So I’m almost done with my Associate of Arts. It’s a general one.
But I’m stuck.
I wanted to major in Spanish, but I keep reading about how you have to study vigorously and viciously to supplement your curriculum in order to become fluent by the end of your program, and self-study’s better anyways. So a Spanish degree or any other language degree is basically worthless.
Then I thought about Web Design, but everybody and their mother has that degree, or has taught themselves how to do the same skills for free. And I’m bad at self-teaching.
I can’t think of anything else to do.
I’ve thought about trades, but those are like, “meh”. I’ve thought about apprenticeships, but those are pretty much just the same as trades.
My current degree can get me nowhere.
I don’t have access to a career advisor because I take all my classes online, and I don’t think my small community college even has one. The last time I tried to talk to an advisor about being unsure about my major, he basically told me he couldn’t help me. So, no luck there.
Where could I go to find help? What majors could I fit into if I don’t know what I want to do, and have a limited budget? All my classes would likely be taken online. Like, every single one.
First, get your Associate’s. An Associate’s is a huge accomplishment in and of itself and there are a lot of jobs available to Associate’s degree holders. Then I would get a job. Spanish is the only language major that is of any use. Where would you be taking your college classes? Why online?
I would be taking them at Valdosta State University. They have the cheapest tuition. I’m paying for college by myself, so I look for the cheapest, not necessarily the best. I have ongoing arguments with my parents about attending brick-and-mortar schools. I was attending one, but dropped out. Now they won’t let me go back to one - or at least strongly advise against it. I know, I’m an adult and can make my own decisions, yadayada. I think it’s because I need to keep insurance, because they won’t cover me. I am almost 22, so under US law I think I only have four years left anyway to be covered. It’s a long story.
@chileb have you thought about and education degree with a Spanish focus? It looks like that would be something they would be strong in. Even if you are not fluent at the end, teachers have opportunities to further their skills and the certification is the most important thing. I started learning a foreign language my junior year of college with trepidation. It does take work but I am still very proficient in the language. Super-proficiency would not be required for certification as a teacher with a minor in the language.
@CCtoAlaska That’s exactly the reason I chose the school. High school Spanish teacher was my thought.
I just doubt my ability to teach. I work with kids now and have a lot of trouble getting them to listen to me. I feel like if they don’t listen to you, there’s punishment for you, the adult. So I’m constantly probably a lot more harsh than I need to be because I don’t know what techniques work - it’s just trial and error. A lot of trial and error.
So I’m hesitant to sign up to be a teacher, because being a teacher means getting the kids to listen to your lesson, or at least not cause chaos while you’re trying to give it.
@chileb don’t give up. If you student teach you will get more opportunity to learn good techniques. I swore I would never teach and then I started teaching a sport and found I love it but it took a long time to find my groove. I’m thinking of becoming a classroom teacher, too. It takes a lot of time and you are young. Get the degree and then worry about it. Teaching is a very versatile degree, too. You can even use a US teaching degree to teach overseas or even work in other fields. There are a lot of possibilities.
Yes, do you have to study vigorously to do well in a Spanish language major, and you have to practice on your own to achieve fluency. Studying abroad, or spending some time in Spanish-speaking communities in some other way, is the best way to achieve spoken fluency. But that’s true in lots of majors. If you only do what’s explicitly required of you in math, or engineering, or most science majors, or computer science, you also won’t be very good. Practicing outside of class and putting your skills to practical use are the best ways to learn in MOST majors.
It’s not necessarily true that self-study is better; it kind of depends on the individual and how they learn. Lots of people who move to another country supplement their self-learning with classes, so they can help. I’m not sure how you made a jump to “Spanish and other language degrees are worthless.” When you major in a language, you’re not just studying the language but also the literature and culture.
Not everybody and their mother has a web design degree or has taught themselves the same skills for free; there’s a reason why programs like WordPress and Squarespace exist, because lots of people don’t know web design. However, I’m not sure that a web design major by itself is necessarily the greatest choice - you may be interested in thinking about computer science or a design degree that includes web design in it.
What do you actually like to do? There are lots of majors you could do, but you have to narrow it down by thinking about your interests.
Spanish and Human Resources can be useful. Or Spanish with a business minor.
Spanish bilingual education is in HIGH DEMAND- you need to be able to speak Spanish and English well, but you don’t teach Spanish, you teach kids who need to transition to full English classes.
(You can do that with other languages, but Spanish is the most common).
ESL (English for non English speaking children) is another possibility.
Going abroad is necessary in all cases - but often, beside the plane ticket, costs are covered by your tuition and local life can be pretty low-cost.
It doesn’t get all that deep that you need to be perfectly fluent in Spanish in order for it to be valuable as a classroom teacher. Just having a teaching degree with some Spanish proficiency (maybe from a minor) will be a huge selling point. But developing that language (and it’s not really the case that you have to go overseas when some US cities are over 50% Spanish speaking) will allow you to teach it. Get the trade first (teaching certificate), study Spanish together with it and worry about specialization as it comes.
When you get to your brick and mortar university, you will be guided by professors who have tons of experience working with children, using academic and behavioral strategies, to get them to learn.
In classes, you put that into practice, with your professors who observe you. That’s how it was in the “olden” days.
I don’t know how you would do that with just online classes because you need feedback and creative ideas from your peers in your classes.
@juillet I don’t know what I like to do. Waste my time, really. I’m being honest here, not sarcastic.
The thing with the language degrees is my parents strongly advise against me studying abroad, to the point I’ve almost given up thinking about it and have turned down opportunities I’ve gotten to do so. They say it’s dangerous, and there’s better things to do than be in a foreign country, like work. So.
So I swung back to Spanish. Would double majoring be good? I was thinking Psychology. I have to keep a 35-hour a week job, and pay for the entire thing myself.
I thought I could get a degree in Psych and Spanish, and get a Master’s in both.
Or, I could get the lower degrees, and move on to getting a teaching license and a Master’s in Spanish.