I find it funny that the former UK prime minister was talking about how artists would need to retrain if they want to have jobs...during the pandemic.. when everyone was binge watching movies and binge reading... so practically binging on art to stay sane. And call me old fashion but AI doesn't tickle my fancy in writing or movie making
It's true that people consume art all the time, but there's no guarantee that everyone's content will be seen. If you've paid for education just so you could be a content creator or an actor, you've made a mistake. Also, AI may not be able to create grand stories and artwork, but it can make things like editing or finding a direction easier. It'll definitely get better over time.
@anonymous_5016 if you've paid for education to become an artist or an actor, is not a mistake necessarily but it is a gamble. A lot of successful actors went to acting schools. And there is a solution to the problem you mentioned: it's called not having to pay unnecessarily for education. I specialized in biology in Romania and Germany, and I have a high paying job, and I didn't pay a cent for my education. The government even paid me as a stipend, and surprisingly, I am competitive against graduates from Harvard University. This isn't a joke. This is my reality at my current job. The way education is organizing the United States is severely broken. Canada in the UK have similar systems, and I've lost count of the number of times I had better knowledge than my colleagues who graduated from reputable institutions. They paid so much more so that someone who didn't have to pay a cent could overtake them. People who want to go to art school in most Europe also wouldn't have to pay. Ironically, I realized that life sciences are not my only passion so I trained myself to become a creative writer later in life. I'm now merging the 2 trainings: writing and biology. And again I found ways to do it without paying money.
Literature degrees (and humanities in general) are extremely important and valuable! They form people with critical thinking and most importantly with the human experience as the centre of attention. I am an electronic engineer (bachelor, master and PhD) and yet I acknowledge that the best device in the world is worth nothing if the human experience is not at the centre of its conception and design. However says that humanities are useless does not really realise the common good and the importance of having human experience at the core of the decisions we take. Those are the people that fall pray of ultra right wing dictators-wannabe that we find everywhere in the political scene.
Everyone harps on the critical thinking point, but it just isn’t true. I studied literature and philosophy at uni and most people did not have critical thinking skills or learn critical thinking in any way. They tell you how you learn critical thinking but you just don’t really, it’s just a skill that non brain dead people pick up fairly naturally in life. But I don’t know, I guess that just been my experience…or I’m the brain dead one.
@@alecmorgan1523yes, these people just parrot each other, everyone who does anything will have critical thinking skills, some don’t, but same with literary degrees, lots of them don’t have those skills either.
As a young man who earned a "real" university degree because I was worried about struggling to find a job after graduation if I went with a "fake" or "Mickey Mouse" degree, the courses I remember most and have the most fondness for were the handful of electives I took in the arts and humanities. Looking back, I find myself wishing I took more of those types of classes. I was so hyper-focused on getting what was deemed a useful degree and getting out as soon as possible to start working, but now that I am working full time I do wish I would've taken more time to explore then. I even spend a significant amount of my free time reading (mostly fiction) for fun now, which I could not have imagined doing when I was still in school.
Two of my friends who studied STEM told me how much they gained from their liberals arts and humanities courses. They believe those courses helped shape them in a deeper way as human beings and made them more well-rounded. Meanwhile, a guy I know who says the only worthy degrees are STEM degrees and the liberal arts and the humanities are a complete waste of time, is completely one-dimensional and very narrow-minded.
I got a STEM degree, but I also got a minor in writing. Writing skills are often neglected by STEM programs, so we end up with many scientists who can’t write well and can’t effectively communicate their findings to anyone who isn’t an expert. My background in writing is often a major reason I get jobs over other candidates. Though I will say that I knew a lot of English majors in college who were also not great writers to say the least, even after multiple years in the program. So maybe not everyone actually develops those skills lol
No you have no idea how much your comment is something I’ve been saying for years. I have an English BA, and I’ve worked with STEM degree havers who can Not communicate anything for shit because they thought writing was a useless skill. Because of this I am absolutely insane about how important a good, rounded general education is- so scientists can communicate their findings but also so copyeditors know not to mix cleaning chemicals and can do our own taxes.
I did my undergrad in Stats and Business and now work as a data scientist. Even though it's not a humanities topic per se, the business side of my degree is turning out to be more useful than I thought. A lot of my colleagues are brilliant and excellent at building great models, but a lot of them struggle when it comes to explaining to our clients what the results mean in practical terms. Unless the client is technical, they don't care about the error metrics or which algorithm you used, they want us to COMMUNICATE what they are supposed to get out of the analysis.
I had to take a gen-ed science course in undergrad, a geology course with a lab. I, an English major and music minor, absolutely hated being there. My lab partner was this engineering student who looked over at my work one day early in the semester and was like “Huh, that’s a good sentence.” So for the rest of the semester we had the agreement that he would do most of the science and I would do most of the writing 😂 it worked beautifully, we both learned from each other.
@@sc6658 I was able to take my BA in communications and parlay it into a job as a copywriter at a local science and technology museum. Now I work in finance and I'm a very well-respected book critic.
I have a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in English Literature. I’ve also been successful in a “useful” career-medical writing. At a fundamental, pragmatic level, my literary education has endowed upon me, an intuitive understanding of language, which has served me well in my career. On the other hand, it has also enriched my internal landscape and enabled me to appreciate the richness and paradoxical nature of life itself. Most of all, it has contributed immensely to my personal happiness. And, if one is to consider usefulness, is there anything more inherently useful than the pursuit of personal happiness?
One thing I would point out is that writers and artists do contribute a great deal to the economy, especially the American economy. American cultural exports are one of the pillars of US international power, possibly the most important part of maintaining the US's image abroad. This sector is driven by creatives and artists, many of whom studied literature. The only reason this kind of degree, or a career in media and literature is seen as not valuable is because creatives are often unfairly paid by the people who use their work. One example of that is the SAG strikes last year and the many singer/songwriters who are cheated out of much of the revenue they bring in for companies.
The entertainment sector is only becoming even more important!! The need for people who can effectively use media and create compelling stories and messages is more than ever. Hopefully, people will learn to appreciate their work soon. Any great society or country needs great thinkers and artists
Yes! The devaluation of arts, humanities, and social science degrees is propaganda from the rich. Also, the overvaluation of STEM degrees is the same. It’s all about maximizing profits for the uber-wealthy.
Too often do people confuse "profitability" with "usefulness". Literature and other humanities are useful and valuable even if you never get an actual job. I'd argue any field of study is worthwhile even if it never rewards you financially
Since this is the internet and I can shout my maybe unachievable dreams into the void, I will just say that when I own my own comics company I will be prioritizing and encouraging people with lit degrees to hire as writers.
I find it really funny that hustle culture promotes mainly self-help material because while there are some good ones out there…I’ve tried a number of them and I feel I’ve gained more concrete skills by reading challenging fiction. I’ve learned a ton too! I looked up so much WWII stuff when reading Gravity’s Rainbow, for example. Reading a lot has directly strengthened my language skills (grammar, vocabulary, editing) and many novels force me to consider challenging philosophy-type ideas that stretch and expand my brain. I also find that characters that have their life together motivate me to do work on myself.
Reading fiction implies a challenge by itself, makes you think and reflect instead of just absorbing. When you read fiction you obtain wisdom, while with self-help only information, hustle culture has convinced many that one is better than the other
I once heard someone saying that self-help books mostly just give us a sense of achieving something when that's not really what's happening. Ironically, that makes them more of a waste of time than reading fiction (or non-fiction that has more substance to it).
Most of the self-help books I've encountered were little more than a series of anecdotes used to prove a point. To me, reading those books feels like reading a disorganized collection of short stories. I have gained so much more from well crafted fiction novels with complex characters.
Earned my degrees in sciences but earned a minor in philosophy. It was worth every second because I learned skills specific to challenging and thinking critically about media and politics. And practically speaking, I learned how to write well and read fast. As a result? I can write about my research well and get accepted for publishing and presenting forums more easily. I can discuss scientific findings with humanities principles. When I discussed my philosophy classes with a colleague in the sciences they said “ew, so you have to actually write?” Failing to realize the meaning of arts and humanities within sciences. Each informs the other and both sides require practical skill!
The arts are hugely important to society and any student studying an arts or humanities degree should be afforded the same respect as someone studying a STEM degree. As a STEM postgraduate in 1993, I found myself unable to find a job in my chosen field and was unemployed. I eventually found a job outside my field of study (virology). In 2022, 29 years after completing my education, I *finally* started to earn the UK national average salary. It's absolute hogwash that all STEM graduates earn mega salaries. My advice to any student is to study what you want to study. You will develop drafting skills, critical thinking skills, time management skills, and self autonomy regardless of your degree subject. Enjoy your education. Be inspired by what you study. Don't feel pressured to study a subject you dislike because it'll lead to a 'proper' job.
I forgot who said it but it went something like this. "We are not to raise a nation of thinkers, but a nation of workers." Sadly here in the US we have a dangerous rise of anti intellectualism.
As a person with a creative writing degree, the humanities are important. Hell, some of my classmates needed more literature-related courses. They were so focused on creating worlds, they forgot about creating WORDS. Everything we've ever done, ever will do, starts and ends with a word. Why else would we care so much about a baby's first word, or a dying person's last words? Why is it we're the only species to read and write and create... FOR FUN? Literature is as important to the human experience as family is. After all, it's where we record our families, our histories. It's a mark on the world that will be there long after we're gone (both as an individual and as a species [altho it will be significantly less useful once the human race dies out but I digress]). Literature is important.
"teaches how to read manipulation and intent". There. One of *THE* most important skills things a literature degree can teach. And that is why it is being made to be perceived as un-useful or undesirable. Because it is a danger to those who wish to enslave/subjugate/manipulate. When i was studying a masters degree, we had a seminar on academic writing. A person who has a literature degree can easily (as in you have the necessary skills for the job) enter a field of science and engage in publication of research papers and such, not to mention that one can build a career and acclaim by writing books about science and scientific matters (popularisation of science). And i dont mean dry language of academic works. One of great challenges in academia is to disseminate the knowledge and bring awareness and understanding to the masses/average person. And that is where literature degree comes in play - transfer of information from the dry academic language to normal english (or any other language). Ofcourse, the masses/public need/s to be vaguely interested in the first place (as in demand must be there), yet sometimes there needs to be a way, before the will manifests to follow it. Great video. Thank you.
If I were someone who'd benefit from governing a people who lacked media literacy and the ability to see through manipulation, the first thing I'd do would be to devalue the study of literature. But I'm just an English major, what do I know?
@@beanbagbooksyou know that you will never get into power and that most men in power are lawyers and thus far more specialized than you at manipulation. Furthermore, you don’t know how to read data and thus have no idea if you are being manipulated by statistics or if they are true.
I hold a Master's degree in English Literature and Civilization, along with a Bachelor's degree in English Language. I truly love the path I've chosen, and I have no regrets. However, the pressure from society weighs heavily on me, but I remain confident in my choices.
During my undergrad years, I had a class on Literary Theory in which the professor choose to only read texts written by Black authors, both literary and academic/theoretical. Some of the other professors in his department were against that because he was "ignoring" an important part of the canon theory, but honestly it was really refreshing to read other authors and to realize how restricted literary criticism has always been. So, if on one hand I see the performative aspect of "I will not read any male authors", I also think it's really important for the professors themselves to expand the syllabus
I have just started a literature and history degree so I can eventually work in the archiving industry. Already the course has taught me so much on how to read critically and think about the literary canon and what it exactly is. Critical reading and thinking is a necessary skill and universities all over the world focus on getting a degree to get a job, which isn't always the case for a lot of industries. Its a tick in the box
I don't know if a literature degree is useful, but understanding stories is a matter of life or death. Because we're bombarded with stories, from places we don't expect. People and organizations that don't have our best interest at heart are always telling us stories; they got people to give up their privacy and kids to give up their mental well-being by telling them the story that social media meant connection. They got a whole country of working people to saw off the skinny limb they were sitting on by telling us the story that only cut-throat, winner-take-all capitalism would "efficiently" distribute the wealth we created together, or the story that government just makes everything worse instead of protecting us to some degree against predatory giant corporations. People die, fast or slow, believing such stories, setting their course by such stories. Maybe you don't need to know anything about the modern German novel, but you'd better be able to recognize a dangerous story when you see one.
I have a literature Master's degree and part of the work I do is translating and editing articles in the field of business informatics. Let me tell you, these business informatics professionals may have lots of hard skills, but they often sure don't know how to write a good sentence.
I have to add this as someone who is studying Child Development and recently finished up semester-long projects based around the science of reading and the "reading wars", I have to say: reading is not natural! Reading is a wonderful human invention created less than 6,000 years ago and it changed us both neuronally and culturally. There are 5 developmental types of readers which are 1) emerging pre-reader, 2) novice reader, 3) decoding reader, 4) fluent comprehending reader, and 5) expert reader. *And my god, not everyone reaches that fifth stage.* Because that means being able to go beyond the text--making inferences, critical analyses, the search for meaning etc. (And interestingly, there are tangible, neuronal changes you can see in the expert reader's brain vs the novice reader's). There is also rising concerns on the future of reading and how digital technology is changing the way we read and therefore think. There's concerns about the possible loss of deep reading skills, essential for critical thinking and empathy. Young readers might view the analysis of text and the search for deeper meaning as anachronistic because they are accustomed to the immediacy and seeming comprehensiveness of the on-screen info--all of which are available without critical effort, and without any apparent need to go beyond the info provided. I've also read some interesting research arguing that literacy should be taught and approached as a scientific subject--an idea probably stemming from how complex reading as an activity is since it isn't genetically wired into us. So, reading is absolutely an act that has to be taught! Literature is absolutely worthwhile! Reading and literature's effects on the human condition is numerous--the act of reading itself stimulates novel thoughts and enables us to innovate.
this is so interesting, i had never thought about the fact that we invented reading - if i may ask, as someone studying to be a high school history teacher, are there steps to help those whose reading development has been neglected? i think about history especially, where you read so many documents with older/different language - how can a teacher help those who don't understand as much because of their literacy level? thanks so much ◡̈
@ My studies are more focused on early child development, so I know more about early reading acquisition. There is still much research to be done on reading disabilities, like dyslexia, but the things we know are these: two of the best known deficits underlying reading disabilities/challenges tend to underlie phonology and reading fluency. So, measures of phoneme awareness and naming-speed processes, therefore, are our two best predictors of reading failure. A large body of research supports that early reading instruction should emphasize explicit/contextual phonics + the best intervention for dyslexia is early diagnosis. It is a bit more tricky, but not impossible, for those who are older and did not receive a diagnosis of any reading disabilities or received proper instruction/intervention. It’s just that…typical phonics lessons and games might be a little boring for those not in 1st grade, haha. There are more age-appropriate resources now though (like online games suitable for teens who have poor phonemic awareness). Since you’re studying to be a HS teacher, I think the best thing you can do is to direct them to the right resources like some sort of reading intervention in place at the high school to ensure that they reach grade-level proficiency. There’s usually a reading resource teacher-use them. But if you’re talking about the later stages of reading like comprehension or critical thinking, especially since you’re teaching history, I might start off with unpacking the vocab. Teach academic vocab and, if you can, use different genres and topics that include content-specific vocabulary to expand students’ understanding of concepts. Always bring yourself down to their level and *make connections* between their lives and the content. Ask questions, monitor their understanding, see if they have prior knowledge, engage them. Group work! But *small groups*, limiting it to 3-4 so everyone can talk, otherwise the more extroverted students will rule over the conversation. Book clubs seem fun: students get to engage and practice independent reading, and then come together to discuss the book and complete projects based on it. I don’t know, I just think discussions are so important in applying the info. From someone who plans to specialize and teach early childhood education, good luck to you! We need more teachers all across the board.
Hi, indologist here. In Germany, we also use the semi-derogatory term "Orchideenfach" orchid discipline. I don't know where that originated, but it is used both by supporters and opponents of such degrees.
In modern culture, our mindset has been more and more focused on the utilitarian. We have lost the ability to appreciate education for the edification of the human. The idea that we, as individuals and as a collective, are better having a higher education just for education’s sake. The point of education has been lost to goal of churning out cogs in the wheel of industry.
I also have "mickey mouse" degrees, but in Art History. And in art history of long dead white European (mostly) guys. But I love it. I'm currently thinking about getting more degrees in old dead white guy art. I used to do some academic editing, and trust me, lots of STEM people could use some classes on writing and communication.
I have a business degree. I got a job in business and I really like what I do. However, the ideas that have most impacted my life and how I view the world came from my college history classes, my fiction lecture and my creative writing class. Also, I learned everything I needed for my big person job… on the job. I’m so grateful that I took humanities courses.
so many great points made. I genuinely worry about my future after graduation, but I'm so happy I chose the degree I wanted to pursue and not what my parent were trying to push me into... it might not be much but if I end up unhappy, at least I know that I'm going to live with the consequences of my own choices and not someone else's
Never would I have expected to hear about Loriot and the Jodel-Diplom in a booktube video :D And as someone with a degree in English literature and a minor in sociology, who will soon begin a work rehabilitation programme because of a long illness, I feel uplifted and hopeful after listening to you. Thank you :)
I studied stuff that people find not useful: 5 years philosophy, 3 years acting and then languages and music on the side as hobbies. I loved every minute and they gave me skills that I can apply everywhere and make my life easier. I teach languages, work for a newspaper, hold acting courses, do some events for children (I took a course on kamishibai so I do readings or make them do some acting), I write for my own personal projects (blog, books etc), sometimes I act in commercials which pay super well. I thought I wanted to work only but now Im preparing to get into a phd program in comparative aesthetics (specifically japanese in regards of theater and performance) cause I love reasearch and writing, which also gives me an opportunity to improve my japanese. I am happy and I can pay bills. I create opportunities. Ofc I try not to waste money but doing everyday things I like doesn't make me crave vacantions or materialistic stuff. I also tried YT just for fun and I could do some editing gigs thanks to what ive learned.
i'm going to study literature next year, i'm ending high school, and i have so much fear about if it's the right decision. truly, videos like this are so nice because they make me realise that this is the thing that i have to do with my life. thank you so much, you helped a confused teenager today! :)
Fully agree with the article at the end. I think it’s pretty clear there’s a problem with university in general today, and if a young person is going to go into debt for the exorbitant fees I get why they would want to choose something with a concrete and clear career value. But it frustrates me when people see that as a problem with humanities degrees, rather a problem with higher education as it exists, materially. If someone needs it explained to them why it’s even *in theory* worthwhile to study literature (or philosophy, art history etc) that’s a really sorry state of affairs.
I think literature as a subject is wonderful, but at 20k/ year on average I can't in good faith recommend anyone pursue it. Unless you're already well off.
I went to a state university in the 90s and paid roughly 4k per year in tuition. I would not pay the 20k per year it costs now to get a literature BA from the same university.
My problem with the Orwell quote--and the general position that "art has always been political"--is that what people usually mean is that they *only* focus on the alleged politics of a work of art. For example, when people say that Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" is "really about" racism in law enforcement, sure, lyrically the song is about that, but what about the actual music? The riffs, the solo, the bass line, the drumming, the rhythm--the musicianship--is that not what the song *really* is, too? Or is it just disembodied, abstract lyrics? I'm a musician myself and if anyone reduced the music I write to just the lyrics, okay, you can do that, but you'd be wrong to insist that that's what the song is "really" about. Does that make sense? I just dislike how reductive it is to say that "art has always been political" because it totally ignores everything else that art is: the technique, the creativity, the imagination, the craft, the actual work that goes into creating--things that aren't easily digestible to a twitter thread. Also, not every work of art is overtly political or political at all. An instrumental piece of music--what are the politics of that? A painted portrait? Dance? Can these things be reduced to a political framing? And isn't there a danger of reading intent that was never there? In the States, conservatives have been doing this for decades--look at how they scapegoated metal musicians in the '80s or rappers in the '90s, accusing them of promoting communism or satanism or whatever.
I am beyond grateful for this elevated level of insight I love learning about the world from your videos, they're so observant and your opinions are nuanced and ensure theyre not polarised. thankyou so much, as a young person ;)
I'm wondering what that "reading is a waste of time" person does for fun in their free time. It's probably something I would consider a waste of time. Like watching adult men running after a ball.
In the Netherlands this already starts at secondary school. When you go to the second half of secondary school, you have to pick the courses you take and those are divided into culture, economics, health and tech. As soon as you pick culture or economics, you are looked down upon, since those are the "easy" subjects (art, history, economics, an extra language) as opposed to courses such as biology, chemistry and physics. The culture subjects are even referred to as a "pretpakket", basically meaning that they're "just for fun" or "so easy, that you won't have to put any work into it".
I was literally asked the same questions of "what do you even do with that degree?" while studying PHYSICS! People will find any reason to complain about your choises.
Don’t lose hope. I have a Masters in English literature. For years following graduation, I was disillusioned and struggled to find a job. I was technically living in poverty. Now, I just finished my first novel and I work in a corporate setting and make 6 figures. I’m not saying this to brag, but to reassure everyone in the humanities that your skills ARE transferable and VALUABLE and people will PAY for them. Your “forever job” might not happen immediately, but stay open to possibilities. What I would like to see change is having more information readily accessible about what types of jobs are available for humanities/English grads. So many lit students think their only job options are “freelance writer/editor”, etc, when they graduate.
I'm reminded of this great quote by Arthur C Clarke - one of my all time favorite authors: "The inspirational value of the space program is probably of far greater importance to education than any input of dollars ... A whole generation is growing up which has been attracted to the hard disciplines of science and engineering by the romance of space." (Circa 1970 - Moon landing and all that) The key point to note here is "the romance of space" ... Who created this romance? Why all the sci-fi greats of the 30s,40s,50s,60s - people like Heinlein, Ellison, PK Dick, Asimov, Clarke ... Clarke has been known to be one of the greatest visionaries of our times ... He was the one that dreamt up the idea of a space elevator, potentially made of carbon nanotubes. He predicted satellite tech, 3D printing, and AI. Literature is of the utmost importance to humanity because it helps us DREAM ... :) Just my humble two cents.
As a history major, I feel this deeply. I actually started out as a CS major, but switched in my 3rd semester, and don’t regret that decision, but I really worry about my job prospects sometimes
I have a bachelors in English Lit and just finished my Masters in Library Science- am now a high school librarian. My dad was adamant that I change my undergrad, but there was really nothing else I could imagine myself doing. Now I am making a good amount of money and can afford to live on my own. It’s all about making your own way and figuring out how to make it work for your own situation! Reading books and literature helps people form empathy because through the works you can learn about other people’s experiences and lives. Anyone who says literature is “too political” is honestly just dumb. At the root of ALL literature is politics.
Universities are not necessarily expansive. If you live in a coutry that is the birthplace of capitalism and colonialism, then yes. If you live in an ex-socialist country where the system wasn't based on profit, than it's still pretty affordable. I'm curoious which system is worse. The one that creates poverty and homelesness on a large scale, atttacks countries that try to live differently, while giving you the "freedom" to criticise the politics that have made this mess, or a system that had many economic and political struggles because of the agression of western capitalist countires, but which tried to establiah socio-econimic conditions that would benefit the majority. The demonisation of ex socialist/communist countries is really unproductive...
The creator here is literally from an ex-communist country and talks about how horribly totalitarian it was and how everyone has PTSD from it, and you put that? The reason these countries are 'demonised' is because they oppressed their citizens.
Math and science will teach you to build the bomb but only history will teach you why it’s a bad idea to use it. Me explaining why people have to take history.
I love trying to figure out demographics based on sponsorship deals and the idea that a company decided that your audience is most likely to wear glasses is kind of cute and maybe based on stereotypes but it's cool anyway
I have a BA in English literature and work in a restaurant because there are simply no job opportunities for someone with my academic background back in my post-Soviet home country. And yet, I wouldn’t change a thing were I to do it all over again. An understanding of literature has expanded my view of life itself.
I can see how women standing up against reading the men on the list could eventually be seen as performative. I also see how women standing up at times will eventually be deduced to some type of performance and criticized before exploring the impact women like that have made on whether those lists even include women at all. We are very quick to dismiss the women that were making a valid point and instead focus on the performance. It seems to make it continually difficult for women to be taken seriously in future genuine concerns all while erasing the women that were sincere in their efforts. If the goal of continuing to include these same male writers ad nauseam is to explore how and why some of the writing is or could be seen as problematic then create a course for it and diversify the lists
You were very generous. He didn't suggest burying anything; he suggested "burrying" something. I'm a terrible human being, but at least my paranoid googling efforts have led me to the new (for me) knowledge that: "1. full of or covered in burs. 2. resembling burs; prickly." Burrying. Apparently, it's a thing.
Yes, you will be the first world, you will have security and economic stability. But we had to have something good in Argentina and that is public education. I can assure you that every professor I encountered in my university career was passionate about teaching, despite the modest salaries they charge. The University of Buenos Aires is one of the most prestigious and it is incredible that you can access it just by being able to buy the books.
Pre-watch thought: Literature isn't a hammer, a tool with obvious purpose; literature is a tool (or set of tools, let's not get too bogged down in the particulars here) that has perhaps less direct or emphatic use in the physical sense.
In Guatemala they are called "carreras patito" or "ducky degrees". Also calling on them being "easy" or "worthless". Some people even going as far as calling whole universities "patito"
To me, the primary purpose of literature is to be entertained. Even if they're "not true", stories can still broaden the mind as much as any non-fiction book. When people say reading fiction is a "waste of time", they must feel the same way about watching plays, movies, TV shows or any other form of entertainment. What's the point of living a life that is totally practical, logical and sensible? You might as well be a robot. The creative side of the brain is meant to be used just as much as the calculating, analytical side. Then I remember a quote by Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Mickey mouse courses are totally a thing here in Ireland too Source- I was told numerous times my librarian degree was a bit better at least than my prior 'mickey mouse course' (arts management)
In Finland universities only accept as many students as they estimate there will be jobs in a given field. So the whole country has like 5 acting majors a year. If you get a degree in literature, you are going to be either a professor or a teacher in middle school and high school (if you are accepted to minor in pedagogy). Also you are paid for doing a doctoral thesis, it's a regular full time job.
I am a current literature student and I was afraid of watching this video because of the existential dread I was sure it was going to bring me. This year I have been going back and forth between this debate of leaving my current degree for something that has more employment but still not so much; I even had a mental breakdown right at the beginning of classes and during classes, and it has been a challenge to live with so much existential doubt. All I can think about when it comes to employment in literature in a hustle culture world is: why offer these degrees at all? If they are deemed as useless to society then why do they exist? And if they exist, can't we then do something to make them more useful than they appear to be? It has been impossible not to hate my current degree, but I do love studying literature, I only wish it was treated differently. But then I also think to myself that if it ever happens to be erradicated, that will not be a sign of societal development but only regression and undemocratic life, and politicians don't want to seem like bad guys I guess... And, to add to the employment in literature, it is highly dependent on academia, which has only closed its doors more and more over the years, and if you want to join them you have to have a PhD. So it feels like a limbo: you either pay for a literature degree and be judged and not be employed, or you pay for a PhD and also be judged for it, and only have a small possibility of really joining the academic world. I am exhausted.
I think that your argument is part of the greater argument against knowledge itself. You should only have enough knowledge or have enough skills to make money. Applying skills or pursuing knowledge for fun is a waste of time. It's sad bc making and appreciating our culture is what makes life bearable in a world that confines you in a very small little box.
Thanks a lot for this (again) inspiring video! I totally agree with your points and the comment section, but wanted to add a thought I only recently came across in Amitav Ghosh's "The Great Derangement". In the face of the climate crisis, he argues that in fiction we can invent new worlds and possibilities with an imagination not limited by "reality" that really helps us to draft futures. He claims that in recent years there's been a focus on "autobiographical fiction", that is rather harmful to humanity's relationship to nature. I found this thought very inspiring - even though I'd rather be free of the machiavellian focus on the usefulness of every subject, when in doubt: Fiction is incredibly "useful".
We need writers and artists. I'm in a STEM field but I want a minor in Creative Writing. In engineering, we have to draw and design. In SolidWorks, all I do is draw and design.
18:15 I go far further back. I learned latin with "de bello gallico" of Gaius Julius Cesar. You literally can't understand this book without understanding the political theatre of the time and the political purpose with which it was written.
I totally agree with keeping votes secret. As I commented on the previous video, and I think you were addressing that comment, democracy and freedom of speech are not a given everywhere in the world and sometimes keeping your vote secret can keep you safe. Writing a list of everyone who voted for Trump is undemocratic and kind of like a witch hunt, even though I absolutely don't support that man. And regarding literature, YES, it is always political. Everything we say is charged with our ideology. I love your channel!
Before even watching the video: I'm a line manager civil servant. Is my knowledge of literature (in my case the greco-roman classics and the German classics) useful in my life? YES! Everytime I need to get my people to follow me in a decision, there's a narative I need to craft. I mean, yeah... The facts, general knowledge and arguments need to be at my side - but to efficiently use those to convince people to follow you for exemple when a big change needs to happen, you need to be able to clad those "hard facts" into a compelling narrative. Knowing that proven classic narratives exist and how the most common archetypes of narratives are crafted helps immensely. The more people you need to convince to follow you and the more hardship you need to ask of them, the more impactful and convincing the narrative you craft needs to be. In my case it's about 50 people and I never needed to ask something outrageous of them. So I never needed to be a Winston Churchill. But yes... if you're job is to lead people, knowing classic literature can be very useful. And now, I'm looking forward to hear your take.
Person 1 is the reason kids can’t read now. Reading should definitely be for fun and education. Not everything you’re going to read is going to be fun but if the only thing you read is for work/educational purposes, you learn to hate reading. And that means you dread or skip reading when no one is forcing you. I’ve met many professionals who lack the ability to read, write, and comprehend written statements and it definitely impacts their ability to do their jobs. I’ve worked with nursing students who don’t read their emails so they miss important information that causes them to have to repeat a class. I’ve helped people who can’t stay focused enough to read dense paperwork with complex sentence structures but they want to be lawyers. Reading is FUNdamental.
I just stared college, and am studying English Lit as an undergrad and I love it so far! I was worried that my American Lit class would just be "Old White Guy Classics" but it was far more vast than that. I have read more works by people of color, woman and men alike this semester than in my life. I think when people criticize the break away from the main stream "cult classics" they are being ignorant to the fact that history has removed the renowned works of women and people of color.
FWIW, I let my family talk me into pursuing a degree/career I had no interest in because I was too afraid to pursue creative writing as a career. Now, I have a shitty job and squeeze writing into my life as much as I can. If you want to be an artist, go for it. Don't let people scare you away from your dreams.
I have a BA in Literature, and work in public health communications. I've had raised eyebrows and expressions of disbelief/shock that someone with my background works in such a field, which is grating, and friends have quoted the Avenue Q song at me too many times. But I am happy I pursued a degree in my main passion (for a 3 year commitment you have to be interested in the topic), and the skills it gave me have certainly been core skills in my work. We are seeing how a lack of value given to humanities means people are losing basic skills in media literacy, so even if people don't study it, reading (of all genres) should be encouraged: "we don't read and write poetry because it's cute" and all that.
Havent finished the video, but im reminded of the biographies of several poets/authors/playwrights from the 1700's, and they seemed to have been fighting this cultural battle even back then.
this is to discuss more on the political point. literature will always be political-even the discussion of whether arts degrees are valuable/useful at all is political, with roots in capitalism. writers often write reflecting their political environment, whether overt or not. sometimes, it’s as small as a sentence or phrase that reflects the times, and as big as an entire thesis. i find this true across fiction and non-fiction literature, even to self help books. the ideals of “success” are often formed through messaging of the state (capitalism, values, etc), which seep into these books. essentially, i believe it’s futile to attempt to separate politics/society from literature, however there are pieces where it’s easier to over look than others-thus still providing the “escape” people need from time to time (though by having more fair, less oppressive societies, there would be less of a need to step back as there would be less reasons to burn out). a positive political atmosphere reflects in the literature, as is true for the negative. (i will add, to campaign for literature to be apolitical is to allow ignorance to cloud your world view. you don’t have to engage 24/7, but we do live in a society and we live in a political world. to remove yourself most of the time, or completely, does more disgrace (especially to you) in the long run. not only do we have responsibilities to the world around us, but (even more so) to ourselves to be informed and aware). politics and society may attempt to hide themselves, not only in books but in audio and visual media as well, but words don’t lie and we as humans are more transparent than we think-both substantial yet beautiful truths.
Not everyone is made to study programming just like not everyone is made to study literature . I think we as humans forget that besides the need for food , money etc. we also have to get entertainment and in a way to understand the human mind . Fiction is usually a metaphor for something else from the mind of the author. It could be their political view or their experience in life or maybe even a letter to someone . I personally read a few books , classic , fantasies , young adult...they all had something to say , a type of ppl to point out. And im gonna be honest , they were also damn fun to read . It really makes you think critically, try to understand what the author really had to say and it also makes you feel something .
Something to color this whole conversation: I was reading Northanger Abbey, where the narrator goes on a long-winded aside on pages 23-25 (or so) in defense of novels and enjoying fiction. The convo, and it's being disparaged by men, have been going on for a longggg time
If you want a job only, consider pursuing a vocational or specialised degree from the start. Literature and humanities degrees were not designed primarily for job training; their purpose is to foster a well-rounded education. However, marketability for employment shouldn’t be the only measure of the value of education.
Not everything has to make a buck, but unfortunately that's the most important thing in this world. And that whole literature should be an apolitical thing is so embarrassing, like do people just want a comfy escape from this world without all the baggage? What does that say about them? And about this world we live in ?
Got the stem degree but I must say that these degrees should still exist. While I have not seen the whole video, I'd blame the way people look at college and it is a way to get a better life. (Yes even in this time of uncertainty)./
The notion that something being 'unrealistic' and 'promoting fantasy' is unhelpful is ridiculous to me because almost every positive change made to society, like human and worker's rights, was referred to with exactly those terms before they came to fruition. Despite the fact i was consistently told i was very good at english and acting in school, i received discouragement and derision for wanting to seriously pursue these. Yes, im aware success in these fields is rare but it becomes more so if i become discouraged by people who were successfully convinced to give up on their dreams or never allowed themselves to form them. I dont want a tv show or a book to be the best part of my day after a nine to five i dont care for, i want making one to BE my nine to five. No change, especially widespread, comes from lying down and conforming, and the labour and work model need to change. No person should spend their one life telling themselves and others that purusing their passions is stupid and helpless.
I agree with the importance of literature. Buts it's way too expensive, its not like the colleges are writing or publishing the books. The biggest reason is probably the discussion part of a class.
A lit degree gives you critical thinking, analytical, and communication skills, not to mention an understanding of human nature. So, yes, it’s worth the money 💰
I've never regretted it, and the same goes for studying history of art just for its own sake. Neither has had much bearing on my working life, but that's not my raison d'etre. Thanks Alina, and I think your glasses are spiffy, by the way.
I started my UA-cam channel because I realized staying in academia after my master's degree isn't really financially feasible for me. I wanted to get a PhD and become a professor, but it's such a "crapshoot" (literal quote from one of my professors). I make more at my "day job" than I'd make even if I could get a position as an English professor. Granted, if I could stay long enough to get tenure, I'd get raises and such, so it's really just the entry rate... but even the entry rate is such a crapshoot! So I make UA-cam videos to talk about books since I probably won't ever teach....
This is so interesting to me. According to Prospects, the average starting rate for a uni lecturer is 35k a year. Speaking as someone from a working class background, that is a hell of a lot of money. A wage to aspire to. Not a 'crapshoot' at all.
@@MichelleKellyReads It's getting the $35k position that's the crapshoot, though. The market is flooded, even for entry level jobs that pay that little. Edit--I believe you're from the UK? You have to remember that 1, the pound is worth more than the dollar, so $35k per year is less than £35k per year. Also, the cost-of-living in the US is higher than the UK and most European countries. $35k (that's also before taxes and before the cost of insurance, worker's comp, etc. is taken out, not sure how salaries are talked about in the UK) is not "a hell of a lot" of money in the US.
I don't have a problem with literature degrees and humanities but I will say that the current education system around humanities is odd. Maybe it works differently at other universities but the amount of writing I have done for my course is borderline negligeable (one essay per module) and I have found the majority of my ability to write and comment on this stuff from reddit forums, extra office hours etc. I think humanities degrees should be legitimised more in times of AI especially by allowing for more chances for writing with criticism even if there are ungraded assessments. I agree with everything you said but practically expressing this for some students isn't tested enough within the common humanities degree module unless there are weekly assignments, classes on how to write and critique etc. and that hasn't been my experience.
Maybe its just my BFA in Fine Arts talking, but this was never a discussion before degrees ballooned into 5-6 digit endeavors and qualifications werent so fixed so people could hire from a wider pool of applicants to cover an org’s blindspot. Also no Underwater Basket Weaver crashed the economy.
Reading is simply storytelling. Humans have been telling each other for eons stories. It is an ancient form of socializing and passing knowledge on to children. I've heard some members in capitalist, money grubbing societies since I went to college and studied theater 45 years ago talk smack about arts type degrees. What do they know, they use war to make money. How stupid is that. I have read since I was stuck in a room with shelves full of books and had to select a literature book and read for an hour. I was in the 5th grade then and a slow reader or not reading at my grade level. I loved it. People sit around playing and creating video games and get rich doing it. Like that's a valued skill.
Hey, new subscriber here. I did wonder about where your accent comes from shortly before you mentioned Romania😄I recently read the first part of the Orbitor trilogy by Cartarescu and was blown away by it. This book is the first from Romania I ever read but it won't be the last. I was wondering whether you're familiar with it and him.
The hatred of the humanities is fascinating in that historically, whenever fervor whips up in society against the humanities it's a sign that society is on the cusp of collapse, fascism, or civil war (Pinochet, Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol pot, Gadaffi etc) Ironic given people's dismissing of the humanities correlates to societies abuse to humanity. Antithetically, when society views the humanities favorably it's usually a sign of great progress of some kind (The Enlightenment age, Renaissance, Civil Rights movement etc) Also ironic conservatives (US) often hate the humanities now, given they love the constitution which was made possible due to the founding fathers being well trained in classical literature and philosophy.
3:37: "I don't like fiction but sometimes I read the memoires of a politician or of a succesful business person..." "Oh, ok. I thought you didn't like fantasy." 😀
The lack of critical thinking skills is why we are in such a dire political situation. If the majority of the populace learned how to analyze media and politics, they would most likely vote for their interests instead of the billionaire's. This is why they want the populace uneducated and ignorant.
Non è facile dare questa risposta. Molti sostengono che apra la mente, ma a giudicare da come ragionano i letterati su argomenti come comunismo, vaccini e Guerra di Ucraina mi sono convinto del contrario.
"i letterati" in generale? Pensi che abbiano tutti la stessa opinione su tutti gli argomenti che hai menzionato? Mi sa che sei tu quello che farebbe bene ad aprire un po' la mente.
@@edmondantes4338 Ovviamente sto semplificando, ma chi vuole intendere ha inteso. Chi vuole fare il sofista finge di non intendere (e si spera non sia un letterato).
Your comment section is really respectable, but to summarize it it's a person with safe degree humanizing non stem pursuit by saying those goofy people are better with words and can dream big dreams so let them stay goofy... I mean mb my art degree is useless, but y'all not cool by looking down to humanities students.
I find it funny that the former UK prime minister was talking about how artists would need to retrain if they want to have jobs...during the pandemic.. when everyone was binge watching movies and binge reading... so practically binging on art to stay sane. And call me old fashion but AI doesn't tickle my fancy in writing or movie making
It's true that people consume art all the time, but there's no guarantee that everyone's content will be seen. If you've paid for education just so you could be a content creator or an actor, you've made a mistake.
Also, AI may not be able to create grand stories and artwork, but it can make things like editing or finding a direction easier. It'll definitely get better over time.
@anonymous_5016 if you've paid for education to become an artist or an actor, is not a mistake necessarily but it is a gamble. A lot of successful actors went to acting schools. And there is a solution to the problem you mentioned: it's called not having to pay unnecessarily for education. I specialized in biology in Romania and Germany, and I have a high paying job, and I didn't pay a cent for my education. The government even paid me as a stipend, and surprisingly, I am competitive against graduates from Harvard University. This isn't a joke. This is my reality at my current job. The way education is organizing the United States is severely broken. Canada in the UK have similar systems, and I've lost count of the number of times I had better knowledge than my colleagues who graduated from reputable institutions. They paid so much more so that someone who didn't have to pay a cent could overtake them. People who want to go to art school in most Europe also wouldn't have to pay. Ironically, I realized that life sciences are not my only passion so I trained myself to become a creative writer later in life. I'm now merging the 2 trainings: writing and biology. And again I found ways to do it without paying money.
I wouldn’t call 99% of modern screenwriters ‘artists’.
They’re really bad at what they do.
Literature degrees (and humanities in general) are extremely important and valuable! They form people with critical thinking and most importantly with the human experience as the centre of attention. I am an electronic engineer (bachelor, master and PhD) and yet I acknowledge that the best device in the world is worth nothing if the human experience is not at the centre of its conception and design. However says that humanities are useless does not really realise the common good and the importance of having human experience at the core of the decisions we take. Those are the people that fall pray of ultra right wing dictators-wannabe that we find everywhere in the political scene.
Couldn’t have said it better, thank you for sharing your thoughts ☺️
Everyone harps on the critical thinking point, but it just isn’t true. I studied literature and philosophy at uni and most people did not have critical thinking skills or learn critical thinking in any way. They tell you how you learn critical thinking but you just don’t really, it’s just a skill that non brain dead people pick up fairly naturally in life. But I don’t know, I guess that just been my experience…or I’m the brain dead one.
@@alecmorgan1523
As a fellow brain dead person who is currently pursuing a literature degree, I concur.
@@alecmorgan1523yes, these people just parrot each other, everyone who does anything will have critical thinking skills, some don’t, but same with literary degrees, lots of them don’t have those skills either.
Cope
As a young man who earned a "real" university degree because I was worried about struggling to find a job after graduation if I went with a "fake" or "Mickey Mouse" degree, the courses I remember most and have the most fondness for were the handful of electives I took in the arts and humanities. Looking back, I find myself wishing I took more of those types of classes. I was so hyper-focused on getting what was deemed a useful degree and getting out as soon as possible to start working, but now that I am working full time I do wish I would've taken more time to explore then. I even spend a significant amount of my free time reading (mostly fiction) for fun now, which I could not have imagined doing when I was still in school.
Two of my friends who studied STEM told me how much they gained from their liberals arts and humanities courses. They believe those courses helped shape them in a deeper way as human beings and made them more well-rounded. Meanwhile, a guy I know who says the only worthy degrees are STEM degrees and the liberal arts and the humanities are a complete waste of time, is completely one-dimensional and very narrow-minded.
I got a STEM degree, but I also got a minor in writing. Writing skills are often neglected by STEM programs, so we end up with many scientists who can’t write well and can’t effectively communicate their findings to anyone who isn’t an expert. My background in writing is often a major reason I get jobs over other candidates.
Though I will say that I knew a lot of English majors in college who were also not great writers to say the least, even after multiple years in the program. So maybe not everyone actually develops those skills lol
No you have no idea how much your comment is something I’ve been saying for years. I have an English BA, and I’ve worked with STEM degree havers who can Not communicate anything for shit because they thought writing was a useless skill. Because of this I am absolutely insane about how important a good, rounded general education is- so scientists can communicate their findings but also so copyeditors know not to mix cleaning chemicals and can do our own taxes.
I did my undergrad in Stats and Business and now work as a data scientist. Even though it's not a humanities topic per se, the business side of my degree is turning out to be more useful than I thought. A lot of my colleagues are brilliant and excellent at building great models, but a lot of them struggle when it comes to explaining to our clients what the results mean in practical terms. Unless the client is technical, they don't care about the error metrics or which algorithm you used, they want us to COMMUNICATE what they are supposed to get out of the analysis.
I had to take a gen-ed science course in undergrad, a geology course with a lab. I, an English major and music minor, absolutely hated being there. My lab partner was this engineering student who looked over at my work one day early in the semester and was like “Huh, that’s a good sentence.” So for the rest of the semester we had the agreement that he would do most of the science and I would do most of the writing 😂 it worked beautifully, we both learned from each other.
@@sc6658 I was able to take my BA in communications and parlay it into a job as a copywriter at a local science and technology museum. Now I work in finance and I'm a very well-respected book critic.
I have a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in English Literature. I’ve also been successful in a “useful” career-medical writing. At a fundamental, pragmatic level, my literary education has endowed upon me, an intuitive understanding of language, which has served me well in my career. On the other hand, it has also enriched my internal landscape and enabled me to appreciate the richness and paradoxical nature of life itself. Most of all, it has contributed immensely to my personal happiness. And, if one is to consider usefulness, is there anything more inherently useful than the pursuit of personal happiness?
One thing I would point out is that writers and artists do contribute a great deal to the economy, especially the American economy. American cultural exports are one of the pillars of US international power, possibly the most important part of maintaining the US's image abroad. This sector is driven by creatives and artists, many of whom studied literature. The only reason this kind of degree, or a career in media and literature is seen as not valuable is because creatives are often unfairly paid by the people who use their work. One example of that is the SAG strikes last year and the many singer/songwriters who are cheated out of much of the revenue they bring in for companies.
The entertainment sector is only becoming even more important!! The need for people who can effectively use media and create compelling stories and messages is more than ever. Hopefully, people will learn to appreciate their work soon. Any great society or country needs great thinkers and artists
Yes! The devaluation of arts, humanities, and social science degrees is propaganda from the rich. Also, the overvaluation of STEM degrees is the same. It’s all about maximizing profits for the uber-wealthy.
Too often do people confuse "profitability" with "usefulness". Literature and other humanities are useful and valuable even if you never get an actual job.
I'd argue any field of study is worthwhile even if it never rewards you financially
Since this is the internet and I can shout my maybe unachievable dreams into the void, I will just say that when I own my own comics company I will be prioritizing and encouraging people with lit degrees to hire as writers.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you!!!!
I find it really funny that hustle culture promotes mainly self-help material because while there are some good ones out there…I’ve tried a number of them and I feel I’ve gained more concrete skills by reading challenging fiction. I’ve learned a ton too! I looked up so much WWII stuff when reading Gravity’s Rainbow, for example. Reading a lot has directly strengthened my language skills (grammar, vocabulary, editing) and many novels force me to consider challenging philosophy-type ideas that stretch and expand my brain. I also find that characters that have their life together motivate me to do work on myself.
Reading fiction implies a challenge by itself, makes you think and reflect instead of just absorbing. When you read fiction you obtain wisdom, while with self-help only information, hustle culture has convinced many that one is better than the other
I once heard someone saying that self-help books mostly just give us a sense of achieving something when that's not really what's happening. Ironically, that makes them more of a waste of time than reading fiction (or non-fiction that has more substance to it).
Most of the self-help books I've encountered were little more than a series of anecdotes used to prove a point. To me, reading those books feels like reading a disorganized collection of short stories. I have gained so much more from well crafted fiction novels with complex characters.
Earned my degrees in sciences but earned a minor in philosophy. It was worth every second because I learned skills specific to challenging and thinking critically about media and politics. And practically speaking, I learned how to write well and read fast. As a result? I can write about my research well and get accepted for publishing and presenting forums more easily. I can discuss scientific findings with humanities principles. When I discussed my philosophy classes with a colleague in the sciences they said “ew, so you have to actually write?” Failing to realize the meaning of arts and humanities within sciences. Each informs the other and both sides require practical skill!
The arts are hugely important to society and any student studying an arts or humanities degree should be afforded the same respect as someone studying a STEM degree.
As a STEM postgraduate in 1993, I found myself unable to find a job in my chosen field and was unemployed. I eventually found a job outside my field of study (virology).
In 2022, 29 years after completing my education, I *finally* started to earn the UK national average salary.
It's absolute hogwash that all STEM graduates earn mega salaries. My advice to any student is to study what you want to study. You will develop drafting skills, critical thinking skills, time management skills, and self autonomy regardless of your degree subject. Enjoy your education. Be inspired by what you study. Don't feel pressured to study a subject you dislike because it'll lead to a 'proper' job.
I forgot who said it but it went something like this. "We are not to raise a nation of thinkers, but a nation of workers." Sadly here in the US we have a dangerous rise of anti intellectualism.
As a person with a creative writing degree, the humanities are important. Hell, some of my classmates needed more literature-related courses. They were so focused on creating worlds, they forgot about creating WORDS.
Everything we've ever done, ever will do, starts and ends with a word. Why else would we care so much about a baby's first word, or a dying person's last words? Why is it we're the only species to read and write and create... FOR FUN? Literature is as important to the human experience as family is. After all, it's where we record our families, our histories. It's a mark on the world that will be there long after we're gone (both as an individual and as a species [altho it will be significantly less useful once the human race dies out but I digress]).
Literature is important.
"teaches how to read manipulation and intent". There. One of *THE* most important skills things a literature degree can teach. And that is why it is being made to be perceived as un-useful or undesirable. Because it is a danger to those who wish to enslave/subjugate/manipulate.
When i was studying a masters degree, we had a seminar on academic writing. A person who has a literature degree can easily (as in you have the necessary skills for the job) enter a field of science and engage in publication of research papers and such, not to mention that one can build a career and acclaim by writing books about science and scientific matters (popularisation of science). And i dont mean dry language of academic works. One of great challenges in academia is to disseminate the knowledge and bring awareness and understanding to the masses/average person. And that is where literature degree comes in play - transfer of information from the dry academic language to normal english (or any other language). Ofcourse, the masses/public need/s to be vaguely interested in the first place (as in demand must be there), yet sometimes there needs to be a way, before the will manifests to follow it.
Great video. Thank you.
If I were someone who'd benefit from governing a people who lacked media literacy and the ability to see through manipulation, the first thing I'd do would be to devalue the study of literature. But I'm just an English major, what do I know?
@@beanbagbooksyou know that you will never get into power and that most men in power are lawyers and thus far more specialized than you at manipulation. Furthermore, you don’t know how to read data and thus have no idea if you are being manipulated by statistics or if they are true.
I hold a Master's degree in English Literature and Civilization, along with a Bachelor's degree in English Language. I truly love the path I've chosen, and I have no regrets. However, the pressure from society weighs heavily on me, but I remain confident in my choices.
During my undergrad years, I had a class on Literary Theory in which the professor choose to only read texts written by Black authors, both literary and academic/theoretical. Some of the other professors in his department were against that because he was "ignoring" an important part of the canon theory, but honestly it was really refreshing to read other authors and to realize how restricted literary criticism has always been. So, if on one hand I see the performative aspect of "I will not read any male authors", I also think it's really important for the professors themselves to expand the syllabus
I have just started a literature and history degree so I can eventually work in the archiving industry. Already the course has taught me so much on how to read critically and think about the literary canon and what it exactly is. Critical reading and thinking is a necessary skill and universities all over the world focus on getting a degree to get a job, which isn't always the case for a lot of industries. Its a tick in the box
We're truly lost as a society if the capitalistic (and short term) profit motive is our first and foremost way of defining what is useful or not.
I don't know if a literature degree is useful, but understanding stories is a matter of life or death. Because we're bombarded with stories, from places we don't expect. People and organizations that don't have our best interest at heart are always telling us stories; they got people to give up their privacy and kids to give up their mental well-being by telling them the story that social media meant connection. They got a whole country of working people to saw off the skinny limb they were sitting on by telling us the story that only cut-throat, winner-take-all capitalism would "efficiently" distribute the wealth we created together, or the story that government just makes everything worse instead of protecting us to some degree against predatory giant corporations. People die, fast or slow, believing such stories, setting their course by such stories. Maybe you don't need to know anything about the modern German novel, but you'd better be able to recognize a dangerous story when you see one.
I have a literature Master's degree and part of the work I do is translating and editing articles in the field of business informatics. Let me tell you, these business informatics professionals may have lots of hard skills, but they often sure don't know how to write a good sentence.
I have to add this as someone who is studying Child Development and recently finished up semester-long projects based around the science of reading and the "reading wars", I have to say: reading is not natural! Reading is a wonderful human invention created less than 6,000 years ago and it changed us both neuronally and culturally.
There are 5 developmental types of readers which are 1) emerging pre-reader, 2) novice reader, 3) decoding reader, 4) fluent comprehending reader, and 5) expert reader. *And my god, not everyone reaches that fifth stage.* Because that means being able to go beyond the text--making inferences, critical analyses, the search for meaning etc. (And interestingly, there are tangible, neuronal changes you can see in the expert reader's brain vs the novice reader's).
There is also rising concerns on the future of reading and how digital technology is changing the way we read and therefore think. There's concerns about the possible loss of deep reading skills, essential for critical thinking and empathy. Young readers might view the analysis of text and the search for deeper meaning as anachronistic because they are accustomed to the immediacy and seeming comprehensiveness of the on-screen info--all of which are available without critical effort, and without any apparent need to go beyond the info provided.
I've also read some interesting research arguing that literacy should be taught and approached as a scientific subject--an idea probably stemming from how complex reading as an activity is since it isn't genetically wired into us.
So, reading is absolutely an act that has to be taught! Literature is absolutely worthwhile! Reading and literature's effects on the human condition is numerous--the act of reading itself stimulates novel thoughts and enables us to innovate.
this is so interesting, i had never thought about the fact that we invented reading - if i may ask, as someone studying to be a high school history teacher, are there steps to help those whose reading development has been neglected? i think about history especially, where you read so many documents with older/different language - how can a teacher help those who don't understand as much because of their literacy level? thanks so much ◡̈
@ My studies are more focused on early child development, so I know more about early reading acquisition. There is still much research to be done on reading disabilities, like dyslexia, but the things we know are these: two of the best known deficits underlying reading disabilities/challenges tend to underlie phonology and reading fluency. So, measures of phoneme awareness and naming-speed processes, therefore, are our two best predictors of reading failure. A large body of research supports that early reading
instruction should emphasize explicit/contextual phonics + the best intervention for dyslexia is early diagnosis.
It is a bit more tricky, but not impossible, for those who are older and did not receive a diagnosis of any reading disabilities or received proper instruction/intervention. It’s just that…typical phonics lessons and games might be a little boring for those not in 1st grade, haha. There are more age-appropriate resources now though (like online games suitable for teens who have poor phonemic awareness). Since you’re studying to be a HS teacher, I think the best thing you can do is to direct them to the right resources like some sort of reading intervention in place at the high school to ensure that they reach grade-level proficiency. There’s usually a reading resource teacher-use them.
But if you’re talking about the later stages of reading like comprehension or critical thinking, especially since you’re teaching history, I might start off with unpacking the vocab. Teach academic vocab and, if you can, use different genres and topics that include content-specific vocabulary to expand students’ understanding of concepts. Always bring yourself down to their level and *make connections* between their lives and the content. Ask questions, monitor their understanding, see if they have prior knowledge, engage them. Group work! But *small groups*, limiting it to 3-4 so everyone can talk, otherwise the more extroverted students will rule over the conversation. Book clubs seem fun: students get to engage and practice independent reading, and then come together to discuss the book and complete projects based on it. I don’t know, I just think discussions are so important in applying the info.
From someone who plans to specialize and teach early childhood education, good luck to you! We need more teachers all across the board.
Hi, indologist here. In Germany, we also use the semi-derogatory term "Orchideenfach" orchid discipline. I don't know where that originated, but it is used both by supporters and opponents of such degrees.
In modern culture, our mindset has been more and more focused on the utilitarian. We have lost the ability to appreciate education for the edification of the human. The idea that we, as individuals and as a collective, are better having a higher education just for education’s sake. The point of education has been lost to goal of churning out cogs in the wheel of industry.
I also have "mickey mouse" degrees, but in Art History. And in art history of long dead white European (mostly) guys. But I love it. I'm currently thinking about getting more degrees in old dead white guy art. I used to do some academic editing, and trust me, lots of STEM people could use some classes on writing and communication.
I have a business degree. I got a job in business and I really like what I do. However, the ideas that have most impacted my life and how I view the world came from my college history classes, my fiction lecture and my creative writing class. Also, I learned everything I needed for my big person job… on the job. I’m so grateful that I took humanities courses.
I’m currently studying English literature, but I am not sure I will find a job after graduation… At least the classes are interesting.
Good luck with your studies and enjoy every minute!!
Maybe you could apply for a job in a publishing house? That is if it appeals to you.
@@accordingtoalinaThank you! :)
@@TheOpy83 That would be nice, thanks for the suggestion, I have 4 years to decide. :)
@dilaraceran enjoy your college years! 🙂 wishing you the best of luck!
so many great points made. I genuinely worry about my future after graduation, but I'm so happy I chose the degree I wanted to pursue and not what my parent were trying to push me into... it might not be much but if I end up unhappy, at least I know that I'm going to live with the consequences of my own choices and not someone else's
Never would I have expected to hear about Loriot and the Jodel-Diplom in a booktube video :D And as someone with a degree in English literature and a minor in sociology, who will soon begin a work rehabilitation programme because of a long illness, I feel uplifted and hopeful after listening to you. Thank you :)
My parents are huge Loriot fans so I was also very pleasantly surprised by the mention here :)
I studied stuff that people find not useful: 5 years philosophy, 3 years acting and then languages and music on the side as hobbies. I loved every minute and they gave me skills that I can apply everywhere and make my life easier. I teach languages, work for a newspaper, hold acting courses, do some events for children (I took a course on kamishibai so I do readings or make them do some acting), I write for my own personal projects (blog, books etc), sometimes I act in commercials which pay super well. I thought I wanted to work only but now Im preparing to get into a phd program in comparative aesthetics (specifically japanese in regards of theater and performance) cause I love reasearch and writing, which also gives me an opportunity to improve my japanese. I am happy and I can pay bills. I create opportunities. Ofc I try not to waste money but doing everyday things I like doesn't make me crave vacantions or materialistic stuff. I also tried YT just for fun and I could do some editing gigs thanks to what ive learned.
i'm going to study literature next year, i'm ending high school, and i have so much fear about if it's the right decision. truly, videos like this are so nice because they make me realise that this is the thing that i have to do with my life. thank you so much, you helped a confused teenager today! :)
Fully agree with the article at the end.
I think it’s pretty clear there’s a problem with university in general today, and if a young person is going to go into debt for the exorbitant fees I get why they would want to choose something with a concrete and clear career value.
But it frustrates me when people see that as a problem with humanities degrees, rather a problem with higher education as it exists, materially. If someone needs it explained to them why it’s even *in theory* worthwhile to study literature (or philosophy, art history etc) that’s a really sorry state of affairs.
As a trial lawyer, I can definitely state fiction is a great tool for litigation tactics.
I think literature as a subject is wonderful, but at 20k/ year on average I can't in good faith recommend anyone pursue it. Unless you're already well off.
I went to a state university in the 90s and paid roughly 4k per year in tuition. I would not pay the 20k per year it costs now to get a literature BA from the same university.
Unless you go to state collage and transfer.
My problem with the Orwell quote--and the general position that "art has always been political"--is that what people usually mean is that they *only* focus on the alleged politics of a work of art. For example, when people say that Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" is "really about" racism in law enforcement, sure, lyrically the song is about that, but what about the actual music? The riffs, the solo, the bass line, the drumming, the rhythm--the musicianship--is that not what the song *really* is, too? Or is it just disembodied, abstract lyrics? I'm a musician myself and if anyone reduced the music I write to just the lyrics, okay, you can do that, but you'd be wrong to insist that that's what the song is "really" about. Does that make sense?
I just dislike how reductive it is to say that "art has always been political" because it totally ignores everything else that art is: the technique, the creativity, the imagination, the craft, the actual work that goes into creating--things that aren't easily digestible to a twitter thread. Also, not every work of art is overtly political or political at all. An instrumental piece of music--what are the politics of that? A painted portrait? Dance? Can these things be reduced to a political framing? And isn't there a danger of reading intent that was never there? In the States, conservatives have been doing this for decades--look at how they scapegoated metal musicians in the '80s or rappers in the '90s, accusing them of promoting communism or satanism or whatever.
I am beyond grateful for this elevated level of insight I love learning about the world from your videos, they're so observant and your opinions are nuanced and ensure theyre not polarised. thankyou so much, as a young person ;)
I'm wondering what that "reading is a waste of time" person does for fun in their free time. It's probably something I would consider a waste of time. Like watching adult men running after a ball.
In the Netherlands this already starts at secondary school. When you go to the second half of secondary school, you have to pick the courses you take and those are divided into culture, economics, health and tech. As soon as you pick culture or economics, you are looked down upon, since those are the "easy" subjects (art, history, economics, an extra language) as opposed to courses such as biology, chemistry and physics. The culture subjects are even referred to as a "pretpakket", basically meaning that they're "just for fun" or "so easy, that you won't have to put any work into it".
I was literally asked the same questions of "what do you even do with that degree?" while studying PHYSICS! People will find any reason to complain about your choises.
Don’t lose hope. I have a Masters in English literature. For years following graduation, I was disillusioned and struggled to find a job. I was technically living in poverty. Now, I just finished my first novel and I work in a corporate setting and make 6 figures. I’m not saying this to brag, but to reassure everyone in the humanities that your skills ARE transferable and VALUABLE and people will PAY for them. Your “forever job” might not happen immediately, but stay open to possibilities.
What I would like to see change is having more information readily accessible about what types of jobs are available for humanities/English grads. So many lit students think their only job options are “freelance writer/editor”, etc, when they graduate.
I'm reminded of this great quote by Arthur C Clarke - one of my all time favorite authors:
"The inspirational value of the space program is probably of far greater importance to education than any input of dollars ... A whole generation is growing up which has been attracted to the hard disciplines of science and engineering by the romance of space." (Circa 1970 - Moon landing and all that)
The key point to note here is "the romance of space" ... Who created this romance? Why all the sci-fi greats of the 30s,40s,50s,60s - people like Heinlein, Ellison, PK Dick, Asimov, Clarke ...
Clarke has been known to be one of the greatest visionaries of our times ... He was the one that dreamt up the idea of a space elevator, potentially made of carbon nanotubes. He predicted satellite tech, 3D printing, and AI.
Literature is of the utmost importance to humanity because it helps us DREAM ... :)
Just my humble two cents.
i had never been this early!! i feel like it's going to be a great video as always. thanks alina
Aaah thank you sm for clicking right away xxx
As a history major, I feel this deeply. I actually started out as a CS major, but switched in my 3rd semester, and don’t regret that decision, but I really worry about my job prospects sometimes
I have a bachelors in English Lit and just finished my Masters in Library Science- am now a high school librarian. My dad was adamant that I change my undergrad, but there was really nothing else I could imagine myself doing. Now I am making a good amount of money and can afford to live on my own. It’s all about making your own way and figuring out how to make it work for your own situation!
Reading books and literature helps people form empathy because through the works you can learn about other people’s experiences and lives. Anyone who says literature is “too political” is honestly just dumb. At the root of ALL literature is politics.
Universities are not necessarily expansive. If you live in a coutry that is the birthplace of capitalism and colonialism, then yes. If you live in an ex-socialist country where the system wasn't based on profit, than it's still pretty affordable.
I'm curoious which system is worse. The one that creates poverty and homelesness on a large scale, atttacks countries that try to live differently, while giving you the "freedom" to criticise the politics that have made this mess, or a system that had many economic and political struggles because of the agression of western capitalist countires, but which tried to establiah socio-econimic conditions that would benefit the majority.
The demonisation of ex socialist/communist countries is really unproductive...
The creator here is literally from an ex-communist country and talks about how horribly totalitarian it was and how everyone has PTSD from it, and you put that? The reason these countries are 'demonised' is because they oppressed their citizens.
Math and science will teach you to build the bomb but only history will teach you why it’s a bad idea to use it. Me explaining why people have to take history.
One does not need to understand history to explain why bombs are bad.
that's what statistics does
@@SidharthChingarath ppl rarely are moved and persuaded by statistics.
I love trying to figure out demographics based on sponsorship deals and the idea that a company decided that your audience is most likely to wear glasses is kind of cute and maybe based on stereotypes but it's cool anyway
I have a BA in English literature and work in a restaurant because there are simply no job opportunities for someone with my academic background back in my post-Soviet home country. And yet, I wouldn’t change a thing were I to do it all over again. An understanding of literature has expanded my view of life itself.
I can see how women standing up against reading the men on the list could eventually be seen as performative. I also see how women standing up at times will eventually be deduced to some type of performance and criticized before exploring the impact women like that have made on whether those lists even include women at all. We are very quick to dismiss the women that were making a valid point and instead focus on the performance. It seems to make it continually difficult for women to be taken seriously in future genuine concerns all while erasing the women that were sincere in their efforts. If the goal of continuing to include these same male writers ad nauseam is to explore how and why some of the writing is or could be seen as problematic then create a course for it and diversify the lists
You were very generous. He didn't suggest burying anything; he suggested "burrying" something. I'm a terrible human being, but at least my paranoid googling efforts have led me to the new (for me) knowledge that: "1. full of or covered in burs. 2. resembling burs; prickly." Burrying. Apparently, it's a thing.
Yes, you will be the first world, you will have security and economic stability. But we had to have something good in Argentina and that is public education. I can assure you that every professor I encountered in my university career was passionate about teaching, despite the modest salaries they charge. The University of Buenos Aires is one of the most prestigious and it is incredible that you can access it just by being able to buy the books.
The problem is that it's difficult to monetise such degrees... It's useful for things like personal development, etc, but good luck monetising that...
If you have media literacy and the ability to think critically, every book can be a self-help book.
Saying things are only useful when you can make a huge profit off it is peak capitalism
Pre-watch thought: Literature isn't a hammer, a tool with obvious purpose; literature is a tool (or set of tools, let's not get too bogged down in the particulars here) that has perhaps less direct or emphatic use in the physical sense.
In Guatemala they are called "carreras patito" or "ducky degrees". Also calling on them being "easy" or "worthless". Some people even going as far as calling whole universities "patito"
To me, the primary purpose of literature is to be entertained. Even if they're "not true", stories can still broaden the mind as much as any non-fiction book. When people say reading fiction is a "waste of time", they must feel the same way about watching plays, movies, TV shows or any other form of entertainment. What's the point of living a life that is totally practical, logical and sensible? You might as well be a robot. The creative side of the brain is meant to be used just as much as the calculating, analytical side. Then I remember a quote by Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Mickey mouse courses are totally a thing here in Ireland too
Source- I was told numerous times my librarian degree was a bit better at least than my prior 'mickey mouse course' (arts management)
In Finland universities only accept as many students as they estimate there will be jobs in a given field. So the whole country has like 5 acting majors a year. If you get a degree in literature, you are going to be either a professor or a teacher in middle school and high school (if you are accepted to minor in pedagogy). Also you are paid for doing a doctoral thesis, it's a regular full time job.
I am a current literature student and I was afraid of watching this video because of the existential dread I was sure it was going to bring me. This year I have been going back and forth between this debate of leaving my current degree for something that has more employment but still not so much; I even had a mental breakdown right at the beginning of classes and during classes, and it has been a challenge to live with so much existential doubt. All I can think about when it comes to employment in literature in a hustle culture world is: why offer these degrees at all? If they are deemed as useless to society then why do they exist? And if they exist, can't we then do something to make them more useful than they appear to be?
It has been impossible not to hate my current degree, but I do love studying literature, I only wish it was treated differently. But then I also think to myself that if it ever happens to be erradicated, that will not be a sign of societal development but only regression and undemocratic life, and politicians don't want to seem like bad guys I guess...
And, to add to the employment in literature, it is highly dependent on academia, which has only closed its doors more and more over the years, and if you want to join them you have to have a PhD. So it feels like a limbo: you either pay for a literature degree and be judged and not be employed, or you pay for a PhD and also be judged for it, and only have a small possibility of really joining the academic world.
I am exhausted.
I think that your argument is part of the greater argument against knowledge itself. You should only have enough knowledge or have enough skills to make money. Applying skills or pursuing knowledge for fun is a waste of time. It's sad bc making and appreciating our culture is what makes life bearable in a world that confines you in a very small little box.
Thanks a lot for this (again) inspiring video! I totally agree with your points and the comment section, but wanted to add a thought I only recently came across in Amitav Ghosh's "The Great Derangement". In the face of the climate crisis, he argues that in fiction we can invent new worlds and possibilities with an imagination not limited by "reality" that really helps us to draft futures. He claims that in recent years there's been a focus on "autobiographical fiction", that is rather harmful to humanity's relationship to nature. I found this thought very inspiring - even though I'd rather be free of the machiavellian focus on the usefulness of every subject, when in doubt: Fiction is incredibly "useful".
We need writers and artists. I'm in a STEM field but I want a minor in Creative Writing. In engineering, we have to draw and design. In SolidWorks, all I do is draw and design.
18:15 I go far further back. I learned latin with "de bello gallico" of Gaius Julius Cesar.
You literally can't understand this book without understanding the political theatre of the time and the political purpose with which it was written.
I totally agree with keeping votes secret. As I commented on the previous video, and I think you were addressing that comment, democracy and freedom of speech are not a given everywhere in the world and sometimes keeping your vote secret can keep you safe. Writing a list of everyone who voted for Trump is undemocratic and kind of like a witch hunt, even though I absolutely don't support that man.
And regarding literature, YES, it is always political. Everything we say is charged with our ideology. I love your channel!
Before even watching the video: I'm a line manager civil servant. Is my knowledge of literature (in my case the greco-roman classics and the German classics) useful in my life?
YES! Everytime I need to get my people to follow me in a decision, there's a narative I need to craft. I mean, yeah... The facts, general knowledge and arguments need to be at my side - but to efficiently use those to convince people to follow you for exemple when a big change needs to happen, you need to be able to clad those "hard facts" into a compelling narrative.
Knowing that proven classic narratives exist and how the most common archetypes of narratives are crafted helps immensely.
The more people you need to convince to follow you and the more hardship you need to ask of them, the more impactful and convincing the narrative you craft needs to be.
In my case it's about 50 people and I never needed to ask something outrageous of them. So I never needed to be a Winston Churchill. But yes... if you're job is to lead people, knowing classic literature can be very useful.
And now, I'm looking forward to hear your take.
Person 1 is the reason kids can’t read now. Reading should definitely be for fun and education. Not everything you’re going to read is going to be fun but if the only thing you read is for work/educational purposes, you learn to hate reading. And that means you dread or skip reading when no one is forcing you. I’ve met many professionals who lack the ability to read, write, and comprehend written statements and it definitely impacts their ability to do their jobs. I’ve worked with nursing students who don’t read their emails so they miss important information that causes them to have to repeat a class. I’ve helped people who can’t stay focused enough to read dense paperwork with complex sentence structures but they want to be lawyers. Reading is FUNdamental.
I just stared college, and am studying English Lit as an undergrad and I love it so far! I was worried that my American Lit class would just be "Old White Guy Classics" but it was far more vast than that. I have read more works by people of color, woman and men alike this semester than in my life. I think when people criticize the break away from the main stream "cult classics" they are being ignorant to the fact that history has removed the renowned works of women and people of color.
FWIW, I let my family talk me into pursuing a degree/career I had no interest in because I was too afraid to pursue creative writing as a career.
Now, I have a shitty job and squeeze writing into my life as much as I can. If you want to be an artist, go for it. Don't let people scare you away from your dreams.
I have a BA in Literature, and work in public health communications. I've had raised eyebrows and expressions of disbelief/shock that someone with my background works in such a field, which is grating, and friends have quoted the Avenue Q song at me too many times. But I am happy I pursued a degree in my main passion (for a 3 year commitment you have to be interested in the topic), and the skills it gave me have certainly been core skills in my work. We are seeing how a lack of value given to humanities means people are losing basic skills in media literacy, so even if people don't study it, reading (of all genres) should be encouraged: "we don't read and write poetry because it's cute" and all that.
Havent finished the video, but im reminded of the biographies of several poets/authors/playwrights from the 1700's, and they seemed to have been fighting this cultural battle even back then.
this is to discuss more on the political point. literature will always be political-even the discussion of whether arts degrees are valuable/useful at all is political, with roots in capitalism. writers often write reflecting their political environment, whether overt or not. sometimes, it’s as small as a sentence or phrase that reflects the times, and as big as an entire thesis. i find this true across fiction and non-fiction literature, even to self help books. the ideals of “success” are often formed through messaging of the state (capitalism, values, etc), which seep into these books.
essentially, i believe it’s futile to attempt to separate politics/society from literature, however there are pieces where it’s easier to over look than others-thus still providing the “escape” people need from time to time (though by having more fair, less oppressive societies, there would be less of a need to step back as there would be less reasons to burn out). a positive political atmosphere reflects in the literature, as is true for the negative. (i will add, to campaign for literature to be apolitical is to allow ignorance to cloud your world view. you don’t have to engage 24/7, but we do live in a society and we live in a political world. to remove yourself most of the time, or completely, does more disgrace (especially to you) in the long run. not only do we have responsibilities to the world around us, but (even more so) to ourselves to be informed and aware).
politics and society may attempt to hide themselves, not only in books but in audio and visual media as well, but words don’t lie and we as humans are more transparent than we think-both substantial yet beautiful truths.
Not everyone is made to study programming just like not everyone is made to study literature . I think we as humans forget that besides the need for food , money etc. we also have to get entertainment and in a way to understand the human mind . Fiction is usually a metaphor for something else from the mind of the author. It could be their political view or their experience in life or maybe even a letter to someone .
I personally read a few books , classic , fantasies , young adult...they all had something to say , a type of ppl to point out. And im gonna be honest , they were also damn fun to read . It really makes you think critically, try to understand what the author really had to say and it also makes you feel something .
Something to color this whole conversation: I was reading Northanger Abbey, where the narrator goes on a long-winded aside on pages 23-25 (or so) in defense of novels and enjoying fiction. The convo, and it's being disparaged by men, have been going on for a longggg time
If you want a job only, consider pursuing a vocational or specialised degree from the start. Literature and humanities degrees were not designed primarily for job training; their purpose is to foster a well-rounded education. However, marketability for employment shouldn’t be the only measure of the value of education.
Not everything has to make a buck, but unfortunately that's the most important thing in this world. And that whole literature should be an apolitical thing is so embarrassing, like do people just want a comfy escape from this world without all the baggage? What does that say about them? And about this world we live in ?
Got the stem degree but I must say that these degrees should still exist. While I have not seen the whole video, I'd blame the way people look at college and it is a way to get a better life. (Yes even in this time of uncertainty)./
The notion that something being 'unrealistic' and 'promoting fantasy' is unhelpful is ridiculous to me because almost every positive change made to society, like human and worker's rights, was referred to with exactly those terms before they came to fruition.
Despite the fact i was consistently told i was very good at english and acting in school, i received discouragement and derision for wanting to seriously pursue these. Yes, im aware success in these fields is rare but it becomes more so if i become discouraged by people who were successfully convinced to give up on their dreams or never allowed themselves to form them. I dont want a tv show or a book to be the best part of my day after a nine to five i dont care for, i want making one to BE my nine to five. No change, especially widespread, comes from lying down and conforming, and the labour and work model need to change. No person should spend their one life telling themselves and others that purusing their passions is stupid and helpless.
I agree with the importance of literature. Buts it's way too expensive, its not like the colleges are writing or publishing the books. The biggest reason is probably the discussion part of a class.
Aaaamazing video as usual
Thank you ♥️♥️
A lit degree gives you critical thinking, analytical, and communication skills, not to mention an understanding of human nature. So, yes, it’s worth the money 💰
I've never regretted it, and the same goes for studying history of art just for its own sake. Neither has had much bearing on my working life, but that's not my raison d'etre. Thanks Alina, and I think your glasses are spiffy, by the way.
I started my UA-cam channel because I realized staying in academia after my master's degree isn't really financially feasible for me. I wanted to get a PhD and become a professor, but it's such a "crapshoot" (literal quote from one of my professors). I make more at my "day job" than I'd make even if I could get a position as an English professor. Granted, if I could stay long enough to get tenure, I'd get raises and such, so it's really just the entry rate... but even the entry rate is such a crapshoot!
So I make UA-cam videos to talk about books since I probably won't ever teach....
This is so interesting to me. According to Prospects, the average starting rate for a uni lecturer is 35k a year. Speaking as someone from a working class background, that is a hell of a lot of money. A wage to aspire to. Not a 'crapshoot' at all.
@@MichelleKellyReads It's getting the $35k position that's the crapshoot, though. The market is flooded, even for entry level jobs that pay that little.
Edit--I believe you're from the UK? You have to remember that 1, the pound is worth more than the dollar, so $35k per year is less than £35k per year. Also, the cost-of-living in the US is higher than the UK and most European countries. $35k (that's also before taxes and before the cost of insurance, worker's comp, etc. is taken out, not sure how salaries are talked about in the UK) is not "a hell of a lot" of money in the US.
@haleylquinton ah, sorry i automatically assumed UK
@@MichelleKellyReads no worries, I wasn't specific, either!
I don't have a problem with literature degrees and humanities but I will say that the current education system around humanities is odd. Maybe it works differently at other universities but the amount of writing I have done for my course is borderline negligeable (one essay per module) and I have found the majority of my ability to write and comment on this stuff from reddit forums, extra office hours etc. I think humanities degrees should be legitimised more in times of AI especially by allowing for more chances for writing with criticism even if there are ungraded assessments. I agree with everything you said but practically expressing this for some students isn't tested enough within the common humanities degree module unless there are weekly assignments, classes on how to write and critique etc. and that hasn't been my experience.
Great video about a very interesting topic. Eye-opening.
Maybe its just my BFA in Fine Arts talking, but this was never a discussion before degrees ballooned into 5-6 digit endeavors and qualifications werent so fixed so people could hire from a wider pool of applicants to cover an org’s blindspot.
Also no Underwater Basket Weaver crashed the economy.
Very thoughtful. You have a subscriber added😊
Alina looking stunning as always!!
That’s sweet of you to say, thank u 🤓
Reading is simply storytelling. Humans have been telling each other for eons stories. It is an ancient form of socializing and passing knowledge on to children. I've heard some members in capitalist, money grubbing societies since I went to college and studied theater 45 years ago talk smack about arts type degrees. What do they know, they use war to make money. How stupid is that. I have read since I was stuck in a room with shelves full of books and had to select a literature book and read for an hour. I was in the 5th grade then and a slow reader or not reading at my grade level. I loved it. People sit around playing and creating video games and get rich doing it. Like that's a valued skill.
Hey, new subscriber here. I did wonder about where your accent comes from shortly before you mentioned Romania😄I recently read the first part of the Orbitor trilogy by Cartarescu and was blown away by it. This book is the first from Romania I ever read but it won't be the last. I was wondering whether you're familiar with it and him.
The hatred of the humanities is fascinating in that historically, whenever fervor whips up in society against the humanities it's a sign that society is on the cusp of collapse, fascism, or civil war (Pinochet, Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol pot, Gadaffi etc) Ironic given people's dismissing of the humanities correlates to societies abuse to humanity. Antithetically, when society views the humanities favorably it's usually a sign of great progress of some kind (The Enlightenment age, Renaissance, Civil Rights movement etc) Also ironic conservatives (US) often hate the humanities now, given they love the constitution which was made possible due to the founding fathers being well trained in classical literature and philosophy.
Watching this as an English major 🙏
Engineering is barely more lucrative than literature. Source: Engineering major.
3:37:
"I don't like fiction but sometimes I read the memoires of a politician or of a succesful business person..."
"Oh, ok. I thought you didn't like fantasy." 😀
Oh! Now I want to know what she thinks about The Hunger Games books!!
The lack of critical thinking skills is why we are in such a dire political situation. If the majority of the populace learned how to analyze media and politics, they would most likely vote for their interests instead of the billionaire's. This is why they want the populace uneducated and ignorant.
Non è facile dare questa risposta. Molti sostengono che apra la mente, ma a giudicare da come ragionano i letterati su argomenti come comunismo, vaccini e Guerra di Ucraina mi sono convinto del contrario.
"i letterati" in generale? Pensi che abbiano tutti la stessa opinione su tutti gli argomenti che hai menzionato?
Mi sa che sei tu quello che farebbe bene ad aprire un po' la mente.
@@edmondantes4338
Ovviamente sto semplificando, ma chi vuole intendere ha inteso. Chi vuole fare il sofista finge di non intendere (e si spera non sia un letterato).
Saying you should only read non-fiction, is like saying you're only allowed to watch documentaries.
Lib biased non American here but if there's something the election makes Me believe it's that money will never represent the people.
Your comment section is really respectable, but to summarize it it's a person with safe degree humanizing non stem pursuit by saying those goofy people are better with words and can dream big dreams so let them stay goofy... I mean mb my art degree is useless, but y'all not cool by looking down to humanities students.
I thought that the guy on the thumbnail was Mickey Mouse 😭💀