Major Problem?

Well, I thought really long and hard about whether to re-post my Medieval Monday blogs from my personal blog site here on Hatboro-Horsham Patch. They are thick with history, after all, and I wasn’t sure if they would sound too much like a college paper to be interesting. 

In the end I decided against it purely because of how long today’s post - the first in the series - turned out to be. But it did get me thinking … I majored in history twice in college and here the only thing I’m currently doing with that degree is writing very long blog posts.

So is a Liberal Arts education really worth it in today’s world?

I’ve thought about this a lot over the years. Way back in 1992 when I started college I didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself. All I knew was that I loved writing. But, even then I had a vague idea that you couldn’t go to school and get a degree in writing and graduate with book deals waiting for you.

I took all of the prerequisite courses my first two years and then I transferred to the University of Central Florida where I knew I had to declare a major. I chose history. Why? Because I had a history class my senior year of high school that I loved. And, I had just spent two summers running around as an actor at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and because I knew that the only thing I really wanted to do was write, so I had better learn about some things I could write about. For serious. That was my reason for choosing that major. I majored in my hobby.

So of course I graduated and had exactly zero jobs lined up, ready and waiting.  That’s when I moved back up to this area and went back to college at Bryn Athyn College to get a second degree … in history with an education focus. But, when all of that was done I didn’t become a teacher. I worked in retail, I cut hair, and eventually I got a series of jobs as an admin. With my history degree.

I’m not gonna lie to you. I don’t make as much money as your average 37-year- old. I spent too much of my 20s job-hopping and moving. And I wonder all the time if I took the wrong path through college. My father once told me (in one of the most horrible conversations I’ve ever had with anyone) that he thought my life was a waste of time and that I should have majored in something useful, like business or engineering. He was dead wrong about my life being a waste of time.  I’ve had amazing experiences and followed my dreams, thank you very much! But, I do wonder if he might have been right about the business or engineering degree.

I think if I could go back and do it again, knowing how the economy was going to shake out, I might have actually majored in business. Or maybe communications, although I don’t know if that one is any more useful than history. I don’t have enough of a math brain for engineering. There have been many, many times when I have wished I would have gone on a science track and become a zoologist who works with big cats at a zoo, although again, I don’t know if there are jobs in that field out there. And once I learned how much accountants can make I wished I liked math enough to go down that track.

I just feel like right now business majors have more of a chance of having the paper qualifications companies are looking to hire. I know that if I were to apply for the job I have now my resume would be thrown out without a second glance because of my history degree (and believe me I know how lucky I am to have this job).

It all loops back to my core question. Is a Liberal Arts degree a wise degree to pursue for those in college right now? Is it a waste of time to earn a degree in a subject you love that has very little opportunity for employment in that field after graduation? Would it be better these days to advise college students to major in something employable while minoring in what they love?

(Oh yeah, I was only a few classes short of minoring in philosophy, another incredibly useful discipline in todays’ job market =P) Should we be encouraging young people to forego college altogether to go to tech school where they can learn a useful skill? I definitely think that’s a brilliant option for some people these days and I know there are technicians in various fields without degrees who make much more than me with my two bachelor’s degrees and master’s degree. But should we even be worrying about earning potential instead of encouraging youngsters to follow their dreams?

I’d be very interested in hearing what people have to say.

And if you want to read my Medieval Monday: Girl Power… Women Who Ruled post to see what I’m doing with my History degree just click on the link ;)