Yes, I’m one of those “whiny” college students with a “useless” degree.
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As the leaves stay green, the birds chirp happily, and the Sun shines past 5 o’clock, I can only think about how I will pay my bills, especially with my $8 dollar an hour work-study position ending. The spring semester is ending and graduation is steadily approaching. My summer tuition is in the thousands for just three classes, and the bill is due the first week of May. It would seem as though internships are the answer, and they are — if you can actually get one.
After disregarding internships unwilling to pay college students for their time and labor, I applied to multiple paid internships. Some may say the experience is what matters, but this is a mentality and statement of the privileged. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to give my time, energy, and labor in exchange for college credit or experience.
Then, I think to myself, “maybe I should have picked a better major.” Maybe I should have read NBC’s list of useless majors before I went to college. Maybe I should be happy with working a full-time job, while in college, only to be paid minimum wage.
But thankfully, I realized how unhealthy and problematic these thoughts were. I am not the problem. I went to college to be educated — not exploited, yet here I am, along with millions of other college students struggling to find employment that doesn’t pay starvation wages, paid internships, and an incentive to finish my degree.
It’s extremely easy to internalize the failures of capitalism and shame ourselves into thinking the following:
“I have a roof over my head, so I should be grateful.”
“I should’ve applied to more jobs. It’s my fault.”
“No one wants to hire me because I chose a useless degree.”
I urge you to reject all of these notions. It is not supposed to be this difficult to obtain social mobility. Employment of any kind, whether it be an internship or an assistantship should not require underpaid, exploitative labor to ensure sustenance. College students, who come in all ages, races, and economic backgrounds, should not have to accept an entry-level position that keeps them in a state of constant economic struggle. If an entry-level position fails to lift employees out of poverty, then it is exploitative. Entry-level positions that pay workers low wages, provide them with little to no benefits, and promise a possible small increase in wages are exploitative.
Instead of critiquing the individual and assuming that a student just isn’t working hard enough, how about, we critique the system that allows colleges to be run like businesses while providing an abysmal amount of opportunities for college students.
Before you insult someone for their film degree, or their art history degree, or their architecture degree, or their gender studies degree, or any degree in social sciences, remember that higher education institutions are supposed to provide resources, knowledge, connections, and opportunities for students to cultivate their interests, skills, or craft and possibly, to discover a new interest. Also, recognize the elitism muddled into a phrase like “useless degree.”
I’m one of those students with a useless degree. I’ll let you guess which one it is. Here’s a hint: it’s a social science. Moreover, I love what I’m learning and the connections I’ve made in my department, so why should I pick a new major because it won’t make me money? Why can’t my industry be properly funded regardless of its contributions to the economy? Why should I leave social science and become a STEM major? Why does my degree’s usefulness depend on American profitability?
As I wait somewhat patiently and frantically to see if I’ll have a paid summer internship, I am constantly reminding myself that it’s not my fault and that I am enough. I encourage all students who may be feeling depressed, unmotivated, frustrated, or saddened from post-graduate or pre-graduate employment rejection and unemployment to remind themselves that their interests matter and their creativity and labor deserve monetary rewards — not just a pat on the back. No industry should go underpaid and underfunded because a handful of rich people aren’t making money.
