Something that has recently caught my attention is the habit of people making fun of others for their choice in majors. While it has always seemed like adults have no issue sharing their opinions on your college choices, when did students become so judgmental of each other? Aren’t we all trying to accomplish the same thing?
Most of the judgment is towards people who have picked an “easy option” for their major. Subjects like education, behavioral sciences and the arts are often looked down at, even though they are far from easy. Just because these majors don’t require as many math or science courses as a STEM major, it doesn’t mean they’re not difficult. Education majors spend a huge amount of time working on things like lesson plans, teaching techniques and observations. Behavioral sciences like psychology or sociology have experiments and research that can be very demanding. Music majors spend more time practicing their instruments than I can even imagine. All of these majors call for different strengths from students and none of them are “easy options.”
Now, this isn’t meant to turn the shame around to students with majors like nursing or engineering. As a criminal justice major, I know that I would never be able to be successful in classes like that, and that’s okay. That’s why we have so many different choices for students. We don’t all have the same skill sets or interests, and the world would be boring if we did. This variety of studies is needed in order for there to be well-educated people in every field after graduation. If everyone was a STEM major, who would work in careers that have nothing to do with math or science?
Instead of judging other students for what they have chosen to do with their life, we need to be accepting and supportive. College is already hard enough without having to feel like you aren’t as intelligent or hard-working as someone from a different major. We need to realize that even being in college at all is an amazing accomplishment that many people are unable to do. No one student is better than another because of what major they wrote down on a piece of paper, especially considering most students change their major at some point anyway. It’s 2018, and it’s definitely time for everyone to accept that we are all working equally hard in order to live a more successful life after graduation. When we get that degree after graduation, we all deserve to be proud.
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