Grace Urbanski, a Marquette University professor friend of mine asked me the other day about whether I felt that my BA degree in English was an advantage or disadvantage in my business career. I get asked this, or something similar, all the time. Here's what I wrote back to Grace:
"I may be biased, but I have never felt that my English degree has been anything but a bonus in the business world. My observation is that most of the people that impress me share a common trait, which is their ability to process information, consider options and articulate direction. An English degree prepares a person perfectly for this as the majority of the work is not, as most people seem to think, just reading books. Instead, the real focus is on learning how to interpret the meaning(s) of what we read and, most importantly, take, substantiate and convey our position clearly and intelligently.
People always seem to be curious about how an English Major ended up in the waste business. I tell them that an English Major prepares a person for any business because it teaches a person to think(and articulate thought) and you can take my word for the fact that most people, in the business world or just the regular world, struggle with both of these skills. In my view, the marketability message to a student considering English as a major is simple. You can pay anyone for information and the cost will continue to decline as information alone is being increasingly commoditized. The people who will be most valuable in the future are the ones who can de-commoditize information by transforming it into valuable ideas that can be articulated and communicated clearly and convincingly."
Grace liked my answer but she wondered whether she could convince students, and their parents, that my perspective was sound. I completely understood her concern since the thinking that an English Major leads only to teaching opportunities (best case) or, more often, nowhere particularly productive, is pretty pervasive. Too bad.... and so wrong!
I believe that the Major of English suffers an acute case of misunderstanding. People get all hung up on the English part and, while you wouldn't know if by reading what most people write or listening to most people speak, most are, nonetheless, largely convinced that they do both of these adequately, ergo (a Latin word) they have no need or desire to study something as fundamental as English. Perhaps, rather than call the Major English, we should simply steal the title of Napoleon Hill's classic book, "Think and Grow Rich" www.naphill.org. There's a major that'll get parents and students attention!
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