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Thursday, August 8, 2013

That’s your major? Have Fun Flipping Burgers! Student Voice

Student Voice:

That’s your major? Have Fun Flipping Burgers!


Forget that, and study what you love.
For the first half of my academic career I was a history major. I chose history because I love it- I’m an avowed and unabashed history buff and I’ve never regretted my scholastic path. I took some incredible classes, had a blast, I can give my wife context and background info when we watch movies or TV shows about history (she jokingly refers to it as “boring her to tears”) and I’ve been consistently employed since I graduated. Admittedly, I went into education post-grad, which led me to guidance counseling, but history gave me a broad base of perspective regarding how people work in society and how they’ve always worked, which was a huge benefit for both school and work. That understanding has been at least as important to me in my professional life as the ed courses were.
When I was in school and answered the unavoidable “What are you studying?” query from my parents and their friends, relatives and anyone else over 35, at least half of the time I’d get the token grown-up response. That inevitable response was a variation of, “So you’ll be flipping burgers then!” *Hearty guffaw* “Why don’t you… study electrical engineering/engineering/business/MBA/IT/software/hardware/accounting” etc. If there’s one lesson that my history major has stamped indelibly into my understanding of the world it’s that human nature in its essence doesn’t change.
I’d bet that during Greek’s Golden Age of philosophical enlightenment Aristotle was implored by his father to abandon this “philosophy” foolishness with Socrates and Plato and focus on a real career, like medicine.
- See more at: http://www.stuvoice.org/2013/08/08/thats-your-major-have-fun-flipping-burgers/?utm_source=feedly#sthash.H0poRieX.dpuf