Someone made a comment that angered everything capable of thought within me. When C said we (C, R, A and I) were sophomore Literature majors, in response a guy said, "Oh, nothing practical."
I could not fathom the stupidity his mouth was spewing! I'm not a Literature major myself, I do Political Science, but if I wasn't studying what I do Literature would be my major of choice. Sometimes I even regret not pursuing Literature, but that's a tale for another post.
When people think of someone studying Literature they think either: you'll be unemployed, be a failed writer or be a teacher... Nothing's wrong with teaching actually. Anyway... He said he studied Management and Economics and he seemed quite pleased by this. Seeing his surprise at seeing someone studying Lit I was expecting him to be a man of science! The natural sciences viz. chemistry, physics etc. but no.
A tried explaining that Literature is more than sitting with a book and it teaches you things you never would have thought to try to learn. Even today, as I excitedly told C about my Political Philosophy course this semester some of the things I relayed to her she knew already. Where did that knowledge come from?? Her Literature class!!
A's message fell on deaf ears because he went on to say he hated reading and there are better things to do than read a book. I wonder how he expects to get his B.Sc. While he prattled on I immersed myself in listening to the music of Oasis and messaging someone on bbm. I was quite upset and I knew if I spoke I'd slip into French and flip out.
There's more to this story...
This exchange was beginning to seem more like an interview/survey than a conversation. A and R asked if we were being recorded, because they could see a green light flashing on the little camera he was seeing and his conversation style felt forced, unnatural. Insert uncomfortable pause. After that he said, "Okay. No more questions." and left.
Even as I typed that I was upset all over again because day after day people focus on the wrong things.
