By Maddi Ference
Staff Writer
Resumes are polished, suits are pressed and business cards are stacked. The only thing this year’s senior class needs is for an employer to take a chance and say, “you’re hired.”
As the College’s seniors, and some underclassmen, begin searching for internships and frantically applying for any opportunities that are relevant to their degrees, the College is working to make the process as stress-free as possible. The Spring Career and Internship Fair features dozens of employers looking for ambitious students who are eager to jumpstart their careers and enter the real world with some security.
But when scrolling through Handshake’s list of employers registered for the event, I find that there aren’t many companies searching for students studying arts and communication. It seems that every other listing has something to do with finance, accounting, technology or engineering. While that’s great for students in those respective schools, it leaves everyone else to fend for themselves and hopefully find a job on their own.
The career fair is geared toward students going into business and science fields, which speaks to the College’s emphasis on the success of this particular group. The lack of opportunities for students in the humanities, whether intentional or not, feeds into the current theory circulating in basic education systems that the only careers that will bring a candidate success are in business or technology because “that is the way society is evolving.” Although some people are more creatively driven, society discourages students from those professions since there is more of a demand for technology-driven jobs. I, along with my peers studying communication, understand that the world is becoming more technology-driven, but that should not mean that liberal arts and creativity are less important and less likely to bring a person success.
As a society, we should be celebrating all different kinds of success, rather than put such an emphasis on business and technology. Not only should we learn to appreciate the humanities and encourage students to enter these fields, but we should also acknowledge the opportunity to blend technology and liberal arts, rather than separate the two.
Steve Jobs once quoted the importance of liberal arts and humanities in the unveiling of the iPad 2.
The tech guru said, “It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.”
If Steve Jobs can understand and emphasize the importance of technology and liberal arts, I am confident that the College can too.
I urge the College to provide more opportunities for those students who want to be successful outside of finance and engineering. This is an institution that is revered for different types of accomplishments by students of all majors— not just business and technology.
Students share opinions around campus
“Are there equal opportunities in all academic schools?”
physics double major.
“In general yes, for the school of engineering not as much, but for other schools there is.”
“Yes, there’s good representation for the arts school. As an English major there is plenty of opportunity for me.”
