Is it even worth studying literature in college...

Is it even worth studying literature in college? I'm a 25 years old failure who never went to college and I recently acquired enough money to enroll, and I want to pick something that I would ideally enjoy, and possibly find useful.

>useful
>literature
pick one m8

If you don't then how are you going to recognize which canonic works are in fact problematic?

Just curious, where did you aquire that money?

Why are you on this board if you don’t find literature useful? Unless you’re only defining “usefulness” as “contributes to one’s ability to make money,” in which case you also don’t belong on this board.

This desu

Studying literatire in collage is a waste of time. Collage has only one goal - to give you a job qualification, and if you really want to study literature you have to do it on your own.

I worked at a call center for a while.

I was thinking of studying either literature or several languages and become a translator, either for movies or books. Or is that going to be replaced by machines like everything else?

Literature isn't useful in the typical sense of the word (“usefulness” as “contributes to one’s ability to make money") and it's normal to assume that's the meaning OP intended.

>Collage has only one goal - to give you a job qualification,
That's literally not true. Universities were originally not intended to be offer practical knowledge and help you make money, they were focusing simply on acquiring knowledge. If one wishes to, they can treat the university in the same way today, instead of being good capitalistic goyim.

Translating isn't going to be replaced by machines, don't worry about that.
I suppose it's obvious that languages will be more practically useful and more likely to make you money. For that reason I'm double majoring in literature and a philology. A study of philology includes both a language and its literature, you may consider that path too, if that sort of thing exists where you live.

>Universities were originally not intended to be offer practical knowledge and help you make money, they were focusing simply on acquiring knowledge.
Were originally. I don't know in what wonderland do you live now but in my country studying in a uni is a fucking bore which invokes no interest in the subject.

You specifically being bored by studying is perfectly irrelevant to my argument.

> That's literally not true. Universities were originally not intended to be offer practical knowledge and help you make money, they were focusing simply on acquiring knowledge. If one wishes to, they can treat the university in the same way today, instead of being good capitalistic goyim.

Lol you're a dumbass. The current university system being in shambles is in fact due to socialism.

Public schools, a form of socialism, are just welfare for morons (i.e. education majors) who do jack all. Kids leave public school with little practical knowledge and are just passed through regardless if they met the requirements.

Now since universities receive money from the government either directly or through government issued loans or both, universities are catering to morons, and are dumbing down their courses and including more courses to sell to people.

Ideally, we shouldn't have public schools at all, however too many people profit from it and its ingrained into the culture. Furthermore, I would add we still need tertiary education. Although they should be technical schools, rather than universities.

If the education system was capitalistic and the invisible hand of the free market was able to work, we'd have a lot of people in tertiary institutions doing 6 month - 2 year diplomas with a lot of hands on experience rather than universities compromising on standards to get as much government dough as possible.

Universities would still retain their traditional structure. America spends close to a trillion dollars on education. Government spending isn't capitalism dumbfuck!!!

I mean you could become an English teacher, and most English teachers are about as well loved as polio

Are you ok?
When I said "good capitalistic goyim", I was mainly going after the way of thinking of the people with that worldview where absolutely everything is centred around making money. Government spending is unrelated to this.
From what I've understood, american education is a mess in general, but if you have a good uni available and/or live elsewhere, you still can study for the knowledge.

Christian colleges tend to good and affordable in that regard

Study philosophy. Good literature and philosophy overlap frequently, and it helps to have studied the philosophical part in a classroom. It's also more rigorous which helps to train your focus and your memory. If you read a lot of philosophy and then switch to literature it will seem much more vivid and easy to get through because you are so adjusted to slow and careful reading.
Really though, the best writers all study philosophy extensively, so in order to understand them you have to do the same. This is all if you are considering doing literature because philosophy also might not be worth it. But if you are going to, it would probably benefit you more intellectually and for your reading of literature.

Several languages is probably a good idea. But just studying one to decent fluency is difficult enough. Focusing on 2 or more at the same time and still reaching proficiency in both in a decent amount of time takes a special kind of mind. Also, for a translation career. Your problem isn't going to be machines. Your problem is going to be competing with kids that were raised bi-lingual or trilingual (usually because their parents are in a multi-cultural marriage). Competing with kids who have been fluent in those languages since childhood isn't fun.

Personally I chose to learn Japanese since that is considered a hard language and I thought I would have an edge for knowing it. But meeting all these kids who are half-Japanese and fluent in English got me to realize the hard way that competing with them for translation jobs will either be futile, or take another 2 or 3 years of hardcore dedicated study. And I have already studied for 3 years.

And the real kicker in the teeth. Even once you do get good enough to find translation work, the pay doesn't really justify the amount it cost to get good at the language.

How do you even make it to 25 with this low self-awareness and understanding of the world at large?

>useful

No.

I studied EngLit and I wouldn't if I had the chance to go back in time.

Waste of money, plus there's a great deal of focus on post-colonialism, queer theory, feminist analysis etc. If you're into that then cool, but looking back I'm surprised I put up with it.

Their advice is the best, imho. Depending on where you live, you could tailor a great deal of your studies to what you find interesting as a way of satisfying requirements. If you live in the Common Wealth, then your degree program will be limited to the one subject you choose. If you are living under some kind of American system, then there is the opportunity for more breadth. In that case, I would recommend the following:

1.) Choose your major on the basis of a fantasy profession. Here's a litmus test. Which sounds cooler to you: author, philosopher, or other? I assume you can switch your major later in any case.

2.) Select your coursework to advance deep knowledge of whichever tradition your chose for #1.

3.) Pick a language that is both relevant to your literary tradition and which you would consider a reasonable burden on your time. If you can only narrow it down to several possibilities, then consider which language department offers the lengthiest sequence or the most coursework. Be shameless about being effective in your studies: Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Duolingo, whatever.

4.) Find clubs or NEW like-minded friends. You ought to be able to talk about your subject matter in depth. Look for events to attend and even possibly socialize.

5.) You will be writing a lot. Keep that in mind. You will also be reading a lot. Preferably more than just what you have been assigned to read. You should be ready to improve your abilities to do either. If e-books are faster, read them. If a tutor can give you meaningful feedback on your writing, get one and make sure they are paid by your university to be on hand.

6.) Try to find out which professors are willing to support their students in their interests long term. Some professors don't give a shit about their students and won't be there for you even when you need them for a reference letter. Don't select professors, and the coursework that comes with them, on the basis of how "hard" the professor is on people who are just going through the motions. Believe me, there could very well be professors in your home department who are total flakes, hated by all their students, and who will still be safeguarded by their colleagues because they serve some other function entirely, either to do with research, professional networking, refereeing at professorial conferences, etc.

You also want the door to graduate studies to be open, even if you never go through it, because that will entail apprenticing with a professor effectively, and very possibly writing a thesis, which is a major commitment.

7.) Use philosophy courses to satisfy GE requirements, especially logic courses to satisfy your quantitative requirements. Be advised, if you fall in love with logic, you will likely have to change your major to mathematics in order to have any deep acquaintance with the subject

Technical translation will be replaced by machines and well, most translators only get jobs on that stuff.
For movies and games there are a few jobs but the competition is harsh and the pay is really not good (except if you learn a "rare" language like , or if you're really good at networking). For literature, well it is virtually impossible to get hired by a good publishing company. The best translators I knew (who are PhD) only managed to get hired on kiddies books.
Romanticizing translation was a huge mistake

I have an MA in English Literature, I teach writing and am getting an MA in Creative Nonfiction. I found the self-awareness and analytical skills acquired from studying lit invaluable and transferrable to multiple aspects of life. English is actually considered an interdisciplinary degree, and with the right number of credits, I can teach humanities, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. I love having a degree that allows me to pursue interests across many fields.

thats pretty cool

FUCK NO

please get a STEM degree man, you need money obviously. do not go into any lib arts or social science nonsense. its too late for Law school, and phil degrees are worthless now. Just get a degree in genetics, chem eng, CS or if you must do phil get a math-phil degree

you aren’t qualified to teach anything but english and lit you fucking faggot

Why do you lie?

thats your own fault

It's a TOTAL and complete waste of time unless you're doing it for money.
In which case literature is even worse than basket weaving.

If you're not doing it for money why the fuck would you ever want to sit in a class having your favorite 'genre' of knowledge raped to death in your own mind.
You will learn it faster, much faster, and actually have fun studying it yourself.

Read what you like, then think about it. Then think about it again. Then think about it until you are sure you understand it. Every part of it. Then find someone who has done the same, then talk to them. No need to blow your wad on what is little more than dumbed down brainwashing these days.

>raped to death in your own mind.
What the fuck are you talking about m8?
>You will learn it faster, much faster, and actually have fun studying it yourself.
Is that why all these self-taught geniuses from Veeky Forums are utter retards?
>Read what you like
Knowing and understating literature will most likely require knowledge that isn't something immediately appealing to hedonistic children like you.
>then think about it. Then think about it again. Then think about it until you are sure you understand it. Every part of it.
That's how you get a million of retarded pseudo-interpretations of classics. It was all a dream hurr durr why should I read supplementary literature
>Then find someone who has done the same
You mean an academic, perhaps?

I've got an English degree. It depends where you study. If you go somewhere really good, it can open doors to journalism, publishing, the arts etc. But even then, it's a slog and you'll most likely have to join the unpaid internship merrygoround, surrounded by insufferable middle class wankers.