Don't study English literature to acquire marketable skills

There's a tendency among English professors to pitch and plead for our subject as, counterintuitively, a practical choice for the student of today facing the job market of tomorrow.

We aren't wrong about that. Study after study backs us up, while at regular intervals yet another corporate CEO or Silicon Valley guru trumpets the value of a degree in English or philosophy or classics. English majors are making a perfectly pragmatic decision, one that will help them cultivate the "soft skills" employers want - critical thinking, communication, creative problem solving, collaboration - while also nurturing the intellectual curiosity and mental agility that will serve them well when the careers of the future turn out to be ones we couldn't predict.

Liberal arts graduates are not doomed to serve Frappuccinos to MBAs: They are teachers and journalists, writers and doctors, artists and executives. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was an English major; so were Sting, Sally Ride, Clarence Thomas and Emma Watson. There is no straight line from a BA in English to one specific job - but that's an advantage, not a drawback.