"Oh I'm just in the JSchool it's not nearly as hard as that."
"I suck at math, so I decided to be a writer."
"I'm content never making money, so I'll just be a journalist."
"Journalism is a dying field, oh well."
Why is it that we, students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications always put ourselves down? It is far too often that I overhear a conversation on campus where some-type of journalism major is demeaning themselves by putting down the worth of their degree. Why is it that we feel inferior to those who are getting a biology, pharmacy, or chemistry degree?
As much as I want to smack those I hear put themselves down, I too am guilty of this epidemic. When my friends are freaking out about an upcoming accounting or biology test, I think to myself, there is no way in hell I could ever take those classes. Often, I try to calm to stress out of them by saying, it's okay, I could never do that, but I know you can! By saying this, I am putting myself and my own intelligence down. Granted, I genuinely have no clue on where to even start with a calculus problem, however, this is still damaging to my own worth.
There are times when I look around at my friends, sorority sisters, peers and future co-workers and think to myself, is this even the place for me? These people are putting in twice the amount of work for the same amount of credits. Meanwhile, I try to power through remedial college math in order to get the generals done for a degree that will get me into a "dying field." The classes I am required to take for my major are fun and exhilarate me. They aren't boring and cause me strife.
In the world I want to go into, there is no true right or wrong. No equation spells out what I am supposed to do. There is no proven fact on how to handle situations, no handbook. In the world I wan to go into, there are words and opinions. Combined, they can make or break anything. The life I have chosen for myself has no guarantees, no rights or wrongs. Honestly, faith, trust and pixie dust sounds like it will get my farther.
Instead of putting myself down for being in the "JSchool" as we call it, I am going to applaud myself. Just like the six year pharmacy students or the actuary science majors, I am doing it for a reason. Quite simply, that reason is because I love it.
