What’s Wrong with Being a Liberal Arts Major?

Liberal arts, for males, is out of the ordinary, something non-stereotypical, just like females in Engineering — only a few of the boys who are genuinely interested in it choose it.

But for a lot of female students, in India, English Literature is a go-to choice if they are good for nothing or have no real interest in anything at all (not to shame them because there has to be something common and easily accessible to all.)
But what bothers is the attitude and disappointment of such students when they find out that it isn’t what they expected it to be— easy peasy lemon squeezy. At least it’s not something in which they can get more with less work.

It’s neither easy to understand nor to score, for all. And this pushes them away from liking the subject.

What they don’t understand is that we don’t have to like or agree with everything we read. And we don’t even need to read everything that’s prescribed in the syllabus. We don’t need to dwell on that which we find idiotic. But one ought to at least find things that are likable and study it by heart.

A student who ain’t interested enough can get enough marks to just pass in any manner. It might be easy on the surface level, but it depends on the learner how hard to work on it to make it creative, unique, and enjoyable to actually indulge in it.

When I said that I like to self-study and make my notes on my own, a classmate, out of concern, said that instead of spending so much time on that, I could just take tuition and get it all served.

I’m mostly an auto-didact so I don’t really need it (besides my college lectures).

I like to research and be as authentic as I can.

I’m not always ‘in love’ with my subject. We do get overwhelmed at times by the bulk work that we choose to do, but that’s the pride of it.

The fun and challenge are in reading the actual thing that the author wrote, to taste the real chosen texts.

One has to give up on studying solely for marks as an ideal Literature (or I guess any other major) student. An ideal lit. student studies for learning, for its experience.

Marks don’t define the type of students we are, but our attitude surely does.

And when one focuses on gaining more understanding the right way, marks surely do improve.

In a video by R.C. Waldun , he says that “If you’re so hooked up in an academic system, and grades are all you care about, think of how much stuff you are missing out. [...] I don’t care about my grades precisely because it is a way for me to move forward, it is a way for me to grow out of my current paradigm, it is a way for me to further and deepen my learning.”

‘Less is more’ is applicable here if one reads less but reads well.

Remember the four pillars of the Dead Poets Society?

Being a Liberal Arts Major actually requires one to maintain Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence— not as a non-negotiable rule, but as a flexible guide to sail through.

There are two types of students in every field— one that takes it up by choice, and the other who has to endure it under compulsion.
I have a cousin who talked of my reading habit as a waste of time. “You have too much free time to waste on such things” she had said pointing at one novel I was reading.
And later, she took up the same major as mine for reasons I could never understand.

It’s disappointing to see disinterested Liberal arts majors— ungrateful, cribbing students.

Some have confessed that they find it too hard to read textbooks that they can’t imagine reading anything extra, outside of course books.

It’s too disrespectful to the habit of reading— to think of acquiring knowledge a chore instead of a pleasure.

That's what's wrong with being an English major or a liberal arts major.

I like the other kind of students who forms the minority.
The kind that learns Literature— such that it reflects in their personality, that they make me feel dumb as well as inspire me to do better.
The kind that knows writers other than Shakespeare.
The kind that makes me believe that Literature is indeed interesting if I take enough interest in it.
And that it is not only theoretical but very much practical. Well, as Oppie said, “Theory will only take you so far”, we find Literature in everyday life, we turn everyday life into Literature.