A minor in history?

Question

If I major in English, would History be a good minor? I may end up teaching, so I was thinking that the minor might allow me to get two teaching certs. But I'm also wondering if it would help in other potential careers. Any thoughts on that major/minor combination?

Answer 1

Whether it will count for two teaching certs will depend on your state's department of education. Different states, different requirements.

Many English majors go on to graduate school and then on to college teaching--and college teaching is, for most people, much more fun than K-12, so consider it. Now, a person with a double-MA in English and History might look very attractive to some of the tinier community colleges--the ones that need their full-time faculty to be able to bump around a couple of different disciplines. Then again, English comp. is the most-enrolled course in almost every college, so English alone might do--and it would require less graduate school.

Otherwise, if it interests you and you can do it within the requirements of your basic BA degree, do it anyway for your own enjoyment. Historical criticism is not in vogue since the 70s but there's still room for that perspective.

Answer 2

If you want to teach, then make sure you're in a good position to get your certified. In other words, make sure you have the right classes and all that. Last semester I decided to drop my biology major to a minor and just focus on my math major. I was talking to one of my biology professors about my decision. He told me "Your minor can only help you. For a lot of people, they just got a minor because they needed it and doesn't mean anything down the road. For the everyone else, they can use their minor to their advantage." What he then went on to explain was that, if you minor in something you enjoy then you can take classes you enjoy and further down the road, it might help you get a career that you will enjoy. You can't major in everything you like to do. If history is something you enjoy and something you want to get into, then do it. I've even known history minors who go work in the business field because they have good research skills from all those history papers they wrote. I have another friend who writes about the history of certain locations in the area for the local newspaper.

Answer 3

History is a wonderful subject -- but if you want to teach, then minoring in education may be the smarter move. You can still take a few history classes.