If I hear ‘being a CHASS major is easy’ one more time, I’m going to scream

CHASS majors are hard, and that’s final

When I was first welcomed into the NC State Psychology program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, I didn’t expect the response I got when I told people about my acceptance.

One of the first people I told said, “Oh, psychology? That’s so interesting. I totally wanted to major in psych. But, you know, the whole job situation…and honestly, I mean what are you even going to do with that?”

Little did I know, this was not just a one-time encounter. I honestly can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard these comments since then. And it’s not just me – every major in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (here on referred to as CHASS) has no doubt heard some rendition of this comment.

Just a CHASS major wearing an engineering shirt

It seems everyone in the world is always so interested in the subject area, but somehow realizes something that we CHASS majors don’t seem to understand – liberal degrees are easy and get you nowhere.

Friends and fellow CHASS students, I’m here to fight that stigma.

To drop a few numbers, last month my English class read and discussed around 150-200 online pages of stories and writings stemming from Non-Western Literature. Last year, my psychology class learned at least 30 different theories and perspectives throughout the semester (that we also discussed and tested).

Life of a CHASS major is a lot of reading, a lot of discussion, a lot of knowledge and yes, it’s a lot of work. It’s hard to understand the writing style of a tribe that hasn’t been around for centuries, just like it’s hard to understand how to best make a large group of people work toward one goal. And yes, it is hard to unbiasedly discuss a topic you feel extremely passionate about. Being a CHASS major is not easy.

When I spoke with an engineering student here at NC State, I was reminded that CHASS students aren’t the only ones who get ridiculed for their majors. CHASS students (myself included) are guilty as well, making comments about the work engineering majors do and the complaints they make in regard to their work.

Why is putting down another person’s aspirations something that comes so easy to us? Math and science run the world. Communication runs the world. Literature and art run the world. Everyone contributes and everyone serves – it’s simply how the world goes around.

So you’re going to school for four more years to become a doctor? Good for you. You’re majoring in social work and plan on working for a non-profit as soon as you can? All the power to you. You’re an engineer and you want to build the next best thing? Think and do it. You’re a communications major and can’t wait to be a journalist? I can’t wait for you either. You have a major you’re not too sure what you’re going to do with? Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out.

All I’m asking is that you recognize the simple significance of each other’s contributions and please, please do not belittle them. I love my major and I hope that if everyone feels the same, students would be decent enough to respect that.

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