This past spring break, my friend and I were greeted by an especially friendly, older saleswoman as we walked into a clothing shop. Upon discovering that we were Dartmouth students, she asked what we were studying.
"Economics," my friend said.
"Oh, how great!" she responded.
Then she turned to me.
"History," I said.
"I can understand what you would do with an economics degree," she said, turning to me. "But history? I just can't picture it."
I then proceeded to launch into a response that has become well-rehearsed after many conversations with extended family and my parents' friends when discussing my unique liberal arts education that any major provides you with the analytical and creative skills necessary for thoughtful problem solving, and that being able to write and communicate effectively are skills invaluable for any job.
I'm sure that many other students with majors in fields such as history, English, art history, anthropology, philosophy, religion and classics have had similar experiences. The reality is, the current gloomy job market has made it harder for many to understand the draw of a bachelor's degree in a more traditional liberal arts subject. Having chosen a major in the humanities, I often feel as though I have to justify my choice.
This Dartmouth problem is the result of our broad liberal arts curriculum, in which engineering is the only real pre-professional major. Although this traditional liberal arts curriculum is common within the Ivy League and other highly ranked colleges, most universities have pre-professional major options such as marketing, nursing or business administration.
Vanderbilt University, for example, offers courses of study in elementary education in addition to the traditional majors of the liberal arts curriculum. Northwestern University boasts majors in communications and radio, television and film. Given the existence of these kinds of options, I understand where the skepticism towards the liberal arts is coming from. Once upon a time, it was believed that all one needed to obtain a higher education was to read the classical canon and maybe master another language. Now, as more schools offer pre-professional programs, liberal arts schools like Dartmouth and its smaller cousins like Williams and Middlebury Colleges may seem frivolous.
At another school, I may have pursued a communications degree and neglected my love for reading, writing and media. At Dartmouth, I am pursuing history and English two subjects that can often seem incredibly nebulous.
As I watch my friends go through corporate recruiting or study for the MCAT, I can understand the origins of the doubt of those who ask what I'm going to "do with that" ("that" being the history degree). Unlike other fields, there is no clear path. But I would strongly disagree that there is no value in having a humanities-related degree.
Yet the more I listen to genuinely concerned naysayers like the lady in that shop, I console myself with the fact that I am a student at Dartmouth. This comforting elitism convinces me that maybe I won't end up like the anthropology major who has given up graduate school to become a dog groomer and was featured in a New York Times Magazine article titled, "Hello, Cruel World: What the Fate of One Class of 2011 Says About the Job Market." Yikes.
And in the end, any major you choose at Dartmouth will teach you how to think.
At the very least, those creative writing classes may really help you spice up those cover letters to help you get a job.
