So I am the kind of person that is a bit uncomfortable selecting just one career, and I like being able to be at least a little bit flexible, though I absolutely do not have to be. I’m roughly 95% sure I want to be a teacher. I love the idea of it, and I think I’d like to major in either Elementary Ed. or English Literature. I like that I don’t necessarily HAVE to be a teacher with English so that is a bonus, even though I believe I will love teaching. I would probably go ahead and choose that as my major since I love reading so much, but here’s what is holding me back: I have heard from tons of people over the years that majoring in English is absolutely horrific. I’ve heard that it ruins reading and writing for a person for years. Uh-oh. I will admit that I do not care terribly much for English classes I’ve taken in high school. The fun of learning/reading poetry and literature was just tossed away in high school. Also, there are definitely areas of study I think I would enjoy more than English, but mostly just subjects that are not practical (like Film Studies…I love movies a bit more than books, but it isn’t too easy to get a job with that). I guess I am just worried that I will regret choosing English. I think it might be great in the long run, but the process of majoring in it might be draining. Basically, I’m just wondering what other people’s advice would be and what their experience was majoring in English. Does whether or not it is total misery depend on the school, perhaps? Do you have to love it more than anything else in the world? There’s no question I have an overall interest for English, it’s just…the schooling that’s concerning to me!
I’ve attached a link to an interesting opinion from an emeritus professor at Stanford. It’s a bit long and doesn’t completely address your post but I’d still suggest reading it: https://theamericanscholar.org/the-decline-of-the-english-department.
My relevant takeaway: choose your English department wisely or be judicious in your course selection and you’ll be fine.
[1kyellowdaisies]
I love reading so much, but here’s what is holding me back: I have heard from tons of people over the years that majoring in English is absolutely horrific. I’ve heard that it ruins reading and writing for a person for years. Uh-oh. I will admit that I do not care terribly much for English classes I’ve taken in high school. The fun of learning/reading poetry and literature was just tossed away in high school.
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@1kyellowdaisies, can you explain why the fun was tossed away. And why didn’t you care for you High School English classes? That might help people guide you.
You say “I’ve heard that it ruins reading and writing for a person for years.” Who told you that, and what did they mean?
It is impossible to select a career at 18 unless you are planning to be a physician. Engineers, lawyers, and even English majors end up in places they never dreamed of when they were in college. Being an English major is a helpful push toward being an English teacher, but it is by no means the only outcome. I am more and more confident that there will be a slight backlash at some point related to all of the STEM focus, and when that happens many of the humanities majors will gain a bit of respect for their broader focus.
My advice would mirror that of @fragbot in selecting a school after some deeper investigation, but to that I would also add you ensure some flexibility. Look for an English department with a film studies major. Double major if you want. Take courses in things you never considered and see if anything strikes you. Finding a school that allows a bit of exploration feels like something that might work for you.
NOBODY knows “where they will be in 20 years”. The last bit of advice I would give is to try and do what you enjoy, because you’ll be doing it for a long time.
@WalknOnEggShells Well, in high school classes, I would say that it is a mixture of problems that makes it so dreadful. The required reading is often very boring (i.e. Walden, which I hated) and the analysis of everything has been pretty dry in my experience. There has always been a greater focus on the structure of a book/poem rather than the themes, and I understand that it is important to understand the structure and such, but since that is the center of attention, I miss out on the whole story itself. Also, I’ve been told by people who majored in English that it just killed the whole thing for them for a few years. These were people who probably loved books even more than myself. To summarize what I have been told more specifically, it is everything that I hate about the high school classes times ten. I have yet to meet someone having a good time in their English major, but I’ve considered asking around a little more before making a decision.
Look carefully at the way the major’s required classes are structured. Look at Denison, Kenyon, Wesleyan, and your flagship’s English department. Check and see if there are specialties such as Creative Writing, non fiction Writing, Theoretical studies… Those will indicate different orientations.
Complementing your major with communication, film studies, media studies, interarts discourse, or American studies can be a plus.
You’ll need to make sure you have internships and jobs related to your interests, such as tutoring, writing for the college paper, writing for the literary magazine, assistant to film series, aide to a professor…
I loved literature but could not stand many English majors I met, which discouraged me from pursuing an English major so I became a History and Classics major instead. These sorts of majors are basically about studying something you enjoy and becoming a better reader, writer, and thinker. One particular Humanities/Social Sciences major is not particularly “better” than another.
As mentioned above, few majors put you on a definitive career track, and many who start down those paths end up somewhere else anyway. IMHO, the worst major is the half-hearted generic business major (marketing or such), who does not enjoy their classes, is not challenged enough to grow intellectually, and ends up in a cubicle without the skills to get out.
I think, perhaps, that the people who say that books and reading were “killed” for them for a few years may have been people who thought the major was going to be one way and it turned out that it was different from what they expected. English isn’t just about learning writing or reading books; it’s about thinking critically about language, communication, and the human condition through the writings of others. That’s why it’s a humanities field - humanities are about studying human culture and the human experience.
I think people who go into English majors primarily because they love reading may be the ones most likely to be disappointed, since English is about SO much more than just reading books. You have to think really deeply and analytically about them. For people who don’t enjoy dissecting and analyzing books, I could see how that would “kill” books for them for several years afterwards.
If you don’t like literary analysis you will probably dislike an English major (and also may not necessarily be a great English teacher, since part of teaching English is teaching people how to analyze literature). Structure actually may contribute to themes and understanding, but on the whole most English departments are less focused on syntax and structure than themes. It doesn’t have to be dry and boring, although it entirely depends on your interpretation of classic literature and also the kind of department you attend.
@juillet I only just saw this! But it’s not that analyzing literature is boring in and of itself, it’s that it feels like it is nothing but analyzing the technical elements of a book most of the time as opposed to the philosophical aspects. I’ve had classes where it’s been 50/50 which is what I’d expect, but most of my classes in the past have been more of the former and it’s miserable.