Hearing bad things about Arts

Don't forget that it's all depends on what you wanna end up as ! Career first course second

Just to add to my post above, I'm re-posting something I put up here a while ago. Some of it repeats what I wrote above; some of it doesn't.

RE Arts in general, I could offer some advice.

1) Seriously consider not doing Arts if you don't like reading.

2) Seriously consider not doing Arts if you are poor at writing - i.e. grammar, punctuation, syntax. These are all vitally important if you want to do well. It is easy to pass Arts; it is not easy to do very well.

3) Don't do Arts if you don't have any curiosity about the world - about politics, history, animals, places, things. If your idea of an 'interest' stops after soap operas, big brother and movies, then Arts isn't for you. To do well, you need to be a curious person.

4) Choose your main two subjects carefully. Try to make sure you'll like studying them for three years. And remember, these subjects are nothing like their secondary school equivalents - they're much more challenging, and are different methodologically and epistemologically. Take history: in school, the subject called history mostly concerns knowing about what I call 'events'. In third level, history concerns argument, analysis and interpretation.

5) You will end up dropping the other two subjects, so don't be afraid to try something new here, such as folklore. Contrary to the rumour you'll no doubt hear, just because you take two subjects in first year does not mean you can teach them to junior cert. That is bogus.

6) Don't go in with a closed mind. Don't categorise yourself as liberal or as conservative. Try to weigh all viewpoints in a detached way. As the lecturer once said in the first class of the Globalisation module, "If you're one of these people who thinks that Globalisation is all bad, get out now. I don't want you here." That said, some subjects (I'm looking at you, geography and sociology) tend to be dominated by left wing lecturers who, in my opinion, are more activists than scholars. Just be aware of that.

7) If you opt for a Joint in second year, be aware that you can switch to a Single in third year.

8) Do read some of the works listed in the bibliographies your lecturer will give you. Rather than reading whole books though, try to find academic articles on JSTOR instead. (I realise this means nothing to the opening poster at this point, but it will when s/he gets into UCC.)

Now, regarding *jobs*. It has been said that Arts is "very broad" and therefore good for jobs. On the other hand, it has been called worse than useless.

So, which is true? The answer, of course, is both. I'm not trying to fudge this, but this is not a simple question to answer. Again, it comes down to the Arts student's interests and abilities.

I have known many Arts students who have gone on to work in pubs, offices, HR, management etc. In other words, their Arts degrees were largely a waste of time in terms of improving their employment potential.

I've known others who've become teachers and high-ranking civil servants, editors, publishers and researchers (not just for companies, but for television stations and documentary channels too), as well as journalists and urban planners. These people made use of their Arts degrees, and were VERY well positioned to secure the jobs they did because they took that degree to begin with.

Then you have the top cadre - the people who take Arts so seriously that they secure their dream job, which is usually obscure and well paid. I have known osteoarchaeologists and marine archaeologists (the people I know have explored the remains of 16th-century Spanish galleons off the coast of Florida), palaeographers, museum curators, archivists and Latinists. The more obscure the qualification, the cooler it is and the more unorthodox the job one ultimately gets.
Palaeography is very interesting. It concerns the study of ancient handwriting. If you become an expert palaeographer in your field, the academic world is your oyster. You get to travel all over the world to teach this skill to postgraduates, and you are called to decipher critical historical documents for top academics. How do you attain this skill? (1) Do an Arts Degree (in History or English or the language of your choice), and (2) do a Postgraduate MPhil or PhD in the medieval or early modern period, specialising in documents that are difficult to read.
Then there are the Higher Critics. Higher Criticism concerns Biblical scholarship of the most exciting variety - it strives to date the books of the Bible, and to discover the genesis of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It seeks to historicize the Book. It uses the methods of Classics, Hebraic Studies, Anthropology, Archaeology and Palaeography to do this.
In academia sociologists, economists, historians, geographers and political scientists have shaped the world we live in, politically, economically and socially.

While it's extremely unlikely that most Arts students would go on to become Higher Critics (although an Irishman, John Dominic Crossan, is one of the world experts in this field), the possibility is there - IF you work hard and are passionate.

This post exists to hammer home the point that Arts really is what you make of it.

Hi all, Im am seriously considering doing arts next year as a mature student and any advice would be most welcome. I have a pretty intense interest in literature, history, politics and have ambitions of becoming a journalist. I realise that perhaps an arts degree might not be essential to acheiving that ambition but I dont want to take the course purely for my career choice. I just think I would really enjoy studying some of the subjects mentioned. I do nothing outside of work besides reading and writing and in a sense feel something is lacking with regards to my education. Also would it be very difficult to secure a place being a mature student. Again any advice/comments would be much appreaciated.