The trick, of course, is choosing a major that genuinely excites you. There’s good reason to believe that if a student does that and follows through seriously, there’ll be a job – no, a rich, satisfying career – awaiting him or her.
But try telling that to mom and dad, especially when debt loads are high. They often sound as if they expect their student to have a guaranteed job on graduation. After all, they have been reading the press and watching TV which will (mis)inform them that the only jobs available are in the STEM disciplines. I’d rather have a students major in science, technology, engineering or math than in Parks and Recreation or other light-weight fields, but I keep hearing stories of STEM majors who can’t find a good job on graduation. STEM majors come with no job guarantee.
But a Classics major does, at least at Middlebury College in Vermont. After looking at the letters of inquiry from high schools and secondary schools seeking to hire a Latin teacher, Pavlos Sfyroeras of the Middelbury Clssics department has made a “personal guarantee” of such a teaching job for any Middlebury Classsics major on graduation. That’s not the only thing Middlebury classics graduates do, of course. They go on to business and other positions, and to graduate and professional schools with high success rates, but there it is – the guaranteed job on graduation. One could do a lot worse, don’t you think, Dad?
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