As I approach my last year at UCLA as an English student, the persistent question of, “What’s next?” nags at my brain.

Contrary to some areas of study like computer science or business administration, this major doesn’t illuminate one clear career path for students to follow post-graduation.

A little over a year ago, while working at Barnes & Noble and still attending community college, I stumbled upon a headline on the cover of The New Yorker that baffled me: “The End of the English Major.”

By that time, I had already made the decision to pursue a degree in English and was immediately taken aback. Although I knew the value of studying literature, I wondered if those around me did.

Across the country, enrollment in the humanities is declining, while science, technology, engineering and mathematics continue to see rising numbers.

At UCLA, for example, fall 2023 enrollment statistics show there were approximately 27,126 undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Letters and Science, and out of that number, only 2,037 of them were humanities students.

When faced with these kinds of statistics, I can’t help but question whether or not majoring in English was the right choice for my future.

Helen Deutsch, a professor in disability studies and English at UCLA, believes the English major and the unique skill sets it cultivates are often underappreciated.

“What we do demands an incredible amount of skill, some of it connected by curiosity, critical thinking, analytical ability,” Deutsch said. “To be a good writer and a really rigorous thinker, those are not easy.”

Communicating the value of these skills can be difficult, especially when looking for a job outside of academia. Whenever I tell someone I’m studying English, they immediately assume I want to become a teacher.

And while I highly admire educators, the stereotype is flawed, and it wasn’t the reason I decided to study English.

I actually went into community college thinking I would go into STEM.

But after taking an English composition course, I gravitated toward an introductory class in creative writing instead of organic chemistry.

Reading the New Yorker article, though it initially caught me off guard, reinforced my appreciation of my choice of study even more because it made it clear that there is not one end goal when majoring in English.

“I didn’t feel like using this occasion (graduation) to justify your choice of major, our choice of career, because this is not the Department of Anguish, this is the Department of English, and it’s about language,” said Stephen Dickey, a senior lecturer emeritus in UCLA’s Department of English. “And what we study inevitably is the power of language.”

Communicating with one another is not unique to one career path, which is why English continues to prove its versatility and relevancy. Although this area of study can be a natural transition to fields such as law, Deutsch has also seen many English majors go on to become doctors.

“Those skills that you learn from studying literature would make med school a very different kind of experience that would be much more oriented toward compassion and toward connecting with your patients and not just absorbing tons of information,” said Deutsch.

Though statistics may not yet reflect this, there’s growing evidence that STEM students who engage with the humanities can develop skills across a variety of disciplines and subjects that are beneficial to their own intellectual areas of focus.

Integrating the humanities and sciences together can create individuals who can communicate both their scientific perspectives and messages effectively.

When looking at humanities majors within the workforce, because of their well-rounded balance of both analytical and communication skills, career statistics show that many end up in leadership roles.

For me, modern literature has helped garner a greater understanding of the current human experience, while literature of the past has acted like a mental museum of language, allowing me to experience how we used to talk to one another when we didn’t have the world presented to us on a small, rectangular screen.

“Literature isn’t just about the individual subject,” said Deutsch. “It is a kind of communal construction that goes across centuries that we enter into conversation with as writers and readers.”

With the upcoming election, Professor Dickey notes the impact that being an English major simply has on our very own sense of awareness as citizens.

“Becoming better readers, more skeptical readers, better close readers, allows you to avoid being trapped by the con men and avoid not knowing what you’re voting for or against,” Dickey said.

The skills that English majors develop are not just for the betterment of themselves but also for those around them.

Studying English fosters critical thinking, diversity of thought and empathy, which makes for a well-balanced and high-functioning democracy.

“Reading literature exposes one to alternative views and experiences, the imagining of other worlds and viewpoints and an ethical obligation in understanding stories created by other humans as well as the environment,” said Elizabeth DeLoughrey, a professor in both the UCLA English department and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, in an emailed statement.

The past educates the present. Without understanding what those before us experienced, how can we recognize the antiquated compared to the contemporary? History is not only rooted in literature and stories but also in us, because we are all products of what once came before.

Who says Shakespeare’s eccentric and esoteric 27-letter word honorificabilitudinitatibus can’t exist right next to Gen Z’s highkey slay dictionary of slang?

We can choose to distract ourselves with the idea that studying English is less vital to current circumstances, but there are clear tethers to modernity that you will nonetheless find in the centuries of literature written by voices of the past.

For example, Professor Dickey continues to be surprised by how modern some of Shakespeare’s language sounds, and currently one of his favorite lines from Shakespeare’s lesser-known play “Measure for Measure” is “I’ll see what I can do.”

“It’s just not some arcane, foreign, distant past,” Dickey said.

Studying English and literature is not about knowing – it’s about seeing. Seeing what the world used to look like, seeing how we once communicated with one another, seeing why we are the way we are and seeing how we have evolved as a society.

Professor Deutsch noted how the English major is not about perfection, memorization or mastery. Instead, it’s about the not knowing, the being curious, the playful engagement that comes with reading literature.

“With everything that is happening in the world, we need English majors more than ever,” Deutsch said.

I wholeheartedly believe, thanks to Shakespeare and our wonderful English department at UCLA, that reading is seeing, seeing is believing, and believing in something greater than ourselves is what life is all about.