You study... English?

As a non-English major/minor, it’s nice to be in a class that requires deeper thinking. I study Finance and marketing and often in these classes, especially finance, it’s usually black and white. The professor shows us what is right and what is wrong, you can transfer assets to your spouse tax-free but in most cases, you can’t transfer assets tax-free to your kid. Finance is a skill that will help you make money. However, having money is only the first step to a quality life. 

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has five levels. (If you’re familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, feel free to skip to the next paragraph). At the bottom are the physiological needs, human’s most basic needs to merely survive such as food, shelter and water. Then you have safety needs such as personal security, healthcare and employment. The middle level, our love and belonging needs, require us to have intimate relationships with friends, family and a sense of connection with the world. Next, are self-esteem needs which include self-respect, recognition by others and status. Finally we find self-actualization needs to be the greatest version of ourselves possible. 

Money no doubt takes care of our two basic needs, survival and safety. We can outright buy food, a roof over our heads and a healthcare policy. For our last three needs, money can only be used as a means to fulfill them rather than purchase them outright. This is where studying English and learning the necessary life skills comes into play. 

English teaches you how to think critically and beyond a superficial level. Sure, we understand that the poem is about kites. But what is the author trying to say about life through the lens of kites? This is when the study of literature forces us to make deeper connections, to expand and deepen our thinking. With repetition, just like any skill, it becomes a habit. Now we are thinking about our own lives critically. We can envision how this setback in our lives could propel us to a bigger success or why our boss just doesn’t see a problem the same way we do. How does this help us fulfill our 3 highest needs?

If we can understand ourselves and the ones around us better, we can make deeper, more intimate connections with people. Not only does this lead to life-long friends but it also satisfies our love and belonging needs. If we think well, we can effectively strategize how to grow our career or our business. This leads to recognition from our peers, Maslow’s 2nd highest need. Finally if we think deeply and critically, we can start to master ourselves and our lives. We start to reflect about our own lives, think and ponder life’s tough questions. Ultimately this results in achieving our highest need of self-actualization.

So yeah, it’s nice to break from the traditional note-heavy business classes but perhaps more importantly, the study of English literature is shaping me to think better. And you?