To all my liberal arts majors:
I picked these flowers
specifically for you.
Please enjoy them while
I fight our case below.
I recently finished a class titled Ways of Reading. It was hands down one of the most challenging, reading/writing intensive classes I have ever taken where I learned way more than I ever could have thought possible in one semester (and according to our Professor, the hardest class we will have to take as English majors. Hooray for that!). The last two weeks of the class we read different chapters and articles on the importance of liberal and humanistic studies.
And for the first time at my math and science school I finally feel as if I, too, am just as capable, just as smart, just as talented as other majors at our school.
There is such an emphasis here on engineering and pharmacy and mathematics and nursing and agriculture that I sometimes feel as if I am not in a "real" major, but rather simply in an "easy" alternative, The School of Liberal Arts. My school has around 10 engineering buildings and I've got my one little run-down, quirky building (that we share with speech-pathology).
I'm not (too) bitter, I know I chose a math/science school. But I am a bit bitter that because my major is so small (it was just this past semester that I finally met another English major) that we are seen as lesser than, say, engineers.
People always joke that it's a good thing I go to an engineering school so I can find a husband who will support me, that I can't possibly survive on just my English degree. Maybe I'll have to move back in with my parents because I won't be able to find a job or be able to support myself (which is in no way true considering our school's job placement statistics has English right behind Engineering and before the business school. Don't believe me, click here).
But in this class we learned about the importance of studying the humanities and the benefits that comes from it. For example, the ability to critically analyze something. That the ability to read a piece of literature and discover new things about either the text, the culture, the time period, or ourselves is being lost amongst students today (the explanation for this is an entire other post, being reserved for another day). The ability to think for ourselves and to come to an understanding of WHY we believe that. Liberal arts classes force us to read literature from a different perspective, teaching us to sympathize with those we cannot relate to. This not only makes us better citizens in society, but also better human beings in the process (Please note: I am NOT saying that students in vocational studies are not capable of learning these things.).
While I'm not specifically being trained for a certain job, I am learning different humanistic skills that will be able to transfer into any job (or any part of life, for that matter). And that's something I think will be pretty darn useful.
As I prepare to step down from my soap box, I want to say that I understand that every major here is just as difficult as the next one. Engineering and English are two very different majors that use different parts of the brain and require different skills. They both require intelligent people and are both course-load heavy (trust me, I know. This past semester I was reading around 300 pages a night AS WELL AS writing at least one paper. My eyes are officially dry and my hands for sure must have carpal tunnel).
My confession: Finally for the first time here, I am actually feeling and believing that I, too, am smart and intelligent and deserving of a spot at this school. And it feels good, darn it.
