Thoughts at the start of your studies
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Teacher or cab driver? - A bachelor student's fight against clichés
Breadless art. Cab driver. Bookworm. Only for bookworms. Life as a bachelor's student of German studies is not made easy. You always have to justify yourself. Why, why, why German studies? What do you want to become?
| Grandma to granddaughter: "My child, tell me again exactly what you want to do with it. The other day at the bakery, Elke asked me what exactly you were studying again and I could only give her a rough idea of where it would lead." |
| Ah German studies? So a teaching degree. Haupt/ Real? Grammar school or primary school teaching? |
| No - none of the above. You're studying for a Bachelor's degree? What - why is that, why not a teaching degree? |
| Um, maybe because I don't want to become a teacher? |
This or something similar is how the conversations always go when you are asked about your future career as a Bachelor's student of German studies.
On the one hand, I can understand my grandparents' unease, back then you learned a "solid" profession, you had a secure income immediately or soon after and could think about your house, farm and family planning. If you baked bread, you were a baker, if you worked on the roof, you were a roofer or carpenter, if you had anything to do with money, you were a banker, and if your parents had their own farm, it was usually logical for you to become a farmer as the first-born. That's how simple, clear and obvious it used to be. And now they have to worry that their grandchild won't find a secure job - with their "breadless" art - and may end up under the bridge. And yet I keep explaining that there are many career opportunities for a graduate in German studies.
A traineeship as a journalist, in public relations, as an editor, lecturer or even in radio and broadcasting. The opportunities are many and varied. I think I myself would like to work in public relations or one of my great career ambitions would be to find a job at a radio station.
You should also see it as a positive thing that the options are so open to you after graduation, so I can recommend studying humanities to all free spirits who can't yet make a career decision. You just shouldn't let yourself be put off, refrain from stupid and ignorant comments and find and follow your own career path through your studies.