To want to do an MA in a useless subject?

[BabCNesbitt]

I'm late 30s, DD nearly 3, and just before she was born I finished a PT foreign language/lit degree (my second BA). I've been a SAHM since then. I didn't have a great career before then, so I don't have anything exciting to return to.

The only thing I've ever felt truly excited about was the literature parts of the degree, and it's not much of an exaggeration to say that the degree saved my sanity. I'd love to pick that up again by doing an MA part-time and maybe even a PhD (and my tutors encouraged me to continue). Given that academic jobs are like hens' teeth and I'd be hitting my late 40s by the time I finished, AIBU to still want to apply for an essentially useless course?

why not just try evening classes? my parents do this. it is all high level stuff, as everyone there is so well educated

Learn to make pottery or play the piano. Equally pointless in that you are unlikely to make a career out of it,at least the latter.

If your family need the cash then it is self indulgent to spend working hours effectively pursuing a hobby. That said, put some thought into it? Can you do it in your spare time with a FT or PT job? If the thought fills you with dread then you are not studying for the love of it but it's more of a lifestyle choice. A nice one but still a luxury.

My Fil did his PhD when he retired. He started a whole new career in academia in his late 50's.
I think there's a choice to be made about the family finances. Can you use it as a springboard to tutoring for example?

Oh, I've no problem with doing a job at the same time - that's how I did my BA, working full-time and studying in the evenings. The only thing I can't figure out is how I could pay for even a PT masters and still make any money at all (would have to pay for childcare before and after school and probably regular travel to another city).

I tried pottery before - it doesn't go very well with eczema And I'm loving the idea of trying to fit a piano in our tiny terrace house...

Finding this thread very interesting as I am trying to make a similar decision. I'm in my 40s. I have a degree/qualification in a profession and have worked using that all my life but I would have really loved to do english lit degree. I'm now at a point where I could probably give up work with minimal impact on our finances. DH would be happy for me to do so. I've taken a few college level english lit courses recently (while working) and i've enjoyed them more than anything I have ever done. So am trying to screw up the courage to just do a degree for the hell of it. I can't see myself ever really teaching or in academia - I just want to learn for the pleasure of it.

Could you do it with the OU? Or at night time so that DH picks up the childcare burden out of hours?

I think you need to decide if you are doing it for fun, simply to keep your brain ticking over and giving you something else to think/talk about than your DD; OR is there a long-term goal and what that is.

For the former, the solution needs to be cheap. Possibly aided by free nursery place next year if the family finances can take it.
For the latter, then if real sacrifice in terms of cost and time is to be made, then you need to work out exactly how to achieve it and what the realistic job prospects are at the end of it.

One question - I'm baffled as to why it's going to take you 8-10 yrs to do an MA in a subject you already have a rusty BA in? 2 yrs PT tops surely?

Regardless of what you decide, it is absolutely NOT a useless degree!! True that academic jobs can be hard to get (though it's not at all unusual to have part time/ temporary jobs working in an academic dept.) It's the full time permanent ones that are more difficult, but not impossible. Apart from this your degree could lead to work in translation - especially literary translation. I once earned $7500 dollars for a book that took two weeks to translate. You'd also be well placed to explore freelance journalism. These are just a few thoughts off the top of my head - but please don't perpetuate the myth that languages/ literature = useless.

Definitely not unreasonable to do it. Has the potential to be a real joy. And if you want to do it for the sheer pleasure of it, go for it.

However if the aim is to get a career off the ground, then I'd advise you to do your research and have a plan in place.

Speaking from bitter experience, getting a PhD is a complete bitch (well, first couple of years were lovely, but by the endgame I wanted to kill myself). Getting an academic career off the ground in the current climate, particularly in arts, is even worse.

Apologies if this sounds very negative. There are lots of great paths that this degree could open for you outside of academia, but I'd really recommend investigating options now and going in with a clear sense of what you want to get out of it.

Sorry, just saw the other replies to this. TreadSoftly, 8-10 years because the long-term goal would be to do a PhD and (ideally) get a job in academia. Which, as noted above, is bloody hard to do, so much as I would love it, it's probably not worth contemplating. The OU doesn't do my subject at MA level, and the only place I know that does evening MAs in my field is in London - too far a commute for me.

Sally, as far as a long-term reasonably stable income is concerned, I suspect that freelance journalism's about as safe a bet as academia, isn't it?

Laurie, it doesn't sound negative - it sounds realistic. I'm not sure what the other great paths would be? I'm thinking about Plan Bs right now, but I can't imagine any entry level employers looking to take on a nearly-40 mother of a preschool child when there are hundreds of new graduates looking for work and unencumbered by age and parenthood.

I don't suppose your DH's career is likely to take you to a geographical location with more opportunities to utilise your skills? I wouldn't recommend moving to London on an academic's salary without housing thrown in but would your language be more niche in another country like Canada/US/Singapore where there are good universities?

Is your language an official EU language? That may offer up more prosaic commercial opportunity than literature. Teaching and translation are the only areas other than writing that strike me but it's not my area at all.

Q - "Given that academic jobs are like hens' teeth" are there many people actually pursuing PHD's in your chosen area? Most people don't chose to spend years of their lives studying unless they see an end goal to pay off the student debts. I read somewhere that the more academic courses are experiencing a huge fall-off for more commerical courses. You may well find that you were encouraged to pursue it for more reasons than just keeping their numbers up.

Do what you love

I'm doing my PhD thesis on 21st century learning approaches (MOOCs)

I don't have an end-goal in mind, but the process of doing a PhD is as much about learning how to think effectively, as it is about the thesis itself!

bab go for it, IMO any course is useful if you use it as an opportunity to think about how you are learning, not just "what" you are learning - IME it will look great on your CV with all your other qualifications, and your life experience!

Enjoy - every day's a school day!

I have to admit, after reading a thread last week about all the politics, back-biting and ego's involved in academia, it put me right off wanting to get a job in a university.

I wouldn't survive for 5 minutes, based on what I read anyway!

daisy - not everywhere is like that. I worked in a vile environment for years, and nearly left academia, and luckily landed a job in a dept full of lovely supportive colleagues.
OP - yes, I take your point, but I also know a number of people who have managed to make a decent living freelancing. You need to work really hard at connections etc, but it's not impossible.
There's also publishing - especially one of the presses that acknowledges foreign literature. Copy editing etc. It would also be something that set you apart from the crowd if you were to apply for a teaching job. It's really not useless!