David Brooks wrote a great columnin the Times today about how many students are foregoing liberal arts areas of education for accounting or other "more concrete" subjects that will lead them to a more guaranteed job. In full disclosure, I date an accountant, so I'm not saying they are all just pencil pushing number crunchers. Just most of them. I work in finance which operates in a different area than accounting but still faces the same limitations.
I used to tease my friends in college who were studying art history or literature as a waste of time. But now I'm in a field where I don't really want to spend the rest of my life. Yes, I got a job after college and experienced less unemployment due to the economic collapse than many other people, but I sure don't get the satisfaction of my work that would allow me to do it for 50 more years.
If I had studied the majors that I wanted simply out of pure interest, I would have added history and english to my political science and finance diplomas. But what was I going to do with a history degree. My uncle had one and he was a teacher for a while but now works at a grocery store. At the time, I wanted a degree that was first get me a career and second, interesting. Now I realize that that is kind of backwards.
The people that studied history and english and whatever other humanities are doing random things now. The art history friend had some of the greatest marketing input of anyone I've ever spoken with. My ex-girlfriend's college room mate is teach music to children that are fortunate enough to attend a school that still offers a music program. These are all jobs that involve a large amount of creativity and working with "The Big Shaggy" as Brooks puts it.
In college, I thought economics was the sexiest thing ever. It could explain everything in the world. from simple supply and demand to game theory to econometrics. Of course it operates on the assumption that every agent acts completely rationally, but that is easy to overlook as an eager college student. Then you get into the real world and you realize that you let yourself down as the "rational agent" you thought you would be, whether it be girlfriends, credit cards, or anything else. They sure don't teach you that in college. And I don't blame anybody, but it's hard to not be attracted to something that seems like it can apply to everything and be used to answer anything.
Where am I going with these somewhat random anecdotes? I'm not entirely sure, but in my analysis of general every day life, it seems like the people that study the arts in all its forms have a stronger sense of connection with people from different walks of life. A white chick who loves poetry can connect with a African dude that enjoys rhythmic drumming. A Latino artist can collaborate with an Indian historian and apply Indian themes to his works. And this kind of collaboration or connection requires a certain understanding of "The Big Shaggy" but also an amount of empathy.
I have been an empathetic person my whole life so I am lucky enough to carry that into a fairly cold and impersonal career, but let me tell you that keeping track of investments from pension funds, corporations, and sovereign wealth funds requires as much empathy as a rock at the bottom of the ocean. Naturally, there are empathetic people doing all kinds of work in all kinds of fields, but GIPS standards or GAAP guidelines do not access the gray area of ones humanity. I suppose it does allow us to turn it off when we go home because there is no emotional baggage to carry with us, but it can also leave you feeling hollow (at least it has for me).
Basically, I hope that we continue to have art history, english, music, literature and other humanities majors well into the future. If all we have is people who can change one number into another number then the world will be a cold boring place. Maybe if we had more liberal arts majors we would have an easier time understanding why certain groups of people hate us so much. That doesn't mean I'm saying their hatred is right or justified, it just means it might be easier to understand and relate to.
This was just my somewhat mellow "rant" inspired by the David Brooks column. Thank you for reading.
