In defense of ‘easy’ majors

For some students, telling others about their majors can be risky. Stigmas have been attached to certain majors and programs for a long time, making their way into the minds of employers and students alike.

We asked Temple students about the most prominent stigma: the ”easy” major.

In this survey, students were encouraged to list some of the majors and classes they considered the easiest. The majors they chose were: liberal arts, communication, and hospitality majors.

Someone even skipped naming majors and put the whole Tyler School of Art.

Afnan Blankinship, a Temple senior, is a double major in History and French, two majors which definitely carry the stigma. She explained her experience studying two “easy” majors:

“For history, there is a lot of active reading to do. That means note taking and thinking about what you’re reading, and analyzing the place of the text itself in what you’re reading. History is ever changing, so it’s important to understand the narratives we’re digesting and who’s writing them.”

In her studies, Afnan has been focusing on colonization and decolonization processes, preparing for a 30-40 page essay this semester. For her, a difficult part about history classes is coming up with a topic or argument which hasn’t been explored before, while also finding enough material to support it. She also uses several French primary sources she has to read in French, which she says adds another layer of difficulty.

“So much thought and critical analysis goes into being a history major – it’s so much more than learning about events and memorizing dates.”

“When I tell people I’m a history and French double major they say dismissively and condescendingly, ‘Oh, so you’re going to teach?’ As if teaching is a bad thing, as if I have no other prospects. It’s funny, when I was a journalism major people would tell me: ‘Don’t you know newspapers are dying?’ But, at least then the occupation linked to the major of journalism – a journalist – was obvious and made sense. People have no idea what ‘the job’ is you get with a B.A. in history.”

Journalism sophomore Nydja Hood has dealt with similar critiques of her major:

“I remember in high school a lady once told me being a journalist was not having a real job. She questioned why I would choose broadcast journalism in particular, because it’s so competitive. I only used that as motivation to prove her wrong.”

Nydja said telling people’s stories is an empowering privilege and honor, and being a journalism major gives her the chance to do that.

Nydja’s major requires her to take classes to improve her writing, such as Writing for Journalism and Broadcast News Writing. This semester, she is taking Audio-Visual News Gathering, where she works on creating a news package by editing and recording her own content.

Her goal is to change the face of journalism as a woman of color in a predominantly white industry.

Sophomore environmental science and Spanish major Daniel Turner said he’s all about pairing the sciences with the humanities.

“The richness of a science degree is nothing if you cannot communicate your studies properly and to a broad audience. With an interdisciplinary science background focusing on the ecological impacts on a ‘man-made world’, I hope the lessons learned in my cultural and language classes lead to a career based on curiosity, not judgment, and experience rather than assumptions.”

He is currently studying abroad using both his majors in Monteverde, Costa Rica, writing a blog on Temple’s study abroad website about his experience.

Most of us liberal arts, media, art, and non-STEM majors like to believe we live in a world where people think “classes can be difficult in their own way,” as one respondent put, but unfortunately we don’t. The hours and effort it takes to dedicate yourself to something which is less structured and finely tuned than the career path of certain majors is often ignored or downplayed.

There is something special about someone who chooses to major in something which doesn’t promise them much right away. Many of them have to choose passion over practicality, which isn’t an easy decision. They may not eventually make as much money as people in other majors will and may face the stigma throughout the rest of their schooling and their future career.

People love music, movies, media outlets, books, history channels, and websites like Sparknotes, but they may not always respect the majors which contribute to people who are dedicated to producing them.

As Afnan puts it: “It’s vital to think about how our society functions, what trends have been happening over time, to engage with art, to analyze the importance to symbols on and in our society, to know languages other than English. STEM and liberal arts go hand in hand, and it makes me sad people try to pry them apart, to put one above the other.”

This idea certain majors are harder and therefore, more valuable, than others is supported by the job market, too. People are rewarded better financially for having degrees in certain majors. Every year, websites like Business Insider and US News put up statistics on the highest paying US jobs.

In the survey, one respondent explained their views of easy majors, writing, “The STEM majors (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) all require a great deal of logic. Becoming a logical thinker is a very difficult thing to do whereas the other majors don’t require as great a deal of logic.”

Another wrote how certain majors “require less work” and how “many are already talented in that subject and don’t have to work as hard, more hands on rather than academic work.”