Do you sort of “look down” on subjects/people/jobs/etc. based on academic rigor or whatever?
I don’t mean actively bullying or ostracizing people, but just a little in your head.
Nope. Although I do look down on people who look down on other subjects/professions. Especially the whole Humanities/stem debate
Not exactly, but I am insecure that I’m not good enough in that regard, and I’m fairly jealous of people who are.
You sound like someone who is taking an easy courseload.
Get out off my sight, peasant. Harrumph!
But seriously though, I don’t. Never got the point of it, other than an excuse for someone to be a jerk.
I actually look up to people who study majors that require multiple 3+ hour labs each week because I honestly don’t think I’m physically or mentally capable of such a feat.
i cant stand people who look down on others like that! drives me nuts. what’s most annoying is that these people (sorry, they tend to be engineering or cs majors) think that their courseload is so difficult and advanced that they start getting an ego. i go to a CC, so it’s just really hilarious when people start thinking that they’re some sort of genius when they havent even taken upper division math. they think they’re the smartest people on Earth with just having taken Calc 3 or differential equations or something.
though i admit sometimes when i hear people talk about their stats and i see they have an “easy” major, i just sort of just feel bad and at the same time relieved ? like communication or political science majors with a 4.0 gpa. and im like, ok, well they have easier classes so of course it’s easier to get a 4.0, i shouldn’t feel threatened or bad about that.
it’s a bit funny because most people expect humanities majors to have the lowest gpas for some reason. like the general assumption seems to be that you dont need as high a gpa in a humanity major to transfer or get into a college because they have less demand for those majors and are willing to accept from a wider range. but then you see these hard STEM majors with 4.0s and 3.9 gpas and im like “how the aglfkdj do you do it!! it’s supposed to be harder, stop ruining the curve! i have a 3.47 as a physics major, ill never get in anywhere thanks to you!”
though whenever i do see humanity majors with less than a 3.7 i do wonder how they got it that low if they’re taking generally easy classes. but i know someone who was a communications/rhetoric major and got into uc berkeley with a 3.5 gpa as a transfer, scholarships and all, and i remember that she had loads of extra curricular activities and volunteering activities and leadership roles. i know she genuinely did struggle with things like economics which to me was a very easy A, so it kinda makes me sad that i cant be competitive for a school like berkeley with my gpa even though someone with a 3.5 in communications can get in and they struggled with classes that were like cake to me.
What @elliebham said.
Sort of. But I’m jealous that the retail folks have jobs whereas at the moment I don’t. And I applied to several retail jobs because I’m a jobless college graduate and already have gotten a few retail rejections.
Actually I’m quite jealous that somehow the people in retail got through the interviewing process whereas I’m jobless.
And I’m more jealous of the people who like me graduated without internship experience but with lower GPAs and less understanding of the material / programming ability / etc that got hired as electrical engineers within the first month of graduating or had it already lined up… One of them being a person I told to go into my major because it’s a good field…
Yeah, I’ll straight up honest about myself like I am in interviews and answer with my internal feelings that I don’t normally show.
I try to check myself to make sure I’m not harboring those prejudices, especially because I came from a surprisingly academically elitist K-12 environment. Ironically, I started out as an elementary education major (so many negative comments were directed towards me because of that choice).
But in high school I think this attitude definitely got to me more. I regret it, looking back now. I don’t think I ever said anything untoward, but I was probably unfairly cold to some people. Now that I’ve been on the receiving end (due to being an education major, a liberal arts major, and even due to being a woman) I’m more aware of academic elitism, and try to stomp it to death when possible.
Are 3 hour labs more rigorous than 200+ page nightly reading assignments and frequent 15-20 page papers? I think not. It’s just a different type of rigor emphasizing different types of skill sets.
@doschicos - My comment was sort of a silly joke - I am genuinely impressed with the rigor that labs demand (those lab reports are no joke) but that isn’t to say that my majors (one humanities and one social science) are all crayons and glue, either. My main point was that I don’t look down on others for what they study - if anything, I look up to people on the basis of their academic merits.
On an unrelated note - I’ve noticed a lot of academic elitism in my University’s Honors College. I think there are institutional factors that sort of fuel this, but a lot of it comes solely from the students themselves. There’s a sense amongst HC students that they’re “superior” to the rest of campus community and more deserving of certain resources because of their stunning intellect or whatever - but this never made any sense to me because if anything, I find being an Honors College student a pain in the neck most of the time with all the useless, additional course requirements tacked onto my degree program, lol.
As a STEM major, I very much enjoyed my humanities classes in high school and I’ve been heavily involved with art and music since I was young- looking down on humanities/social science classes/majors would be looking down on my own interests and past labors! Majors are difficult for different reasons.
IMO I think in science there’s some upturned noses at the “soft sciences” (sociology, psychology, etc) from those in the hard sciences.
@preamble1776 It would actually be interesting to see whether the students of honors colleges and students of elite universities are generally more pretentious. The former look bigger in a smaller pond, but the latter have the elite brand to attach to themselves.
Perhaps because these honors programs exist to attract top-end students who would otherwise feel that the “lowly” state university is “beneath” them and that they should go to a more “elite” school instead. So if the honors program attracts many “elitist” students, it may not be surprising that such attitudes are shown.
@ucbalumnus - That makes sense. It’s really unfortunate though because they’re isolating themselves from such a diverse and enriching campus community by insisting that everything outside the bubble of honors is mediocre.
Oh, I totally see the honors college elitism. I chose not to be a part of my university’s for various reasons, and people I thought were my friends looked down on me and acted like they were better than me. In fact, one even expressed some sort of surprise on how I got into all these good grad programs when I “never went to the HC.”
With all this being said, I’m extra sensitive to the whole “looking down” on others thing and I truly respect and admire people who can study what they enjoy and do well, regardless of what kind of major they have.
13, that's why THEY exist? I have come to expect more refined results from CC's search engine.
So am I to understand it’s wrong to “look down” on someone because they chose not to attend an Honors College, but it is perfectly OK to sit in judgement and criticize someone because they do choose to participate in one ? I don’t see how one is better than the other.
@carolinamom2boys
I don’t think the comments above meant to criticize all people who attend an Honor College but rather the specific people who have the attributes of cockiness and arrogance.
@preamble1776 said "There’s a sense amongst HC students that they’re “superior” to the rest of campus community and more deserving of certain resources because of their stunning intellect or whatever " and @harvestmoon said " I totally see the honors college elitism “. Those sound like pretty general , sweeping statements to me @jackbane . Otherwise, why not say " some students in the Honors College feel superior or elite” ?