Any college student knows that the first question following “What’s your name?” and “Where are you from” in any conversation with a new, fellow college student acquaintance is the ubiquitous “What’s your major?”
“English,” I say, “with a minor in writing.”
Pop Quiz: Is the common reaction a. scoffing, b. a pitying look, c. a comment about how I will never find a job, or d. all of the above? If you answered d, congratulations! You’re correct! (You didn’t win anything though. Sorry.)
There's a stigma around studying the liberal arts, and it's not just confined to those of us studying English. Art, graphic design, languages, philosophy -- heck, even psychology -- all fall victim to similar reactions.
More often than not, the negative reactions that I get to my choice in major comes from STEM majors (for those not in the loop, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math) or from adults who think that STEM fields are the only valid career options if you want to, you know, do anything with your life. There’s this notion at my college (and, I would also guess, at other schools, too) that STEM fields are more important and that the students studying STEM are probably smarter.
I’ll be the first person to say that I get it. I came into college as a STEM major myself. Nutrition Pre-Dietetics, to be exact. And while it’s not something that is “traditionally” thought of as a STEM major, the fact that the courses in the four year plan included the entire chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, biochemistry, and anatomy and physiology series makes me pretty sure that it counts. I spent my first year suffering through chemistry, math, and biology courses, so I have an appreciation for how difficult college level STEM classes are.
When I started taking my first upper division English classes in the summer and fall of 2015 after I switched my major, I wasn’t prepared for the level of difficulty that they presented. I, too, believed that classes in the liberal arts field would be much easier than the ones I had been taking previously. And surprise, surprise! I was wrong.
Instead of taking tests that I had to study for a week to do well on, I had huge papers due that took the same amount of time to research, write, and edit. Rather than reading through a dense textbook filled with dull chemistry equations or detailed maps of the human digestive system, I was working through Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,” Faulkner’s "As I Lay Dying," and numerous works of Shakespeare. My classes and work weren’t easier, just different. They simply challenged a different part of me.
“But, Nina,” you might be thinking, “you’re still not going to find a job. What are you really going to do with an English major, like, realistically?”
My answer is simple: I’m not entirely sure. But I’m okay with that. Studying a liberal arts field gives me a lot more options in fields I've probably never even heard of or knew existed, so I won't be roped into one field for the rest of my life. That idea really excites me. No, I may not have a set career path or "guaranteed job" because I'm not going into the medical field or want to work in aerospace, but the thing is that not all of us can be doctors or engineers. Some of us have to write things or draw things or contribute to society in jobs that haven't even been created yet.
So, let's stop stigmatizing the liberal arts. Let's start accepting that they are just as valid of a life path as someone studying biology or engineering or computer science. And finally, let's all acknowledge the fact that going to college at all is a huge step and setting us up for a brighter, more educated future, regardless of what field we choose to study.
