“I’m learning about Marxist theory; I can’t fix your Wi-Fi!”
Alex Heintz chuckled as she recalled the story of her friends, who know little about her degree. She’s studying media, information and technoculture at Western, otherwise known as MIT, the acronym of a well known technology school. The Faculty of Information and Media Studies is a small program compared to big faculties Social Science, Science, Engineering, and Arts and Humanities. Heintz is used to others’ unwillingness to learn more about her degree.
Although Heintz jokes about her friends’ indifference to her studies, there is a harmful aspect to the lack of knowledge about certain degrees at Western. Many students have recalled stories of friends, family members, and other people being not only indifferent, but condescending towards students who have chosen to study something that is not “worth” a certain amount in society.
Photo credit: Council of Ontario Universities
In particular, visual arts students at Western experience being the butt of jokes from those studying more “practical” degrees such as business, engineering, and science. Katie Pickell, a second year visual arts student, noted that the program is not exactly the joyride it’s made out to be. In fact, Katie will spend up to fifteen hours a day in the Labatt Visual Arts Centre, excluding the hours of work at home and on the weekend. The “easy” reputation that the program has received has bred frustration in her classmates and herself.
“In general, folks are always fairly condescending when I say I’m getting a degree in Fine Arts,” Pickell explained. “It doesn’t matter that I’m in the honours stream and that I’m aiming to do Practicum in my final year, nor that my GPA is likely higher than your average student. At the end of the day, people hear ‘fine arts’ and assume that I’m coasting my way through university.”
The “worth” that students ascribe to a certain degree is inherently subjective. On one hand, there is the simple equation of how much the degree costs versus the future earning potential. On the other hand, there is a question of working on your degree because of simply liking to study the material, as well as a number of other factors.
Ethan Aquino, a second year visual arts student and a classmate of Pickell’s, agreed that in a financial sense, some degrees are worth more than others. However, to ascribe worth in simply one sense would be ignorant, he said.
“True, some degrees are worth more in society based on expectations and the demand for certain things,” Aquino said. “Some careers are simply a more desirable commodity, while some are needed less. However, you can’t really compare the worth of a degree or a job when they are different things. Arts and science aren’t meant to be the same thing – there’s a reason they’re different.”
As well as visual arts degrees, other humanities degrees have been criticized for being less practical and more theoretical. One of these degrees is classical studies – a program that studies ancient Greek and Roman history. While the immediate application of such a degree could initially appear to be limited, the skills learnt from it are valuable, said Joy Ling, a second year classical studies student.
“With classics, I get a lot of, ‘what are you going to do with that?’” Ling said. “I find this hilarious because it usually comes from someone who doesn’t know that I’m confident, capable, ambitious, and probably smarter than them.”
Ling’s path is slightly unusual, as she plans on attending the Richard Ivey School of Business after she has finished two years of studying classics.
“I get a different reaction when people find out I plan on attending Ivey,” she said. “All of a sudden they treat me nicer and with more respect. I have nothing but disdain for those people.”
Sarah Bazal is a second year student studying Geoscience who also wants to attend Ivey. Although she has not experienced condescension towards her degree first hand, she says that there is a sort of dismissal that goes both ways due to the innate lack of understanding between faculties.
“Sometimes I feel people in the arts don’t take me seriously when I participate in a discussion pertaining to the arts,” Bazal said. “They can be pretty dismissive, even when the kind of conversation consists of something that I am passionate about, but on my own time. I think it’s rooted in the inherent anger that arts people have to science kids due to the constant lack of understanding towards the two faculties.”
Despite common thought, employers aren’t as selective about degrees as one might think—despite STEM degrees being atop almost every “best degree” list. The skills one acquires both in and out of the classroom are valuble to employers, if you sell your skills correctly. In fact, HBO, Starbucks, and Disney’s CEOs were all liberal arts majors. But even if your dream isn’t to become a CEO, as many people’s definitely aren’t, there is no way any sort of degree is useless.
“The truth is, the world is subjective and to place a value on one area of study over another is impossibly ignorant,” Pickell said simply. “There is no one job that is redundant within society, whether it’s the arts or science or agriculture–all degrees exist for a reason. Even if the reason is simply that someone, somewhere finds enough value in it to study it.”