Majors your respect (besides Engineering)

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I would say philosophy is aligned more with the mathematics and natural sciences, not more ‘social’ fields like law, medicine, etc. Nowadays we have the scientific method of coming up with a hypothetical and we test it… which is why philosophy seems to be barred from being in the same sort of area as math and science (only to be ‘politically correct’). Then we have areas like theoretical physics in which the lines begin to be blurred.</p>

<p>But I digress. Of course, all jobs help to advance humanity (well, maybe a few grind down it’s progression), but it isn’t the same as directly being involved with expanding human knowledge. Besides that, we’re not arguing about the usefulness of majors, because if we were then most liberal arts majors would be beneficial for one important reason: they teach critical thought. Any major that requires some sort of critical thinking skills and teaches people how to think in a logic-based manner will be effectively creating a better society.</p>

<p>Yet somehow we respect some majors over others. Why? Well, for the reasons I’ve stated in my previous post. You can say that all these people contribute to advance humanity, but not a huge amount actually directly influence our direction in that regard. The reason for that probably lies in more shallow waters. Physics and math happen to be very difficult and the thought of discovering new things is insane to some. Most of us will admit that it truly is insane; how many Einsteins do we get per generation? Not a whole lot. Even fewer end up with something revolutionary. So we tend to attribute these sort of advancements with great awe and wonder, independent of whether there was someone more ‘qualified’ intellectually to have discovered it.</p>

<p>Besides that, I don’t see why you’re trying to make a distinction between majors and fields… if I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re just arguing for fun. People have majors… which is the same thing as saying they are studying in a certain field. Sciences eventually get students in research, the rest have other options (like professional school, industry, etc.). That is the distinction I’ve made, that I find research in the natural sciences and mathematics to be very respectable. So I find people majoring in natural sciences and mathematics respectable as well. Clearly most will not end up in research…</p>

<p>I don’t understand why you’re unnecessarily isolating two things that are important to the discussion of respectability of majors and their reasons. In fact, it’s more accurate to describe the fields instead of the majors since a college graduate has lots of options.</p>

42

<p>Don’t know why many are including CS. It’s considered an engineering major, usually in the engineering school.</p>

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<p>CS is closer to mathematical theory than engineering really.</p>

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<p>^Wouldn’t that depend on what electives you took? Or is that just at my school?</p>

<p>Software engineering-type classes are in the CS (or rather, EECS, but meant for CSE majors) where I go.</p>

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<p>Well it’s usually in the school of engineering or closely related to it for most schools. Usually Computer Science & Engineering are considered 1 department in the school of Engineering. EE can also be included.</p>

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<p>

I am completely shocked it took 38 posts for these two suggestions to come out. These were the EXACT two suggestions I was going to write as well.</p>

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<p>journalism
woman’s studies
minority studies
psychology
general studies
general science
marine biology</p>

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<p>Hush yourself, Pope.</p>

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<p>^ what the hell? LMAO</p>

<p>PHYSICS FOR THE WIN.</p>

<p>:) i think physics major dominates every other major - it’s THE SCIENCE OF NATURE.
(no offense!)</p>

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<p>It is the science of natural phenomenon, not necessarily of nature itself.</p>

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<p>Why is it not the science of nature? It describes nature as perfectly as we possibly can with our current knowledge, using mathematics as a tool.</p>

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<p>I respect anybody who is a serious scholar in their field. The reasons we STEM majors look down our noses at humanities majors and the like is for the following reasons:</p>

<p>1) Most of them are not serious scholars, they are treating college as a rite of passage, a party away from their parents, an extended adolescence, rather than taking their studies seriously. You can coast quite easily in many such majors. You cannot coast in engineering or math or a hard science.</p>

<p>2) From talking to them we learn what incredibly ignorant, naive preconceptions they have of, among many other things, the value of their degree. I can’t count the number of times these airheads who majored in something with little or not market value just expected to be handed a six-figure salary job. The entitlement mentality is annoying.</p>

<p>3) Their GPAs count the same as ours, even if my A in calculus II took fifty times more work and skill than their A in pottery. This breeds resentment.</p>

<p>4) We feel that many people who go to college for a “soft” degree shouldn’t even bother. They aren’t there to be scholars, and they will wind up being just as well off financially if they hadn’t gone to college. I’ve known loads of people who went to college and majored in English or something and wound up just doing the same jobs that go to non-college-grads.</p>

<p>5) Many of those degrees aren’t worth taking seriously. Leisure studies? Sports management? Family and consumer science? Social work? I technically <em>am</em> a social worker right now so I’m allowed to say that a college degree in it is totally unnecessary to do the actual work. (also, after my years of experience, I believe social work is a scam designed to provide employment to social workers and actually helping people is not on the agenda, but that’s a whole other thread) Leisure studies is basically learning how to run a summer camp. Early childhood education is basically learning how to be a glorified babysitter. The list goes on. We also don’t respect degrees that are really thinly-veiled political movements, like peace studies.</p>

<p>And speaking for myself as a big-time economics nerd (but not an economics major), it’s hard to respect a person who does not rely on logical reasoning and empirical data in a field where that is required. For example, many of the “social sciences,” or for that matter many economists.</p>

<p>All that said, I respect a serious scholar, who relies on facts and logical reasoning (if they are in a field where these are necessary like science or anthropology or economics), who applies themselves and works hard. I respect a music major who practices five hours a day to be the best violinist they can be, or an art history major with an encyclopedic knowledge of painting and sculpture. But in truth, because so many people go to college just to go to college, the majors where coasting is possible are filled with people who don’t take learning seriously and give the humanities a bad name.</p>

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<p>Tom that is a great post.</p>

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<p>yes, tom’s post is outstanding, I can see why it isn’t unusual for stem majors to look down on liberal arts/humanities majors.</p>

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<p>Great post Tom. I totally agree about the sense of entitlement thing. Someone majoring in communicatoins graduates, can’t find a job and then blames the state of the economy. Or they graduate and get a job making minimum wage and complain about there being no good jobs in this country anymore. Some of these people think that any college degree means they are entitled to a fat paycheck and a great job, even though they graduate with essentially zero marketable skills. I just want to say to these people that maybe they should have thought about this before they decided to get a BA in fluff studies. The fact is that while these joke majors were partying and coasting through college, the engineering majors were in the library studying for hours on end. In the end, I guess the STEM majors have the last laugh though.</p>

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<p><-----blushing from all of the flattery (but don’t stop)</p>

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<p>Well put TomServo!</p>

<p>But… let’s be fair. Some of those “majors” are vocational training or trade skills universities generally offer for business reasons. I doubt many students are clamoring for a “sports management” major.</p>

<p>Nonetheless, great post, good sir!</p>

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<p>I agree with Tom; I respect anyone who truly devotes himself to his studies, whether that be history, political science, chemistry, philosophy, or whatever else because no field of study is inherently inferior to any other (except the previously mentioned peace studies, sports management, etc.) It just so happens that some majors are more easy to b***<strong><em>t through (e.g. history) and the kids that are there to just coast through college major in those easily b</em></strong>****table majors. It’s really a shame. Again, there’s nothing wrong with history in itself, just the “coast-by” kids who major in it. If everyone who went to college was as devoted to their studies as engineering majors are, I wouldn’t have a problem with any major at all.</p>

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<p>Why all the hate on sports management? You guys still bitter about the way they treated you in high school?</p>

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<p>Well said Tom. And UCHopeful… it’s more pity than hate I’d say, for me atleast.</p>