toward a level of unparalleled technological discovery and booming commerce, the shift in the fields of collegiate interest for students has come at a disturbing price: the slow, but seemingly inevitable death of the English major.
In the Autumn 2009 edition of The American Scholar, former English professor at Berkeley, Stanford, Wesleyan and Emory, William M. Chace, says that from 1970 to 2004, the number of English majors dropped from 7.6 percent to 3.9. In that same span, business administration majors increased from 13.7 percent to 21.9 percent. Chace says these were the last academic years with available figures.
University of South Carolina English professor Nina Levine says she too has noticed the affinity toward business administration and away from English. Levine says that some common misconceptions may be playing a role in the exodus of English majors.
"That you can't get a job (with an English degree)," said Levine of a frequent criticism of pursuing a bachelor’s in English.
Levine says that just the opposite is true. She thinks English majors are in fact better equipped for graduate school than other majors.
Levine says English is an excellent degree to transition into graduate programs such as Journalism, Law, and even Business. Levine says English majors who aren't going to grad school are set up to be good in managerial and corporate positions. The biggest problem she says English majors face is limited dicussion of career choices at the undergraduate level.
"(English) prepares you for all kinds of jobs. (English) gives you excellent communication skills and strong analytical skills," said Levine.
Julia Koets recently received her master of fine arts from USC and says that success with an English degree is all about finding your niche. Koets said that when she received her undergraduate degree in 2005, she didn't know exactly what she wanted to do.
"As an English major, I thought it would be easier to find a job right after graduating college," said Koets.
Koets says she applied to various secretarial jobs before finding part-time work as an office assistant. Koets says her difficulty in finding a job she loved spurred her into pursuing a MFA in poetry.
Koets now works in Los Angeles for a literacy program through AmeriCorps. Her advice to English majors in today's job market: internships and community outreach.
"Some of my best contacts were people that I worked with in the community doing writing projects. I would also suggest looking at graduate schools as an undergraduate, which is something that I didn't do. I thought it would be much easier to just find a job. Also, the sooner you start looking, the better. I would also consider programs like AmeriCorps and Teach For America," said Koets.
USC faculty and students have also taken notice of the lack of English majors. In April 2009, the groundwork was laid for the University’s first undergraduate English association. INK! officially came into being as a recognized student organization in time for the Fall semester.
The organization’s mission statement partly reads that “INK! is committed to fostering and promoting literary, creative, rhetorical, theoretical, and multi-media interests across USC.”
In order to save the English major from extinction, it seems the best route is to both recognize and promote its versatility.
This may not entirely stop people from jumping ship for sexier degrees, but it may indeed help stem some of the hemorrhaging that Chace is predicting. The best hope for the survival of the English major is for it to be seen as a complement to a variety of different career fields and academic interests.
Or more simply put by Levine, “Combine an English degree with a passion for something.” RCT
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