![635937348599702081-383536399_english-major_6[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/q0lbXvr.jpg "635937348599702081-383536399_english-major_6[1].jpg")
What do you guys think of majoring in English Literature? I plan on working in education, so I see it as a viable option, in addition to the fact that I enjoy reading and analyzing literature.
To any English majors out there, do you regret studying literature? If not, what did you gain from it?
If you want to work in education I guess you cant go wrong.
I was English Major but decided for Marketing instead, seemed more conducive for what I wanted long-term
![1984_sketch_by_taylorweaved-d5lzjpj[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/E1fCi82.jpg "1984_sketch_by_taylorweaved-d5lzjpj[1].jpg")
>>8250740
Sounds insane, but the reason I want to major in English over business is because I feel teaching is a much more noble and fulfilling occupation than anything business could offer. I don't like exploiting people for profit either so I would prefer to teach; although, I am conscious there is such thing as just business.
It's honestly difficult deciding what I want to do for a living. I certainly don't want to be stuck in a cubicle for eight hours a day though.
If you realize that teaching kids sucks, you can also work in social services. Or vice versa.
>>8250766
I also plan minoring in business so I can have more accessibility to other jobs.
Pls take education and just have your focus in AYA Language Arts
We don't need more people who know a shitload about books; we need more people who know how to TEACH
Besides, if you're coming here you'll pick up on most things an English major learns anyway, like:
1. No undergrad knows what the fuck theyre talking about
2. Most people's interest in lit is incredibly shallow
3. You dislike far more classic lit than you realized
I started majoring in English but quickly realized I didn't have the discipline for it. Majored in finance instead. Math skills weren't the best but I managed to pull through
>>8250773
English Major here. The list in this post is 100% accurate. If you have a well-rounded/expansive taste, you'll be able to impress some professors and maybe some girls, but good luck having a decent conversation with anyone about an even mildly obscure book.
Also, (a lot of) English majors got into lit because they like to read. That's swell and all, but the critical side of things is always lacking. You'll be around a lot of left-leaning (not a bad thing on its own) students who don't know much about even Marx.
Just a note: I've been at two upper-tier American Colleges. Transferred once to mix things up. So I have a bit of experience. That said, if you don't want to take my word for it, I wouldn't take offense. Maybe I got unlucky twice.
>>8250833
What sort of discipline do you think you lack? English Major here. Just curious.
>>Wanting to go to HS everyday
I would rather not relive hell and get paid shit to do it.
Though an excuse to talk about lit all day would be cool.
No, I will be chasing those tech bucks and just try to read as much as I can.
I may go back to school for writing but who knows.
>>8250758
I think you have a very limited idea on what goes into business. Yes, many of them are very profit-oriented and readily forsake quality and public safety, but there are also just as many companies who are the exact opposite in their process and aims.
Marketing itself is just a tool, it can be either an honest informative that helps the right people get to your product/service, or pure propaganda that serves nothing but your own needs.
If your heart is in education then go for it, but please dont knock other fields!
>>8250917
It is true in many cases, and that is why I want to work in education. It just seems like most people who major in business are just set on the salary, and really care about making a positive change in the world. That is not the person I am and this is why I would like to service and mentor students through the same hellish situations I overcame as an adolescent.
>>8250917
That is also why I mentioned that I am aware that there is such thing as just business.
>>8250872
Grad school is better though. I joined an MA in English Lit program without doing a BA in English, and fortunately for me the focus is more on critical interpretation and theory over reading (not that reading isn't still important, but these other skills are more regularly emphasized). Personally, reading is my least favorite part of the program, but I take it back because I like talking about literary theory and books, but mostly the theory.
>>8250883
The constant reading and writing. I'll admit that the transition of my work performance from high school to college dropped drastically though (after 12 years of school, I have to do it all over again? Made me exhausted).
I do love reading literature, but being forced to read multiple things at once, and in a certain time frame, especially when I don't like what I'm reading really dragged me down. Then having to write 5-10 pages about it killed me. I slowly started seeing myself hating what I loved and thought maybe it was for the best literature is kept as a hobby.
Also my memory is really bad (had a xanax problem when I was 16). After a few weeks, I throw everything out so I have more room for the new stuff. Not really good for an English major, with all the works i'd have to consider to retain.
>>8250956
So fucking happy to hear that. Thanks for the reply. What's your plan after you graduate? I'm thinking about going for my masters rather than jumping right into a Ph.D. My grades aren't great, so I want to have more schooling before applying for the Ph.D. I'm hoping I'll be able to get into a really great program after that. The only thing is, for a lot of the best, best programs (I'm looking into Yale/Stanford), you have to know English (obviously), a second language, and Latin. Just makes me a bit nervous. My French and Spanish are weak. And I took Latin for one year in high school and don't remember a thing.
>>8250979
Sorry to hear that, dude. It kinda gets to me too. A bit more so after reading that. I just finished a Women & Lit course today and fucking bombed it. I just did not care for the work we read. Not trying to hate on women writers. It's just not my thing. The crit-side of women's lit is still in its early stages and each method/analysis/piece of writing is about how women aren't the focus of the canon/excluded, all that. It's just not fun to read over and over again. Sorry to rant. But that's it. And I'm glad to hear you kicked the bars. My brother is struggling with the same shit at the moment.
>>8251050
>not trying to hate on women writers
>it's just not my thing
groaaaaaaaaan
>>8250979
If you didn't like studying literature in an academic setting (heightening your critical appreciation of literature and leading a more developed life) then maybe literature is just not for you, it´s no big deal though really
I like to watch movies as hobby too for example, but I would want to study it
>>8251088
wouldn't want to study*
>>8250773
Because education programs prepare teachers so well, right?
It's not one or the other, the best way to do it is to find an English Education program that has a good balance between content and pedagogy.
>>8250891
>not becoming a patrician college/university professor
What are some patrician careers that let you live the literary lifestyle?
Aside from the obvious ones like professor, novelist, spy, poet, etc.
>>8252109
Depends on what you like. At the end of the day, whatever you like will feel patrician.
I have a friend who makes woodworks, he just enjoys carving, reading and smoking. He loves coffee, so he works at a coffee shop, too. He's one of the happiest guys I know.
I have a BA in English. I work at a call center for an insurance company.
>>8252109
diplomats are p. patrician
Go for it.
Although teaching (at low level) seems pretty shitty.
I'd never want to work in a secondary school, try to work in a college at least.
Personally, I'm going for Physiotherapy at university, as I'm interested in the field and I'll gain a good career out of it.
If someone has no desire to teach (or confidence in their ability to do so) what else can an English degree be used for? It's really the only thing I want to study. I'm not even sure I should go to school if I can't find a job somehow involving literature.
>>8252164
You could get into a management role with it.
Or join the army as an officer.
>>8251156
....
An AYA education program does exactly that my friend. I'm effectively an English major who just takes some more Education courses instead of more liberal arts sciences and whatnot
But obviously you have to go AYA/high school route to get that level of English courses; the earlier you are in education the more theory and pedagogy you pick up since its the most important
I just finished my 2nd year of English Literature and while I enjoy some of it some of it made me want to kill myself. If you do it don't be tricked by fun sounding modules, they're always shit.
Given the choice of a religion module and a film module, always choose religion. It sounds more boring on the face but it as actually a thousand times more interesting.
>>8252351
Depends on taste. I'd pick film 1000 times over before I'd give region a glance. But I love film and regret not going to film school.
>>8252164
Copywriting if you're a very good writer. One of the best day jobs you can possibly have as a fiction writer while you're still working on being published. It's my plan post-grad (or grad school or both). Look into it. It's marketing and, of course, capatilistic. But it's money. And at the right place, can be highly enjoyable. Think about minoring in comm or marketing.
>>8250731
I am a business and english double major. Business for the job, English for the fun.
Why is it that when discussing English majors no one even mentions linguistics? What is your curriculum made up of?
I am studying English and American studies and our curriculum is pretty diverse with a nice combination of linguistics and literature. In our first year we studied pragmatics, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics.
2nd year, 1st semester
>Morphology
>Analytic Grammar
>Cognitive approach to lexical word-loaning(elective)
>General and Academic English
>Public Speaking (elective)
>Phonology
>Translations from English to Bulgarian
>Modernism-Postmodernism lit: The Waste Land; Easter 1916 by Yeats; some poems by Dylan Thomas; Kew Gardens by V. Woolf; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; 1984; Lord of the Flies; The Dumb Waiter; The Remains of the Day
>Enlightenment lit: Robinson Crusoe; Gulliver's Travels; The Rape of the Lock; Pamela; Joseph Andrews; The Vicar of Wakefield; The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman; Pride and Prejudice
2nd year, 2nd semester
>Syntactic analysis of English texts (elective)
>Shakespeare through performance (elective)
>General and academic English
>Analytic Grammar
>Translation: from English to Bulgarian
>Translation: from Bulgarian to English
>Romanticism lit: Matthew Lewis - The Monk; Poems by Blake; Wordsworth; Coleridge; Shelley; Keats; Byron's Manfred
>Intonation
>Pedagogy/Education
>>8252600
Jesus. Where are you at school? Sounds awesome.
>>8252690
Sofia University. Bulgaria.
Posted this in another thread:
Can anyone tell me what the differences are between a complit and English degree? Or relative dis/advantages to both?
I feel as if complit is almost too fun and I'll feel guilty reading stuff I actually want (modern and contemporary German philosophy, English stuff of course, and film studies too)...
... when I could be learning why Milton and Chaucer are great even though I've never cared much for them (ie, being enlightened by a good prof, showing me the error of my ways, and so on) -- though it still sounds like a pain in the ass
>>8252702
I feel like Europe is the place to study language. Just makes sense since there's so much linguistic diversity. Maybe I'll head over there for grad school.
>>8252727
Our BA is pretty cool but our English department has awful Masters` programmes unless the one about translation.
I don't know how things will develop in the UK since I was planning on studying there for my Masters degree.
