Dear Liberal Arts Student,
Hello. It’s Me.
No, not Adele, but a fellow liberal arts student who understands the frustration that comes with pursuing your degree and has decided to say something about it. I’m sure you’ve opened this letter today because, like me, you are tired of hearing everyone else not in your field call us the “easy school” and the “not a real degree” department. We get slack all the time for simply going to school to “goof off and have fun”, but it’s time we put our foot down to all the criticism.
I’m a Public Relations major, and personally, I pride myself on the fact that I can communicate with others EFFECTIVELY through speech and writing (notice the emphasis there, plus have you read the English papers COSAM majors write? Yikes). I’m excited about the fact that I can get a job doing this because it’s what I know I’m good at, but more importantly, it’s what I love. When I walk around campus and hear conversations from the business majors and engineers about how we don’t do “real” work, it angers me.
It not only angers me because I know that I work hard in school but because I’m getting mocked for pursuing something that I love. When you filled out your application for college and had to select a major, you chose something that you wanted to do. Not something that someone else wanted to because why would you major in a field you hate?
I’m not good at math, science or anything technical. I leave all those things to the experts. I feel so grateful that I know what I’m good at and get the chance to chase after it. But trust me, from one liberal arts peer to another, I know the work is not easy. We stay up late perfecting every single sentence of an article or paper. We study and memorize communication theories until our eyes hurt, and then still get C's back on the tests because somehow the teacher thought using the tiniest detail from Chapter 7 in the book to ask a multiple-choice question, would benefit our knowledge.
History majors could spend hours studying one single day of the past while the foreign language students are trying to earn an A through a full conversation with their professor. Then there’s the psych majors who have to balance the scientific AND mental parts of the brain. All these examples aren’t just to prove the work that goes into each degree, but the dedication as well. As in, it takes dedication and hard work no matter what field you’re in.
So just because I can’t calculate the angle of a trapezoid, tell you what the stock market is doing or fix that electrical wire, doesn’t mean what I’m studying is insignificant. I’m tired of being ridiculed and looked down upon because I’m just doing what everyone else around me is doing: going after my dreams. Every major has their ups and downs and everyone works hard. I’m not downplaying the importance it is to have business majors, engineers and those in the medical field. In fact, I commend your hard work every day. Sometimes even I wish I could do it. But I am saying that it’s time we stop pretending like one degree is harder or worth more than another.
It’s time we all grow up and realize that we all have different strengths, and we deserve to be praised for going after what we’re good at. Not everyone gets the opportunity to go to college and say, “Hey, I want to try this out.” So, to all you other majors out there that think we are the fun and easy major, just remember who might be writing that article about you in Time magazine when you get your big break as well.
Sincerely,
A passionate student - liberal arts to be exact
