<p>First off, yes Yale is probably a terrible representation on average. I guess though, the one who asked this thread’s question probably shouldn’t include any of the best schools in the picture here…</p>
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<p>The funny thing is, there are very rigorous, tough humanities classes at many schools where there are also horribly easy ones. But at a school with say, a decent literature department and a decent engineering department, probably there’re almost no (if any) easy engineering courses. Not so with the humanities. </p>
<p>The reason for this is that, in the core, as Venkat has mentioned, people don’t fear reading and writing so much as reasoning. And many humanities majors needn’t reason – they just read and share their feelings on the matter. Maybe not the most scholarly ones, but when there are so few of those in comparison to the rest of the population of humanities majors, they’re overlooked!</p>
<p>I also just looked up the whole thing (for kicks and giggles) with MissSilvestris, and don’t think she was making any outlandish claims from the little I read at least. Though, to her I’d say really crazy math can give really crazy physics a run for its money any day – it mainly depends which manner of thinking comes more naturally.</p>
<p>I leave this elitist parade in peace for now at least…</p>
<p>I am more impressed by English majors than science/engineering/math majors. Science/math/engineering can be learned; those subjects consist of learning rules and tricks that can be used to solve difficult problems that the average science/math/engineering major couldn’t solve otherwise, that is, using their brainpower alone. When it comes to English, what’s there to learn besides spelling and grammar? Nothing. It’s all sheer mental prowess.</p>
<p>Reading, writing, communication, is a lot more difficult than science/math/engineering. Proof of that is that most of us are exposed to language every day and yet many of us still haven’t figured out how to string sentences together. But science/math/engineering? Can we really think less of a person because they never developed an interest in any of those subjects?</p>
<p>Reading a difficult book in one sitting, absorbing the material, synthesizing information, clearly explaining your conclusions, that’s much more impressive than spending the same amount of time working on a problem set, applying different tricks and formulas, endless trial and error, until A = B, until you get that cue to momentarily shut down your brain and move on to the next problem in the problem set, to continue the same drill.</p>
<p>Funny, I’ve never plugged something into a formula for all of the college math I’ve seen. You might be making the distinction between high school English and math/science. I could definitely see an argument being made that more AP English classes are challenging than are AP Calculus classes. I think my AP English class in high school was one of the toughest courses to do well in throughout the school.</p>
<p>But when it comes to college math, a trained math major has to be extremely proficient in communication. Some of the tougher problems one solves have intricate arguments behind them that must be written carefully and, one could even say, eloquently for good results. So when it comes to essays, those of us who know English decently well could whip out something clear and crisp. Now we’d not be scholarly at English, and couldn’t compete with the best English majors, but that’s a different story. As a graduate student in math once said, once you learn how to communicate in a subject where you 100% cannot fake it, you very easily can fake it decently.</p>
Of course people use brainpower to solve math/sci problems, how else do you think math problems get solved? Higher level math is mostly theoretical, no numbers involved. We’re not talking about HS Algebra class here, where you learn to memorize little rules. That’s like saying English majors just read Sparknotes for a couple hours and, well, that’s it! I’d like to hope Sci/Math can be learned, but so many people struggle with basic classes in HS and College. English majors spend a lot of time reading, analyzing and writing…it’s not like they learn spelling and then make crap up from there.
This is done in every major, not just English. But I think it’s more impressive to read a Microbiology textbook, absorb and syntheize the information and explain it than to read a novel, analyze it and explain it. If you want great reading comp skills, major in Biology! :]</p>
<p>I’m not saying English majors aren’t impressive - I’ve read papers by Comp Lit majors which blew me away with how well they were able to analyze a book and put it in a different perspective. I don’t scoff at any major, but the fact is that certain majors have higher grades on average, meaning it’s easier to do well. In History 101, half the class got A’s - in Chem 101, only the top 10% do since it’s curved. Liberal Arts majors generally have 8-11 required classes in most colleges, Engineering majors have a lot more, barely any room for electives. So I’m personally more impressed by students who are in rigorous programs where they’re graded harshly and have to understand a lot of advanced theoretical concepts. </p>
<p>I think colleges should raise the standards of some majors, especially Economics. Undergrad Econ has become a joke, a watered-down version of the field, with no real math and not teaching how the economy actually works, - in the Econ classes I’ve taken, the Profs openly joke about how you don’t learn actual Econ until Grad school.</p>
<p>Hey, it’s knowing when to use those tricks and formulas that make it so impressive. The ability to pull the right equation out of your ass is a skill most people lack ;).</p>
<p>And as a side note, engineers do need to be consummate English students as well, seeing as much of our job security revolves around being able to sell our ideas to people with only a cursory understanding of our research.</p>
You would think those rallying English would have better grammar.
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<p>I suck at English more than I sucked at any science/engineering/math class I ever took in school. That’s precisely why I have a lot more respect for English majors than science/engineering/math majors.</p>
<p>Mathematics is just a bag of tricks. Nope, no thought and careful reasoning here, just a bag of tricks.</p>
<p>Physics and engineering–it’s all about plugging numbers into formulas. You really don’t need to understand what you are talking about to do that.</p>
<p>Me too haha. Well, not with my primary major, but my second one, yes. I was gonna do comm, then economics, then journalism, then poli sci, then biology, now I’m leaning towards doing a foreign language. Which makes me useless and wasting four years of education, right? :P</p>
<p>^We get it, you’re being funny. You can stop now. </p>
<p>History really is the kind of subject that the teacher makes or breaks. I had the worst teacher freshman year of high school and I decided I hated history, then I took APUSH sophomore year with the greatest teacher and I loved it. Although I think the right teacher can make you like anything, but history is the most susceptible.</p>
<p>I think you might right. I had one awesome history professor and loved history. Then I had this one overzealous professor who just killed it for me. I don’t think I could tolerate another history class for awhile.</p>
<p>I just dislike how subjective some of the humanities can be. I want to know that my answer is either right or wrong, not sort of right or wrong depending on who’s grading and what mood they’re in; then you give the same paper to a different professor and get an entirely different grade.</p>
<p>Four recent college grads are at a restaurant at lunch. The accountant orders a ham and cheese sandwich and says to the others, “Can’t stay the full hour, I have to catch a plane to visit a client in New York.” The engineer orders a hamburger and says, “I just got a big design project and want to get back to it.” The actuary orders a salad and says, “The best thing about my job is I get to play with computers every day.” Then the English major says, “What would you all like to order to drink with your meals?”</p>
<p>The English major dreck above triggered my memory of that one.</p>
I’d like to hope Sci/Math can be learned, but so many people struggle with basic classes in HS and College. English majors spend a lot of time reading, analyzing and writing…it’s not like they learn spelling and then make crap up from there.