[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

Help a guy out, would ya? It's getting close to decision time, and these are the three majors I am eyeing right now. I entered college with the intent of pursuing a degree in English, but the other two are very attractive. I am also considering a minor in either geography or earth and enviromental sciences.

[Jack]

The English degree could be used as a basis for a lot of things. The other degrees might be less marketable.

[savethehumans]

Earth and Environmental Sciences!

We're gonna need people who understand those!

By all means, take some English courses. The subject teaches you how to analyse, how to express your thoughts and theories. But as a MAJOR--well, I majored in it (and am glad I did), but I don't think it's ever had anything to do with why I was hired for any job I've had. Still, the analyzing and writing skills certainly helped me DO a better job!

Having some basic engineering skills will help in a post-peak world, too. So will botany--knowing what can be used as holistic medicines.

The MAJOR should be those sciences, but your ELECTIVES should be those which will both enhance them, and give you community and/or barterable skills. And while you're at it? Learn to grow veggies and fruits!

Sorry to be this long, but the future will require a lot more generalization along with any specialization! So the REAL question isn't "What shall I major in?" But "What should I know/do to be prepared for a post-peak world?" That world is NOT going to be the one you grew up in, and is NOT going to be the one you're in now! Never, EVER, forget that, and you'll be in a far better place when that world arrives...not too long from now!

[0mar]

I'd suggest either History or something in the sciences (chemistry, physics, biology). History is just plain cool and science is always the crux of everything in modern society.

[Lance-a-lot-of-sores]

I would say that either of the three choices are a reflection of you and you, or anyone who has these as his three choices is doomed to be part of the 2/3rds of human population who must exit life so that the remnants may survive. So long, farwell, etc., etc.

Have you not listened to the thoughts expressed on this site? Think that anyone on the verge of death from starvation is going to want to hear one of your poems or you litany of primitative cultures and their sex practices.

If you are planning a student loan to fund your lunacy, then avoid going into debt and learn about something that will benefit you in the future.

Surely, you must be a product of government run education which is only intended to indoctrinate you and shut off your thinking capacity.

[0mar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lance-a-lot-of-sores', 'I') would say that either of the three choices are a reflection of you and you, or anyone who has these as his three choices is doomed to be part of the 2/3rds of human population who must exit life so that the remnants may survive. So long, farwell, etc., etc.

Have you not listened to the thoughts expressed on this site? Think that anyone on the verge of death from starvation is going to want to hear one of your poems or you litany of primitative cultures and their sex practices.

If you are planning a student loan to fund your lunacy, then avoid going into debt and learn about something that will benefit you in the future.

Surely, you must be a product of government run education which is only intended to indoctrinate you and shut off your thinking capacity.

[MikeB]

One of my most regrettable decisions was majoring in English, thinking I could be paid to write. It took me tend years to realize: ain't gonna happen. You want to work for a newspaper, fine. But unless you're a genius, or know the right people, or don't care how long it takes, being a writer of books is a shit way of living your life.

So now I do the only thing English majors know how to do, which is teach English as adjunct staff. It's not a bad job, but the pay is a joke: full Professors get up to ten times what adjunct get for teaching the same courses.

I do get a soapbox for my favorite issues, though: critical thinking & skepticism, evolution and the bible, and now, Peak Oil.

Don't be afraid to shop around for a major. It took me three years before I made my bad decision. I started at Geology (math was too hard); went to Biology (chemistry too hard); Art (not good enough); and finally English, like a whale washing up on the beach. I'm just glad I never went on a true fool's errand and got a PhD. The horrors of modern "critical theory," which is utterly detached from the way the world really works, are inexpressable.

To end on a positive note: my teaching job is so flexible it allows me to do what I really love--subsistence farming.

[brentmeister]

Those options are all as useless as tits on a bull, from a peak oil perspective. From what I've seen of English Majors and their bizarro litcrit theories, this course would have every chance of making you stupider, and at great expense! Going into debt, (or merely missing a few years of full-time work,) in order to pursue something you're not really sure about, (and which has questionable eventual benefits,) doesn't sound ideal really. While I certainly believe in the benefits of gaining more & more knowledge and understanding, (PO or not,) I fail to see how colleges have any sort of monopoly on this process. They do have a monopoly on handing out magic sheepskins, but their magic has largely worn off. A generic liberal arts type degree gets you nowhere as often as it gets you anywhere. But reading lots of books, and reading lots of net, and writing on the net in order to improve your thinking processes... these are very worthwhile hobbies.


If you have any doubts, then listen to them!

If i was you, (or if I had my time again,)
I would defer for a year, (at least)
get an ok-paying job no-one else wants -( eg nightshift sanitary bin disposalist,)
live frugally, (maybe with parents?)
read and write as much as you're inclined, (maybe read some of those textbooks to see if you're really missing anything)
save as much money as possible,

and each month invest the money in the goddamn obvious peak oil stocks - i.e. Cameco the uranium bluechip and Canadian Oil Sands Trust.

After a year you'll have a new set of experiences, something of a financial foundation, (which will seriously kaching when PO hits,) and with your own studying you'll be able to trounce the other freshmen if you decide to go that way next year. Also you'll have probably a better idea of what you want to go on to study, and thus reduce the risk of wasting precious years chopping and changing courses and majors like lots of students do. There's no time for wasting time "finding yourself" at college i.e. partying lots and making a half-hearted effort at some course which will likely lead nowhere and which wasn't quite what the brochures made it out to be. There's no reason why you can't expand your mind, dress like a clown and get drunk & laid quite often...ALL WITHOUT COLLEGE.

And be on the lookout for other interesting but non-academic courses with a short turn around and with good economic prospects, eg, like a one year course on locksmithing, or doodad installation or whatever. Drifting into college because it's the done thing stands every chance of being a waste of time these days, whereas getting some $ together and putting it in the right places will definately not be a waste of time. Quite the contrary.

Hope I don't sound harsh, and maybe my 2 cents worth isn't what you're wanting to hear. But do give it some thought. Sometimes the best course of action is the opposite of what we've been lead to believe.

[brentmeister]

oops, I just noticed you say you'd study writing rather than literature, so I guess you won't have to waste your years decontextualizing "the other" in postmodern 3rd world shampoo commercials, and all that guff. But instead, you'd be making the common killer mistake of pursuing a "cool" "glamorous" and "interesting" profession.... BAD MOVE. There are already gazillions of qualified people in these fields that cannot get related work... are you confident at the outset that you can kick their arse sufficiently to get yourself one of the highly-prized, tenuous, tedious, poorly-paid jobs in this field??? You're better off instead developing a genuine interest in some NEEDED field that no one else is interested in or knows about. If you're young, chances are school is all you know and the million facets of the economy are a complete mystery. But you're more likely to find your angle working a series of varied jobs rather than taking a series of similar classes.

Also with writing - lots of people can write. Most of the best writers, i.e. those who actually have something important to say, or those with genuine talent, have never set foot in writing school. Also, there's an infinite amount of writing available for free on the net. This is essentially competition against your "product."

Also, if you're overall undecided about what to do with your future, don't be suprised... very few young people have enough knowledge to go on. It's like 14 year olds having to chose who they'll marry for life, of course it doesn't work. Many people chose their course badly, but continue out of inertia, thinking they'll "waste" all their previous efforts if they don't continue on their current wrong path. Don't get like that - get smart.

[brentmeister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o now I do the only thing English majors know how to do, which is teach English as adjunct staff.

[brentmeister]

jes_o_s, also, I realize the States is quite a class-based society, but don't fall for all that societal peer pressure if you give college a miss for awhile. Don't worry, you won't sprout a mullet and start doing chrystal meth at Nascar meets just because you haven't been to college.

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

Lance-a-lot-of-sores,
If that post reflects who you are as a person, I'd say you are an escaped mental patient.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f you are planning a student loan to fund your lunacy, then avoid going into debt and learn about something that will benefit you in the future.

[0mar]

ahaha it's fucking cold in Chicago from like November to like March.

I went to Loyola University so I know how it is

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

James H Kunstler
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') lot of jobs and vocational niches are going to vanish. If you are a young person, check all your career assumptions at the door. Start thinking about things you can do that will be really useful in the decades ahead. There will be far fewer positions in marketing, public relations, and TV game show hosting. There will be many more jobs in small-scale farming and gardening, in repairing things of all kinds, in the non-bureaucratic aspects of health care, local transport, local energy production (especially small hydro), and basic education. Large scale complex systems like the canned entertainment industry will decline and communities will have to furnish their own music and theater.

[Ayoob_Reloaded]

Dude, if you're at UIC, I order you to study Econ in one form or another. You know there have been 27 Nobel Prize winners from that econ department? It's the best econ school there is. I don't care if economics turns out to be bullshit with that whole "utils of happiness" my girl goes on about, but the bottom line is that a UIC education that skips Econ is like going to Malnatti's or Uno's or Leona's and ordering a coffee and a donut.

Please, at least take a couple econ classes and sit at the Master's feet.

[brentmeister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') love the fact that during the downward slope of the Olduvai Cliff, Visa will still have the technology to track you down and get their worthless paper dollars.

[MikeB]

I see English is winning the vote....

Don't do it!

[0mar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob_Reloaded', 'D')ude, if you're at UIC, I order you to study Econ in one form or another. You know there have been 27 Nobel Prize winners from that econ department? It's the best econ school there is. I don't care if economics turns out to be bullshit with that whole "utils of happiness" my girl goes on about, but the bottom line is that a UIC education that skips Econ is like going to Malnatti's or Uno's or Leona's and ordering a coffee and a donut.

Please, at least take a couple econ classes and sit at the Master's feet.