Artsy People May Still Want Practical Majors ? NextGen Journal

about the author

Edward Reep is a Rutgers Business School student majoring in supply chain management. He also writes an ethics column for The Daily Targum, Rutger's student newspaper.

I love philosophy. I love literature, and by ?literature,? I mean the experience and study of all the imagination-derived entertainment forms like poetry, film, theatre, prose, video games, etc. These things are my passions in life, what I think about when I daydream, what enrich my day-to-day experience, what give me so much happiness. In my heart, I am as artsy and curious as they come. But it is precisely because philosophy and literature mean so much to me that I have chosen not to study them at college.

You see, I am of the belief that work and play should be separate. To me, something loses its fun when I?m obligated to do it. Even though I enjoy reading and analyzing fiction, I always hated being forced to read and analyze fiction in high school. It was like someone took a gun to my head and said I had to eat pizza regardless of whether I was full or in the mood. Now, I love pizza, but I think it would lose its deliciousness if eating it became a coerced activity. In the same way, I don?t want anyone to stick a gun to my head and tell me how to study and experience philosophy and literature. I want to do my philosophizing with friends at parties or in the columns I write. I want to analyze literature on online message boards and read books when I have the time.

Being forced to do anything can be unenjoyable, but I think being forced to do something I would otherwise love to do is especially unenjoyable and mentally painful. Something so close to me is being turned against me, turned into a chore, and it breaks my heart. It?s like your girlfriend has betrayed you. I could never subject myself to a college experience where I?d take mandatory courses in literature and philosophy.

I find it tolerable, though, to be forced to do something I don?t really have strong feelings about but still find interesting. Business, my field of study, has always kind of interested me ever since I played business simulations on my computer like Rollercoaster Tycoon and Restaurant Empire. There?s something exciting and adventurous about helping foster success in a company, but there?s nothing particularly deep or wonderful about it. It?s exactly the kind of thing I can see myself enjoying doing during the day while I passionately work on my novels and articles at night.

Of course, my dream is to one day be a notable writer, working voluntarily full-on with philosophy and literature, but achieving that outcome has nothing to do with college. In Hollywood and for-profit publishing, it?s all about your product, not your resume. I might as well study the most practical thing I can at college, so I can make the best living in addition to whatever living I would make from writing. After all, writing is usually a part-time job; even accomplished authors are often academics or have another main profession. I don?t want to be a teacher as my day job, which would be my best bet if I majored in literature or philosophy. It would be a waste of all the inspiration I ever received from teachers in my life if I just ended up continuing the cycle of inspiration.

I wanted to write this article after meeting two people this past week who were pursuing creative writing in college. I initially came into college thinking that I would take a lot of courses in creative writing, that my passion for the subject was so great that I wouldn?t mind being forced to do it, that this would be a great opportunity for me to hone my craft and feedback. I was dead wrong. It was a complete waste of time, and by far, the worst class I ever took in college was ?Introduction to Creative Writing.? Still, I feel a lot of excitement whenever I speak to someone pursuing creative writing in college. I feel like, in another world, I easily could have been him, and I live vicariously through him and put myself in his shoes as a student. The idea that these students are working daily at college with something so personal and powerful as fiction gives me shivers. What they?re learning seems so much more appealing compared to the process flowcharts and computer methods that dominate my business school curriculum. Then I realize that I don?t really know what they?re doing in any of their classes, that my thoughts about their amazing college experience are all an illusion, a daydream, fiction I?ve developed in my leisure time.

I?m not trying to rail against certain majors. Any major can be right for any person depending on his personal tastes and plans for after college. I think a lot of people who love literature and philosophy as much as I do can stomach being forced to experience them, and it may be great for these people to major in literature or philosophy, especially if they want to teach or go to graduate school. It?s all about one?s tastes. My tastes I think fall on one end of the spectrum, but maybe I?m wrong. I could try giving literature and philosophy another chance at college, but such classes wouldn?t count towards anything since I have enough credits, and I could be pursuing those things on my own terms in that time.

Source: http://nextgenjournal.com/2012/03/artsy-people-may-still-want-practical-majors/

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