If you’re a college student (or have ever been in college for that matter), I’m confident that what I’m about to talk about is something that has probably happened to you. I’m going to dub the name “major shaming,” and while this isn’t the type of shaming that is going to cause a social movement, start riots, or go viral worldwide, I still believe that it is something worth talking about.
By the time you’re at the end of your senior year in high school, you are so tired of answering the question “what are you going to major in?” This question has begun to define your existence, whether you had an honest and confident answer to it or you just came up with one to get people off your back. By the time you are at the end of your second or third year of college, however, things start to change. Ideally, you have found the field that you love, and the light at the end of the tunnel is just barely visible. And the question “what are you going to major in?” isn’t quite so scary anymore. Unfortunately, the question that you are tired of answering has switched from “what are you going to major in?” and has turned into feedback such as “you’re going to hate that,” “that sounds like too much work,” “you won’t make any money doing that,” or “what could you possibly do with that degree?”
This is the “major shaming” that I’m talking about, and I’ve heard it far too often.
You have now dedicated several years of your life, several thousands of dollars, and several identity crises to the major that you’ve chosen, and yet people have the audacity to make you question it, feel bad about it, or doubt your future, which lets be honest, you’ve already been doing. So my question now, is why? Why do we respond to people in a way that makes them doubt or feel bad about what they have been working so hard to accomplish? There is nothing more spectacular then seeing someone light up when they talk about their passions, and yet we dismiss that in exchange for the many negative aspects that could come with any job or any major.
What if we changed our response? What if instead of sharing our opinion or divulging the less appealing aspects of someone else’s choice, we began to simply ask each other, why? Why did you choose that major or that career? And then really listen to the answer. It may surprise you to see how much love an engineering major can have for electrons, the dedication that a future nurse has to health and the well-being of others, or the vast amounts of knowledge that a person in the welding program has about cars.
College is hard enough without tearing each other down, and it takes all kinds of people to make the world grow. That is why we have so many different majors to begin with. Going out into the real world seems easier when the people you care about are on your side and if someone tells you that you can’t do it, or you will hate it, or any of these other “shame-worthy” comments, prove to them exactly how wrong they are.
