The Question
The philosophy major asks, "Why does it work?"The engineering major asks, "How does it work?"
The sociology major asks, "For whom does it work?"
The liberal arts major asks, "Do you want fries with that?"
Yes, most of us have heard some variation on this theme. No matter how tiresome it gets to hear the jokes (and as both my majors and my minor are firmly grounded in the humanities, I hear them often), the nagging truth behind them is what makes them "work" for us--so there, philosophers, engineers, and sociologists!
Tonight I asserted with the utmost confidence that I would never actually be a fry cook. "Or, if I am," I amended, "it will not be my fault because my genius will not have been recognized!"
And I sounded like every other humanities degree-holder in the glutted liberal arts job market.
See, I usually agree with the gibes; my currently fruitless job hunt only confirms their validity. But I always assumed that because I knew these risks, I would be immune to them. Funny how that works.
Everyone believes quem has some unique talent to offer for which quem should be able to find some way to be paid. Our culture is understandably big on results, and it will not pay people just to think, as the liberal arts in their highest form train people to do. If I have learned one thing from my limited experience in the working world, it is that thinking is nearly always antithetical to success.
For me, however, success in life has only a little to do with how I earn a living. One thing I still assert with confidence is that the best times of my life will not be at work. I contend that a good liberal arts major asks, "What is success?"
And then quem adjusts queemy hat and gives the burgers another turn.
posted by Lynn @ 8:06 PM
4 Comments:
(First, let me say that your pronouns are a great invention. Really streamlines the reading. Kudos.)
"Our culture is understandably big on results." Understandably? Yes. Forgivably? No.
"Thinking is nearly always antithetical to success." You're right. Hence all the business majors awarded degrees with 2.0s on their transcripts. But, maybe we can make a dent by introducing a new way of thinking both about thinking and success. A good liberal arts major may ask, "What is success?", but does it have any material consequence? I, for one, once gave myself to contemplation while (literally) flipping burgers at McDonald's, but my grasp on stoicism was fleeting, and in the end I felt it was a debasing occupation. (I think I told you that it was perhaps the hat that ultimately robs you of all vesitges of human dignity that the rest of the McDonald's livery somehow failed to squelch. ; P)
The problem with us liberal arts majors is that many of us don't come from enough money to float on through the seasons when the job market isn't favorable. People of modest means like you and me have painted themselves into this corner, and they don't have the wherewithal to wait for the paint to dry!
If things don't work out for me this go-round, I'm contemplating going into the monastery for a little while. It would be a great way to take time off, be near to the earth, and contemplate the higher purpose in life. And do so all on the Church's bill.
Wait. That won't work. I have student loans to start paying in two months, so the system has me.
You're right though, of course: the best times are to be had outside of work. I just don't want to go all my life continually turning my other cheek to the system as it slaps me in the face. ; )
And the sickening thing is that the world NEEDS us so desperately. The evidence is plastered all over your city in letters taller than you are. Pronouns, red with shame but having nowhere to hide. Apostrophes, suffocating slowly in hostile alien environments.
The horror. The horror!
But I know a place where you're both needed and welcome. Of course, I've already silently borne the suggestion once this week that mine is not a real job. Ah well. If you can live with that, get onboard!
I'm sure that one day I'll be the English Nerd equivalent of a bag lady, walking around town, offering to OwLet every billboard I see. Funny how everyone idealizes the lives of starving artists except the starving artists.
Oh, the starving liberal arts people...I don't comprendo. I guess I'm a science major, technically. But it's the English minor that I use in my job. There's stuff out there for ya. Although I'm not actually allowed to think, either. I do every time they look away, though. Muah-ha-ha!!
Post a Comment
<< Home