College Majors

In America thousands of college graduates are not working in the fields they trained for. Sometimes the economy dictates such situations; job openings may not exist. But other factors also figure into the equation. Some are disappointed with the field chosen. Many students arrive at college without knowing what to study. Perhaps all they had in mind was to play football or be a yell queen. Sad to say, often those without a star to guide them end up majoring in education, and without such an original plan, they become teachers without a great love or talent for the art. Some of these promptly begin summer courses to get out of the classroom and into counseling (many a school counselor was a failure in the classroom), or to study an entirely different subject perhaps, such as flying a plane. Of course, some do study their major field further and become better trained.

Another group takes the cake, however, and I’ve run into a few of them. They major in a subject, graduate, and then think they’ve learned it all. They wouldn’t be caught dead studying further on their own, never reading another book of their own specialty. Sooner or later, they will likely run into a superior in the field who shows much more knowledge by having kept up with changes in his field. They themselves may be perfectly satisfied not to progress up the ladder. Changes come to every field and it’s most likely worth the effort to keep up.

Perhaps the most accessible changes appear in my chosen major: literature. In another word, English. “English” covers all literature written in English and all translated into English. New books are coming off the presses every day. What a vast universe of thought! And like most universes, we can’t take it all in, for today it seems almost everyone is writing or has written a book. If you watch the C-SPAN channels on the weekends, amazement awaits you with regard to the wide topics written about. Yesterday, a writer spoke about his new biography of the Atlantic Ocean. I didn’t hear much of that speech, but I did hear him say, one of his earlier books sold only 12 copies.

I heard another writer say the first printing of his first story sold out in no time, just outside the Oval Office, at fifteen cents a copy! That was David Eisenhower and his grandfather occupied the Oval Office. That’s taking advantage of a good opportunity.

I recommend David and Julie Eisenhower’s new book Going Home to Glory, about the retirement years of Dwight Eisenhower. I heard both of them speak about the book Saturday, twice. I can hardly wait to read it.

You see, literature never stops but just keeps growing. I am enjoying my college major every day of my life. And I use it, such as in blogging and other writings.

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