 No Career, No Respect
One of the major themes of university life - and this may sound unreal - is the career! This is it folks! For a huge number of us it all ends here, or so we are led to believe. What you study in college determines what you're going to be spending your days and nights on for the rest of your working life, and no matter how hard you try or whatever other favorable opportunities fate may present, you're stuck with it. At least that's the consensus of the collective subconscious deeply embedded in the contemporary common sense. In simpler terms, this is what people think.
I speak from experience - and the experience repeated so many times by me and my department mates that even almighty scientific theory, whom is often unkind to the likes of us, would accept it as law. Perhaps I'm biased and stuck on this perspective. Please do feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but social science and art degrees don't seem to be appreciated much in Turkey, unless they are directly linked to a career. When asked about what I study -even if I simplify it to the point of malformation- and say literature, people try to link it to some kind of an acceptable job. The most common follow up question is: "So you're gonna be a teacher, right?" Answering that question negatively automatically results in strong disappointment for the asker. You see, the question is asked only to confirm that, of course, I'm going to be an English teacher! What else could I possibly hope to achieve by studying in the "American Culture and Literature" program? I have concluded that the general expectation from a university education is quite industrious and goal oriented. Unless it aims to get you a job, it's not worth studying. Character building, getting a life, or gaining some tools to fight off the higher mysteries of life don't seem to be glorious goals.
It gets even better. If, as a result of a slip of a tongue or curious courage I happen to utter the full name of my department, all hell breaks loose. It is difficult - if not dangerous- to admit studying a culture when the common perception is that it's all about Imperialist Capitalists trying to take over the world while corrupting the pure minds of our younger generations through melodramatic TV shows. There is a pattern to the responses I receive when I tell people what I study. The instinctively triggered initial reaction is an attempt to disprove the existence of the culture, or the literature of said culture. Upon failing in that, they try to prove that even if there is such a thing as American culture, it is nothing more than self-help books and MTV garbage.
I'm sure the existence or the nature of American Culture is not a big issue for y'all, and this not an ethics column telling you how to behave. I would only ask of you, if I may, to treat the matter with courtesy and respect. Imagine being an electrical engineering student and having people constantly try to argue that there is no such thing as electricity and claiming there is would be heresy and would mark you as a traitor against your Motherland.
Thank you.
Note: Just so you know, our very own University's "American Culture and Literature" department occasionally organizes seminars and talks about American culture and offers courses for non-major students wishing to learn about the real America, outside the TV screen. If you're interested, check out STARS!
Onur Çelik (AMER/II)
o_celik@ug.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr
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