Rhetoric and the Job Market

[Charles Curran]

Mr. Ghoshi makes a superb case for what I meant in my earlier memo. I
would add that MLA need not be the only venue. The Speech Communication
Association would be an excellent venue as well.

[Amanda Therese Goldrick-Jones]

I agree that the job market is "lousy," as C. Stanford put it. For any
chosen English major, it seems to me that you have to augment it with
other interests/abilities/fields to become most marketable. In my own
experience, I've found a rhetoric/composition combination is most likely
to help me pay the rent; it's also been rewarding, as with a Rhetoric/Comp.
M.A., I was qualified to teach college, and did so for 4 years before
entering a Rhetoric PhD program. Good work experience there!

I am further augmenting my Rhetoric studies with work in feminist theory
(with some explorations into cultural studies as well), so I can have
a foot in 2 camps when I graduate. I also have an interest in business
and professional writing, and have served as a freelance business writing
consultant. To me, choosing Rhetoric as a major has formed a very
fruitful basis for exploring a variety of related fields. Despite C.
Stanford's pessimism--which is largely justified, unfortunately--I would
advise going ahead with Rhetoric studies with the proviso that anyone
pursuing such studies be open to other, related disciplines. I believe
Rhetoric is extremely well-suited, as a discipline, to creating other
opportunities. The latest MLA job statistics show a decline, but
there are _still_ more rhetoric/composition positions being advertised
than positions in any other field in English these days.

Good luck, Abhijit Ghosh!
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Amanda Goldrick-Jones. . .Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy NY 12180
gol...@rpi.edu
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