As young adults, we are faced with a plethora of difficult decisions to make in a very short period of time. Whether we want to attend college or jump right into life,and what we want to major in and what we want to do with the rest of our lives are all things we have to worry about and decide on. A lot of stress and expectations are placed on our shoulders. Our college decision and major do impact how our lives will pan out- being that some majors are more payable than others.

Being confident in our decisions is the key to success at this age, and support is always helpful. However, once in a while I stumble upon an article published by one of several business-based companies (https://www.thesimpledollar.com/10-worst-college-degrees-to-earn-in-2015/) in which they rank college majors a variety of ways: “Least to Best,” “Best to Worse,” “Ten Worst” and “Ten Best.” These articles always rub me wrong and make me feel as if my major means less than the others. Let’s stop ranking college majors and discouraging those who are majoring in something they are passionate about.

We grow up being told to pursue what we enjoy, like learning about, and harbor passion for and then are ridiculed for our major choices. Some students struggle in choosing a major because they are unsure of what they want out of their life at their young age. We’re encouraged to strive for happiness, to find what we love and make a career out of it. Why, then, do we turn around and say “nevermind, choose something more useful, your Philosophy major is useless- and here’s why.” What if I don’t care? What if my major isn’t useless to me, because I feel strongly about it and I enjoy it?

I am fully aware I might not make six figures a year pursuing a career related to Philosophy--newsflash: I don’t care. If I was in school to make money, sure, your article would have meaning to me and I wouldn’t be majoring in Philosophy. So let’s stop. Let students major in what they’re passionate about without the stigma of “value” being placed over their heads. What they value may differ from what you value.