There’s a certain beauty to college. It’s the beauty of diversity. A college campus is comprised of countless different cities, countries, backgrounds, upbringings, and interests. If you pull fifty enrolled students at random and put them into a room, it’s very likely that they’re going to have different goals, fears, likes, and dislikes. Therefore, not everyone is going to have the same major, and frankly, not everyone should.
Personally, I am a communications major. Also known as the “Mrs. Degree” or the degree that all the student-athletes choose to best fit with their schedule. People think that I chose this degree because it’s an “easy” route, or because it gives me more free time. But, what they don’t know is good communication skills are the number one thing employers look for in an employee. I knew this, which is why I chose this major. They don’t know how many papers I write a week, or a number of hours I spend preparing for my twenty-minute speeches. They also don’t know that I’ve gotten plenty of jobs with my communications background, with numerous compliments of how well I can communicate effectively. Honestly, I wouldn’t have received any of my opportunities without the communication classes I’ve taken. Unfortunately, what I just did was justify why I chose my major — something I, and other college students, should never have to do.
Every college student has gone through this humiliating, infuriating, and needless experience of having their major insulted at some point in their college career. Chemistry majors get mocked by engineers. Bio majors get mocked by bio-chem majors. Nursing students get laughed at by pre-med majors. And, pre-med majors get judged for picking the field everyone wants to go into at first. (And, that’s just the science department.) You can’t compare an apple to an orange, and you can’t compare a major to another major. And the moment you do, you’re ultimately assuming that you can do what they do. I can’t imagine the emotionally draining work of a psychology student’s experiments. Or the frequent all-nighters architecture students spend in the studio. Or the insane amount of guts and courage of a theatre or music student to get on stage for hours without performing a single mistake. You devalue every good grade that person has received. You degrade all of their hard work and perseverance. And, you disrespect every mental and emotional breakdown that student has gone through (because we know these are common in college).
Majors don’t exist without other majors. Artists fill up museums, but engineers build those museums. Chemists may work for a prodigious research company, but business majors are the difference between that company failing or succeeding. Doctors use high-tech devices to save patients, but pharmaceutical sales reps (my dream job) tell those doctors how to use them.
The truth is, we need all majors to function as a society. The science major you disrespected just may end up saving your life. The education major you demeaned could be the teacher of your future kids one day. The social work major you just looked down on could be the light of hope for so many families. Every major has its obstacles, risks, and most importantly — rewards. So, if someone is brave enough to follow their passion, no one has the right to insult that.
