What do you do with a B. A. in English?

I've seen Avenue Q last Saturday, and although this isn't a review let me just say that it was fun and entertaining and totally worth seeing. After the opening number the lead character Princeton sings the song "What do you do with a B. A. in English?" and it's hard not to be affected, ten years after graduation...

Technically my degree is a Bachelor of Arts Majoring in Literature, as world lit and Philippine lit is well covered (that's a good thing). Nonetheless, it's the same degree as Princeton's. Here's the lyrics:


What do you do with a B.A. in English,
What is my life going to be?
Four years of college and plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree.

I can't pay the bills yet,
'Cause I have no skills yet,
The world is a big scary place.

But somehow I can't shake,
The feeling I might make,
A difference,
To the human race.

Immediately after graduation I became an Assistant Lecturer at De La Salle University. I was going to be an academician and literary scholar in addition to my grandiose dreams of literary success. After two years of teaching, here are the jobs I've had:

• real estate salesman (I didn't close a single sale)
• advertising copywriter
• insurance salesman (I didn't get my license)
• news writer, broadcast producer, director, anchor (all for AM radio)
• production assistant (for film, all for commercial advertising)
• home security system salesman (I didn't close a single sale)
• healthcare salesman/sales trainer
• freelance consultant (training and human resources)
• process security officer (MIS)
• finance officer
• paralegal (I wrote house bills for congress, those are would-be laws baby)
• call center agent (only for training purposes)
• human resources manager (organization development)
• business development manager

That's quite a lot for ten years work experience. No, I don't put all of them in my CV. How did my degree directly contribute to landing these jobs, much less making me competent in any of them? No way. A B. A. in English did nothing for me. All my skills I learned on the job. As for smarts and talent, that could have been trained better in a more useful degree.

Having said all that, I love that I studied literature. I'm not exactly well off, but I'm a man with a plan and I'm executing. I feel like I've gotten away with having a useless degree. But did I get what I want (my aspirations while I was in college)? No. Everything changed.