Question: What do you say to the person with a B.A?
Answer: Do you want fries with that?

I've recently finished a Bachelor of Arts degree and am currently doing an Honours in History. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard a comment like the above, I wouldn't even bother with finding employment- I'd just be a professional student. A professional student for whom paying university fees would no longer be a problem.

It's ubiquitously believed that the Arts degree doesn't count as real education. Maybe you're taking the course as a means of killing time while you figure out 'what you want to do with the rest of your life.' Maybe you didn't get a high enough mark to enter into any of the more employment-friendly courses like medicine or law. Or maybe it's a combination of the other two options- a means of killing time whilst you frantically attempt to pull your grade point average high enough, in order to ensure entry into medicine or law. The option that no one considers (no one who's not already doing an Arts degree, that is) is that us Arts students actually enjoy our courses and do believe that they'll somehow lead us to jobs beyond the fast food industry one day.

My evidence for this? Arts has to be one of the most versatile courses available. You can take practically any subject, from philosophy to government to sociology. Personally I've done subjects like Classical Mythology and Gender Studies and enjoyed them both thoroughly. Your versatility will increase rather than decrease the amount of employment opportunities available. No matter what classes you choose to take, you'll ultimately end up with skills that will be valuable in many industries- a love of writing, a knack for researching, the ability to meet deadlines (or the ability to pull one nighters if you procrastinate) and lots of seemingly useless knowledge, which will actually come in handy the next time you play Trivial Pursuit.

Whilst I am defending the benefits of a good education and an Arts degree, I don't mean to imply that a good education is mandatory for finding employment. My advice would be to figure out what you want to do and the best means of achieving your goal. I can't stress enough that it's important that you find employment in something that you truly enjoy. What's the point in putting your resources and efforts towards a dream that belongs to your parents, but not to you? Secondly, once you figure out what you want to do, ensure that you're taking the appropriate path to reaching your aim. Clearly a good education won't be of much use if your aim is to be the next Kevin Federline.

A good education can do wonders for your employment. But it doesn't guarantee that you'll be employed in the job that YOU want. Choose your path carefully and you won't have any regrets.

Learn more about this author, Vani Chew.
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