“I take science classes so that I can pursue my passion of becoming a nurse, but I take English classes because they help me to become the nurse I want to be,” I explained to my mom during our conversation about why I had taken seven English courses.
When you’re an outsider looking in, it’s hard to understand why an already busy pre-nursing student would even consider a humanities minor. And you know, a few years ago, I would have been the same way, congratulating the person on their accomplishment, but really not understanding the relevance of their choice. Honestly, there may even have been some silent judgment in my eyes (oh to be an ignorant high schooler).
It wasn’t until the last few weeks of this quarter that I had discovered the reason I was drawn to these “out of major” classes. Besides being the place where I found some of my favorite people, they were opportunities to see how my collective college experience could be put to use. For example, while sitting in a class debate about what is required in texts, sameness or otherness, I brought up the example of using combination therapy. Physicians prescribe a combination of antibiotics, so that if a type of bacteria is resistant to one of the drugs then the other medication can kill it. I had used a concept that I had been taught in my microbiology class to explain the need for both sameness and otherness in order to make sense of a topic dealing with empathy in my English class. That was when my professor raised the idea of the importance of interdisciplinary studies.
Interdisciplinary studies are defined as “involving two or more academic, scientific, or artistic disciplines,” like nursing and English. Here’s the thing, as the next generation, we feel like we have to make a decision between what we love and what’s going to support us. In enough of the student population, those two things aren’t synonymous. Sometimes, people are blessed by being able to choose something that fits both criteria, while others settle for one or the other. However, by realizing the power of interdisciplinary studies, you can do both.
I can take these physiology and microbiology classes that both fascinate and get me toward my end goal. I can go to lab and understand how reactions work or why our bodies do what they do. I can do that, and thankfully, I can love it. But to be the nurse that can both identify symptoms and be a support system, I need my English classes. I need to be placed in a classroom where I am encouraged to foster ideas that aren’t readily accepted. To think outside the box that many find themselves trapped within looking for the one correct answer. I need the communication practice to be able to articulate my points with grace and compassion. I need classes that counter the normative way of reading and look beyond the cliché morals.
Mostly, I need English classes to show that we as people aren’t to the point where we treat others equally. That we don’t give empathy to each person we read about. That, in fact, we deny there’s even a problem at all. My English minor has shown me how I want to be better. That I want to show up and don’t want to only give empathy for those who are similar to myself, but for those who also challenge me and make me uncomfortable by thinking differently. It has made me realize that I won’t ever reach the pinnacle of wisdom and understanding, but that it’s a constant process. A slow journey filled with obstacles, tears and oh so sweet rewards. This minor has taken my way of thinking and has flipped it upside down. It will make me into the nurse that God has created me to be.
