Earlier this year, I had a revealing conversation with a fellow first-year student. As we discussed our plans for the summer, they proudly announced they would be working an internship with BlackRock. This world-renowned, multilateral corporation also funds United States aerospace and defense weaponry.

At first, I was widely confused about how our shared major of sociology — which employs empirical research to examine social policy — had resulted in their pursuit of an investment and assets position, feeding into a military-industrial complex that goes against everything we learned. Soon I realized the economic incentives behind the company did not matter, and they only decided to take on this diverging path due to the prestige and networking experiences that come out of this job. These factors are not only strong motivators but also reassurances of their hard work.  

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This case is more than common at USC, where students are encouraged but also pressured to add numerous specializations to their degree objective. Ranging from management consulting to advertising, the world seems like an oyster presenting an overwhelming amount of career-oriented minors. 

Knowing my aversion to USC’s pre-professional culture, it is easy to imagine when I first started college I was slightly disappointed by the University’s lack of dedication to the broad grasp of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and the arts, particularly in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. 

Not only are the practical majors more popular than the “dead disciplines” that feed into professorship — but even the out-of-classroom experiential practices seem to be centered around a limited range of activities such as case competitions and social media influencing. 

Beneath the seemingly glorious outlook, it is important to keep in mind that for students without the titles of “pre,” most of our growth still occurs in the classroom, where we are immersed in theories about identity formations and spend hours in lab coats. Granted, these experiences may not score free trips to Latin America or a summer exchange in Europe, but they are, nonetheless, fundamental to shaping our belief systems.

Indeed, obtaining specialized expertise that feeds into our interests can be more productive and ultimately more rewarding than simply casting a wide net with every course cluster. Yet, the biggest challenge of committing to specific professional schools indicates not just the selectivity of the occupations but the ethical implications behind the application of our knowledge. Here’s how we as an institution went wrong by abusing our studies of society, politics, technology and business operations. 

In intensive academic spaces, we are given hundreds of pages of reading followed by essay prompts to produce collaborative projects and research papers we may never touch again. For instance, despite analyzing oppressive regimes, sociology students are stuck in our echo chambers and do not see the firsthand effects of these phenomena. Therefore, we may still contribute to these powerful structures and are unable to declare a firm stance when facing ethical dilemmas. 

A primary example of this mismatch can be seen through former President Obama and his time at Columbia University as an undergraduate majoring in political science. While delving deep into international relations, he attended many lectures with Palestinian professor Edward Said, who is a prominent scholar of Orientalism and vocally opposed violent tactics against residents of the Middle East. Despite their intimate connection and Obama’s close study of the Arab culture in the Middle East, he still made important political compromises to appeal to Jewish voters during his administration. 

When I came across this anecdote, I thought of all the professors who preached to my critical theory classes, urging us to explore graduate schools instead of recruiting for full-time, entry-level jobs early on. 

The consideration of personal finances aside, I am not here to criticize our generation’s natural tendency to lean into economically favorable tracks over social and public services. After all, why commit to a limited range of impact in grassroots fieldwork and community outreach when you can sit in a high-ceiling office and still manage to implement a more enduring impact through the convenience of your desktop? 

Right? Wrong. 

This mindset may simplify the process of generating wealth without worrying about the weight of moral obligations, but it also invalidates the essence of learning for the sake of exploration.

I want to urge my fellow liberal arts enthusiasts to reconsider the relationship we have with the content we absorb. Amid all of the late-night study sessions and repeated essay revisions, we should strive toward a bright future that contributes to a bigger picture above our existence and functionality — and we must employ the same mentality when searching for spaces to apply this knowledge.