For those of you who've never heard the term or who are not “basket weaving majors,” you may have no clue about this topic. As a sociology major, I've heard lots of interesting commentary about my major from a lot of different people, most who don’t even know me. Most often people make jokes and ask if I’m going to psychoanalyze them or something, which really doesn’t even make sense, considering sociology is the study of people -- as in groups of people.
Let’s start with the stuff we’ve all heard. I bet any of you can think of exactly what I’m about to say: “Ha, better go to grad school.” “What are you going to do with that?” “You won’t make any money doing that.” These may sound innocent enough, but I feel they're insulting.
The answer to one simple question, “What are you majoring in?” can define someone’s first impression of you. And it doesn’t depend on your answer, it depends on their interpretation of how “useful” your field of study is in the job market. But the thing is that college was not created for the job market. Sure, that’s why many of us chose to come here, but if you look back through history, people actually used to enjoy learning. Shocking, I know. This is one reason why I just don’t care about what people think of what I'm studying. I’m here to learn something I actually care about -- not to find a job, something that may be rare. But I feel like my fellow basket weavers understand where I’m coming from.
I've always been a writer, in high school and now college. “Why don’t you change your major to journalism?” Why would I want to major in something I already do perfectly fine with little formal education? I want to expand my mind learning things that cannot be found on the Internet.
What do most of you non-basket weavers do when you don’t understand a concept? I can basically assure you that any of the answers you would need for any science or math major could be found online. If they can’t be found online, then at least the concept can be. I've taken classes where none of the material was online because my professor was so brilliant that he was actually the person who created the theories.
What we learn may not be an exact science, and I won’t try to say it is by any means, but I feel like what I learn is useful in the real world. How will this sub group react to a certain kind of ad campaign? I can tell you. Learning how to understand behavior and why people are the way they are is useful in marketing, business, non-profit work, and many other fields.
Another thing us basket weavers have on everyone else is that we have more time to take on things like internships, jobs, volunteer work and other resume-building activities. We don’t just do this because we have the time, though. The “What are you going to do with that?” people are everywhere. They're not just concerned relatives and friends. I have explained why my major would be useful in X-type of environment so many times to employers and strangers alike. Because I do not want to be waiting tables the rest of my life, my résumé is so full, I'm almost afraid to include everything because I’m paranoid it will look fake.
So, to all my fellow basket weavers, keep doing what you love. And to everyone else, this is merely educational (I live with two science majors; what they study is hard as hell) and I value all majors. Next time someone tells you, “You better go to grad school,” just whip out that résumé and smack them with it.
