By Nic LaPonte
There's always one question that irritates the hell out of me whenever I'm asked it: "What are you going to do with that?"
The question, of course is always in response to hearing that I am majoring in philosophy as an undergrad. I imagine that people in other liberal arts majors feel the same way.
"English? What are you going to do with that?"
"Political science? What are you going to do with that?"
"History? What are you going to do with that?"
For all of these different liberal arts disciplines, the question is always the same. Because people see no concrete or direct end to the sum of your education, they feel you're taking a gamble with your future at best and wasting your time at worst.
It's pretty easy to see why people in backgrounds like engineering or nursing, chemistry or accounting get troubled when their peers choose a field that you can't just find a job doing.
In times where financial success is more important than personal satisfaction, where material possessions are more important than life experiences and job security is more important than personal development it's easy to see how you could forget about the value of education for it's own sake.
This is not to bash on nurses or engineers in the slightest, if you've chosen a course of study that you feel you enjoy and you think you can make use of out in the real world then I applaud you.
People who choose a major they hate out of practicality, or out of nervousness for their future however are sacrificing something that is more important for the sake of something that is not what they authentically want.
As long as you honestly and truthfully accept the reasons behind the actions you take then you can make an authentic decision; majoring in business is only bad if you're lying to yourself about your reasons for choosing it.
When you make an inauthentic choice, get peer pressured into something, make a decision out of fear or hasty action, then living with the consequences of your actions can lead to alienation.
When you find yourself alienated from parts of your life you're forced to acknowledge that the only person accountable for your actions is you, and you realize that the life that you've lived isn't the life that you want.
The angst and despair that can come from this down the road is something that you can get over, and become stronger from, but it's not necessary to have it devastate your life.
By acting in accordance with your own authentic goals and desires, even if you may not be as successful as if you pursued a path directed towards material wealth, you'll be able to lay comfortably in the bed you've made for yourself.
People who've made choices for the wrong reasons have to live with them, which is why I have the utmost respect for a student who would choose to major in something that they are passionate about rather than major in something that's a responsible chore of a choice.
Defending the merits of responsible personal accountability is one thing, but I'd also like to take a moment to defend liberal arts from detractors as well.
While it may be true that the only thing you can do directly to make money with, say, a bachelors in philosophy is to go on to graduate school and then eventually teach philosophy, the broader-reaching benefits of training in the liberal arts can have a result for the individual that is more than just an increase in your earning potential.
An education in the liberal arts as an undergrad does more than just prepare you to enter into graduate level education in that discipline.
Thinking, reading, writing and critically reflecting teaches you how to think around problems, speak intelligently on the fly and actually practice the art you are trying to learn.
Instead of merely repeating what others who've come before you have said, you have an opportunity to draw your own conclusions and argue rationally for what you believe in.
Anyone, given sufficient time out of school will eventually forget most of the facts and figures and formulas that they don't practice everyday.
A degree in liberal arts however, teaches you a way of thinking, it teaches you how to think. Instead of asking the question "What are you going to do with that?" The question instead should be "What aren't you going to do with that?"
Its just like what comedian Steve Martin said: "You go to school and learn geology and you can forget everything when you graduate. If you study philosophy you can remember just enough to screw you up for the rest of your life."
