When picking your major, it’s an important life choice, much like marriage. And, much like marriage, it’s a choice that others sometimes feel the need to gauge the implications of – what does this mean for your future, your present, your financial situation, etc. A lot of majors, as I’m sure almost everyone living above rocks has noticed, can be treated as if they’re invalid as a field of study, for whatever multitude of reasons, but mostly because getting a job in them hovers between being extremely difficult to nearly impossible. Here are just a few that I think deserve some love and validation.
1. Literature
I think some people would be surprised about how much thought actually goes into analyzing literature. Seriously, there are a multitude of perspectives that can be taken in order to understand another person’s writing, and then picking out symbols and backing up your perspective is crazy cool and takes a lot of thought. Furthermore, from what I’ve heard, it takes knowledge from a multitude of disciplines, like psychology, sociology, and history, in order to understand the entire ins and outs of what has been written, especially in classic pieces that were written in an era and setting apart from ours.
2. Creative Writing
Honestly, a lot of courage goes into choosing this major, in my opinion. So many people love to write and want to become a published author, but that’s way easier said than done. That’s one of those dreams that you must have an insane amount of belief in yourself and courage in order to pursue, and I respect the crap out of people who choose to study this as in-depth as creative writing majors do. Not only do the classes at my college require you to read your stories/poems to the class and allow them to critique them to your face (I probably would have noped out the first time that ever happened to me), but writing in general takes a lot of know-how (and courage to use that know-how) in order to get people to even want to read your writing. Mad respect, my dudes.
3. History
What’s that saying about those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it? I feel like those who study history have the world on their shoulders sometimes. History can be pretty depressing, especially regarding some of the atrocities humans have committed to other humans. However, remembering and learning from our mistakes is a step in the right direction in order to ensure that those atrocities are avoided in the future.
4. Art
Like literature, there’s a lot more that goes into studying art than probably meets the eye. Art is a form of communication, and almost everything around us is art, even down to the symbols on signs that show us where public restrooms are. Art is also a window into history as well – even beyond pieces by Rembrandt and da Vinci. We may not understand human prehistory as well as we do if it weren’t for the cave paintings we’ve discovered across the globe that depict stories and oral histories, providing a closer look into the culture of our ancestors who roamed this planet before we had the chance to.
5. Anthropology
I think a lot of the problems that humans are facing today stem from a lack of understanding of one another. It’s so easy to understand where we’re coming from, but it takes a great deal of effort to understand where someone else is coming from, and this can lead to conflicts from small arguments to flat out wars that decimate populations if we don’t take the effort to understand others’ perspectives. This is what anthropology is about – understanding the differences between cultures, and that’s exceedingly important in a world in which globalization has taken hold, and I think everyone could learn a thing or two from what anthropologists have to say.
6. Any major, really.
Every single major is a valid choice. Even if your job prospects are either teaching or full-time barista, if you love what you study, your choice is valid. I think a lot of people forget that these fields of study weren’t invented just for funsies. They likely came about with some sort of specific purpose in mind, just as any science or so-called “practical” field of study did. No matter what anyone says, or what looks they give you, your major, as long as you love it, is a good and valid choice.
