Why English?
Before this lesson I would not have believed that enrollment in humanities would have been decreasing at the rate it is. I think studying English is not very common, but I did not think people had such negative thoughts about the subject. I committed to the major because when it came time to apply to college I had about a million interests and could not lock one in. I did not know what I was going to be good at and enjoy till I looked back at my time in high school and realized I was always successful and enjoyed my English classes. In these classes I was always engaged and enthusiastic to learn and read the stories I was assigned. When I remembered this and how much I love to read and write I knew English was the right track for me. Which is a lot like what is said in the ASU Crash Course video “Why Study English” the speaker said that often times English majors are people who are interested in a variety of subjects and decide on English as it can apply to many careers. That was very similar to my experience. She also said English only opens doors and doesn’t close them which I also considered before submitting my applications. All the tracks I considered were creative and had storytelling aspects and so English was this beautiful mosaic of all my options. The New Yorker article pointed out that “humanities majors, with their communication and analytical skills, often end up in leadership jobs” (17). And after brief thought it made perfect sense because a person in power that must guide others must be a good communicator. No one will listen to you if you are not convincing or confident. But to me choosing English was never about achieving a goal. I did not pick it because I thought it would make me rich or famous but because I knew it would make me happy. McKenna Nelson from the New Yorker article put it wonderfully, “I don’t think life should revolve around money— I rather go to work happy” (17). I knew English was going to feed my love for life and give me more passion and ambition. The article “The Best Reason to Major in English” said “when you talk to students who choose to study literature, almost all of them will tell you that they made that decision out of love”. Which may sound silly, but I think it’d be stupid to choose to dedicate your life to anything other than what makes you happy. Others might say you can only take this stance if you're in a position of privilege and have the financial stability to study something that does not guarantee a job. And my naive response is that as long as you are good at what you do and love it then there is always a job for you whether someone gives it to you, or you make it for yourself.
Like I said, I have always had too many interests and was never the person that had their mind set on a career since birth. In fact, it wasn’t until I started college that I realized what exactly I wanted to do with my life. But English got me to that place. So, I’d say study English because you want to learn about other people and their stories and maybe write your own someday. Study English because you want to learn and engage with people of the past and present. Study English because you spend your free time lost in the pages of a novel. Study English because you know your way with words and writing is the only way you know how to express yourself. Study English because you love it and you can’t imagine studying anything else. I really think there are millions of reasons one can study English or anything at all, but the only important one is how it makes you feel.
