So you want to be a teacher right?

If I hear this question one more time, I’m pretty sure I will implode and die. In today’s world, a degree in English is synonymous to a degree in education. This presumption that I get from others as I tell them about myself has gotten nothing but death stares or eye-rolls. Sometimes, I graciously turn the tables and ask them a similar question, “Did you always know that you wanted to work as a server at a farm to table restaurant when you received your degree in economics from Penn State?”

Ok, maybe that is a bit harsh, but don’t you just hate when people assume things about your life based on your college degree? In today’s world, correlation is a bit irrelevant. The reality star queen, Kourtney Kardashian, has a degree for theater from the University of Arizona. Bill Gates dropped out of college to become a multi-billionaire business mogul. The famous singer/songwriter, John Legend, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an English degree and a focus in African-American Literature

Then why study English?

Why not? When it comes to majoring in college, it’s mostly about your passion. Of course, there are certain jobs and professions that need you to get a major in a certain field. However, that’s not always the case.

I picked English because I found an escape from the world around me. With each page that I turn, I got lost in the texture from the raised bumps on the page that formed letters, words, emotions, and scenes. Because of my major, I had an excuse to read more books about topics I wouldn’t have explored before. I was able to learn about the idea sympathy and when it started to appear in literature, the importance of queerness and it’s meaning when juxtaposed against normality, the many ideas of blackness, and more.

English has proved to be an escape from reality and a descent into truth.

So you don’t want to be a teacher?

Well…I didn’t say no. Maybe. I wouldn’t mind being a teacher, but that’s not the point.