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All English professors have been asked this question many
times. Students in colleges and universities, even students
who like English, seem to suspect that English is not a
"practical" major. Yet, for a number of reasons, this
suspicion may be proved false.
First of all, facility with language, which is after all the
stock-in-trade of the English major, is the basis of almost
all human knowledge and is a valuable resource in nearly
every career. This idea has been affirmed time and again by
educators and employers. Recently, in a book titled
College: The Undergraduate Experience in America,
Ernest Boyer of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching has restated this point in these terms:
Language and thought are inextricably
connected,
and, as undergraduates develop their linguistic
skills, they hone the quality of their thinking
and become intellectually and socially empowered.
If this process of empowerment is true for all students,
it is doubly true for the English major, who continually
practices the skills of careful reading, interpretation of
texts and information, and clear and persuasive writing.
Of course these skills are not learned automatically.
English majors, like all other students, must apply
themselves diligently to assignments to improve the skills
associated with the major. Moreover, English majors are
expected to practice reading, discussion, and writing
outside the classroom. Only when these skills become
ingrained as intellectual habit can a student be said to
have completed the training of the English major.
English majors bring to a particular task, job, or career a
facility for reading, interpreting, and communicating ideas
and information which distinguishes them from their peers.
Because these capabilities are related to the process of
human learning itself and not to a single specific field or
vocation, English majors are able to use their talents in
such diverse fields as education, law, and business, to name
only a few. For this reason also, the English major lends
itself to being combined with a second major such as
history, journalism, or management. The skills of the
English major enhance and support knowledge acquired in
other fields.
Majoring in English is not only a matter of skills, however,
and it should not be forgotten that the study of English
presents to its majors the opportunity to read and write
about the masterpieces of American, British, and world
literature. For those who understand the fascination of
literary study, this opportunity is a rich one indeed, for
the beauty and insight into life literature offers become
part of the lives and thought of those who study it in
earnest.
For all these reasons, the English major is one of the most
practical and rewarding of all college majors. While it is
not suited to every student, the major in English appeals to
those who wish to acquire skills which have career
applications without being tied to a single narrow vocation;
the English major cultivates its skills within the context
of a liberal--and liberating--study of important literary
texts and cultural values pertinent to both the past and the
present.
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