Why an Arts Degree?
A letter for unemployed and struggling arts grads.
It’s a rough job market – to say the least, especially for new graduates. Gone are the days in which students choose to go to university “just for the sake of it” or because their previous teachers told them that by doing so, they’ll then get that “good job”.
It’s no surprise then that since the recession in 2008, there has been a major shift in promoting enrolment in STEM programs and a subsequent decline of enrolment in arts programs at universities and colleges alike.
That was not the case for me. I enrolled in an arts degree.
A few days ago, I was asked why I chose to pursue an arts degree as opposed to a degree in STEM, given the enrolment patterns that I mentioned previously.
I had never been asked this before explicitly, but after a few seconds of thought, my answer was pretty straight-forward: I chose to study what I loved.
I’ve never been of the mindset to pursue a career field or subject for the recognition it brought or the hype around the wealth related to such a field. It has always been important to me to enjoy what I do, and feel like I’m making a difference in one way or another.
We spend a large portion of our lives either in school or working, so why not study and do something that you enjoy. I followed my passions – you should too.
Yet, what about career prospects? What about the cost of higher education? What about value?
Not to say that these aren’t important questions, as I think they are definitely valid.
Sure, most STEM programs offer a clearer degree-to-career trajectory. If you study engineering, as an example, it’s generally understood that you’ll become an engineer, and probably shortly after graduating. An arts degree has much greater ambiguity when it comes to post-graduation.
However, as a whole, I think we’re often still stuck in an old kind of “A-to-B” mentality, to follow a particular laid-out trajectory of the way in which we should live our lives: namely, if you don’t have a job the day after you receive that expensive piece of paper, then you made the wrong degree choice. You’re falling behind, prolonging the journey to that white picket fence life (so exciting), adding pressure to make the “right choice”.
If you’re passionate about the arts, there’s nothing wrong with pursuing an arts degree.
Why spend the time – and the money – enrolled in a degree program that you absolutely dread in the hopes of getting a “good job” that you’ll find dull, at best, and disappointing, at worst? Personally, I don’t think there’s much fun in being rich and miserable.
It’s easy to get stuck in the direct A-to-B career trajectory of pursuing a particular degree. Yet, it’s not so much about what careers are directly tied to your degree, but rather how you could use the skills (both soft and hard-skills) gained from your studies to apply them to any given field.
Not to mention, nowadays, getting a job goes far beyond the title of one’s degree or the name of the institution at which one studied. It is the value of which an individual can bring to an organization, determined by the way in which an individual thinks, as well as their personality, that will go much further.
Success ultimately depends on you as an individual, not your degree.
It doesn’t take much to get caught up in what others are doing with their lives, especially with how hooked we are on social media. Having said that, every single person has their own path. You alone have to be satisfied with your choices – your opinion of yourself is the only one that matters.
I studied arts because that’s where my passions lie. While it’s definitely been a trek to that next career step, I continue to push forward because it’s important to me to make a difference in a field that I love. Compromising myself and my interests has never intrigued me.
“Life’s a journey” – this is thrown around quite a bit, but if we take time to think about it as a concept, and apply it to our daily lives, I’m sure we’d be more at ease with our life path.
Continue to follow your passions. Tap into your gifts. Seek out opportunities that excite you and give them your all. Connect with similar people who have already done so themselves – they can (and most likely will) lend a hand.
All you need is one job to make it all worthwhile.
