If you are a college student that has opened social media at least once, you might have seen tweets, memes, and videos detailing the ongoing debate between humanities and STEM majors. More specifically, you will probably see videos of STEM students complaining about how hard their majors are, along with shady captions stating that they would have had it easier if they were just humanities majors. On the other hand, you will have humanities majors often calling out STEM majors for oversimplifying their majors along with a usual jab at their writing skills.
Personally, I think the insults from all sides are useless. This is ultimately because I believe that both majors come with their own unique challenges that make them difficult. When we pit them against each other, we all do a disservice to ourselves as learners.
Many people say that STEM majors are ultimately harder because of the difficult nature of the classes. There are so many difficult aspects of STEM classes: there is a lot of information to memorize, there are a lot of different concepts to grasp, and there are a lot of real-world applications that are required to learn about. Not to mention, STEM tracks in universities contain many weeder classes, or classes designed to make sure people leave the major. There are no real reasons to deny the fact that STEM majors are difficult.
But, humanities majors aren’t simply just “drawing on the steps of college campuses,” as some misguided STEM majors may put it. Humanities majors require one to read very dense readings, learn how to process and synthesize tons of information, to write often, and to be accepting to have their own works to be evaluated on the basis of a professor’s opinion, rather than being checked for a definite answer. By comparing STEM and humanities majors, you really are just comparing apples to oranges. While both are not difficult in the same ways, they both have their own unique challenges that can make them both stressful. At the end of the day, it really depends on the student and their strengths to make the right choice in regards to their major.
Additionally, there is so much to be learned from both fields. When I first started college, I came in as a biochemistry major. This led me to take a lot of science, math, and logic classes. While these classes were on the difficult side for me, I learned savvy problem-solving methods and new ways to study that I still find extremely useful I also came to appreciate the fact that for every problem, there is an answer in the STEM world. However, as a history major now, I have learned how to consume things critically, I learned more effective communication skills, and I have gained a better understanding of the world around me. Without both of these fields, I would not be the learner I am today.
This is why it is annoying to pit STEM and humanities against each other. I mean, some of our history’s well known mathematicians and scientists like Sir Isaac Newton and Pythagoras studied and appreciated both science and humanities. Why shouldn’t we?