a quick question

[RAVEN]

hi there. i am only an undergraduate at the univeristy of illinois
at champaign. i am looking into a possible
rhetoric major. My only problem with choosing
this major is i really don't knwo the job market out there. i would
really appreciate if someone could get in touch with and share info.
i need a lot of advice.
thank you
sincerely, abhijit ghosh
mail aghoshux4.cso.uiuc.edu

[C. Stanford]

The job market is lousy. I would not go into Rhetoric with the expectation
that it would advance me in my financial security. If you can make your
work related to politics, you may be able to get bucks as a political or
media advisor, but don't expect a knowledge of Chomsky or Foucault (even Kant)
to bring you money.

[Charles Curran]

Perhaps the question needs to be addressed not in terms of "job" but of
"career." What can rhetoricians do well than most others cannot? One
could look at the analytical and critical skills necessarily acquired in
the study of rhetoric in all of its theortical formulations from Tisias
and Corax to Ernesto Grassi and beyond. In any event, I dislike seeing
the undergraduate major question tied so closely to "jobs." A previous
message from Edward Erdmann hit, I think, many excellent points. I
attended a conference of the AAC a couple of years ago in Philadelphia
where the prime question was, to papaphrase, "What can be done about the
tendency of undergraduates to take a narrow view of their majors?" One
of the directions that the answers seem to take was to have the major
seen as more closely related to general education at the undergraduate
level and less closely related to jobs. Good luck! Charlie Curran

[Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu)]

Oops--

sorry for the personal response to the list. Thought it was for
me.......

Apologies to all.

[Edward Erdmann]

Abhijit Ghosh:

The responses you have received so far have been discouraging. They are
right, of course, one cannot easily find a job right now. However, I
have seen a number of students move on to respectable jobs or to graduate
school. Typically, these are people who temper a realistic outlook with
good humor and an ability to aggressively pursue opportunities. They work
to develop their skills in writing and editing; they seek opportunities
beyond what can be had in classes to learn and demonstrate those writing
and editing skills--work on student newspapers or university publications,
internships, and the like. Often they combine a major in writing or speech
communication with a minor or major in a science or technical field, for the
combination makes them attractive to organizations which need help with
technical editing or writing "in-house" publications.

Then, too, your university surely must have a placement office where you
may seek help not only with sources of job advertisements, but also with
planning your undergraduate work to give you something "extra" to put on
a resume. Then, too, getting to know a few professors who may one day be
able to recommend you to prospective employers is invaluable. Find out
who in your major department or in a related department arranges internships.

[Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu)]

Tigers aren't drawing well this season, which is kinda sad...it
means that a new park is probably in the near future, which means
goodbye to one of oldest and most historical (second, I think,
only to Wrigley).

Kant's cant can't can cabbage, or wheatever, so you gotta beet
a path the world's cumquats....sorry to hear about job market.
Yet another reason to not elect B-actors to 8 years of prezship.
Maybe you should think about writing a novel and turning that
prolific prose to good (and hopefully profitable) use......???