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Lee Perkins wrote:
>
> If an entering college student loves literature and really
> wants to spend time doing it, then more power to them.
> But if parents and teachers claim that it will help them get a job,
> they are liars. They should encourage the student to at least
> minor in something marketable.
Actually, despite my disparaging remarks, an English degree is highly
marketable these days. The demand for technical, marketing and business
writers, as well as training instructors is still high. And my guess is
that nearly half that demand is filled by people with English degrees.
Apparently HR departments are under the assumption that the degree
proves some competence in writing, and who is a poor English major like
myself to disabuse them of their quaint notions?
I spent seven years teaching university and college English at all
levels from first to fourth year. In the six years since I moved on,
I've encountered a surprisingly number of ex-students in this type of
position.
The only ex-students who are having trouble finding work are the ones
who are clinging to the fringes of academia with sessional positions,
waiting - like thousands of others have been waiting for the last twenty
years - for the retirement of tenure faculty to signal a hiring boom.
What they haven't realized is that academia is replacing tenured faculty
with sessionals. But, once they wise up, they're employable enough.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com
"Rose bouquet, wedding band,
Their recipe for romance might have come out of a can."
- The Mollies, "I Don't Wanna Go to Bed"
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