Confessions of a Humanities Major

I am a Humanities major, I’ve recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, and I am in love with my major. My brain was made to analyze texts and stray on the artistic side, where imagination and fancy rule my world. I am currently struggling with the lie: we’re not smart enough to get a high-paying job. The fact may be that we are unlikely to get a high-paying job, but only in the cruel world of science and engineering are we “not smart enough”. Albert Einstein once said that “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid”. The world is ruthless because its judgment on humanities majors suggests that the major, and ourselves, are useless. That is not the case.

People have been ingrained in this way of thinking for so long that we can barely scrape by if we truly want to pursue what we love. The world only holds science majors in highest esteem. An engineering major will find a high-paying job where the skills he or she picked up in college are valuable.

But what about humanities majors? Most of us were not made to understand scientific concepts, but on the other hand, most science majors weren’t made to explore literary ideas into a well-written 15 page paper. Most of them weren’t made to thoroughly analyze texts and create new ones that spring from the old. Most of them weren’t made to traverse time and history to study writers, poets and artists whose works constantly direct us toward thinking about the Universal Truths of our human condition. But the charms of humanities have been lost and pulled through the grater that is efficiency, greed, and selfishness. We live in a world that believes efficiency is direct application and fast-paced movement; a world that prioritizes internet and money and anything that helps us “save time.” Throughout all of this, the world has lost its appreciation for living in the moment, for digging deeper into our humanity and for relentlessly seeking direction towards Truth.

The ideal world would be a professional symphony. Woodwinds and brass were made to be different, but they coexist together in harmony. We would keep equality between us because it is a necessary requirement if the orchestra wants to be balanced and flexible to all kinds of music. And every sound we made would contribute to the path of discovering ourselves–our own humanity. If only job searching was like this… If only the world understood this balance… If only they could see us like the gifted creatures we truly are.