Editorial: No major is superior to another
The Iowa State Editorial Board writes that no major is better than another and that just because one major may seem like it has more challenges than another does not mean it is any less difficult.
February 25, 2020
With midterm season upon us, it’s important to remember that no matter the form your assessments come in, your major is just as important and valid as others.
Whether your class only has three major assignments for the whole semester, or you have weekly lengthy reading quizzes, you are still working hard and getting your knowledge tested. Just because you are being assessed in a different way doesn’t make one harder than the other, sometimes different aspects of your knowledge are being tested. Some information and skills are better assessed through exams, while others are portrayed and learned best through hands-on assignments and solo or group projects.
Different majors have different classes and often a lot of different teaching styles. The way your degree or major track is laid out does not make a difference in the importance of your major. It can be easy to compare your homework and exams to what your friends are doing or what other people in the library are working on, but remember that everybody has their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to school.
Take finals and midterms week as an example. Some classes have exams worth upwards of 40 percent of their grade, while others have a single project they work on for the whole semester. This makes study week a lot harder for those with projects, as due dates often fall before finals week, but finals week may be harder for those with huge exams. Comparing the two is like comparing apples to oranges, they’re just different.
Whether you are in engineering, biochemistry, statistics, education or journalism— you are doing hard work. College as a whole is difficult, and no matter what degree you graduate with you should be proud of it.
No major is superior to others. You probably chose your major for a reason, and others chose their major for their own reason. While it can be easy to compare yourself and your work to others, know that your hard work is not diminished just because on the outside someone looks like their class may be more difficult than yours, because you never really know.
The difficulty of your major does not define the quality. Every major has its own difficulties and challenges that students must overcome in order to fulfill the variety of requirements their major requires. Choose what makes you happy.
