Some Courtesy, Please

It’s a slow Sunday morning. I’m combing through the list of seniors for the Student’s 2024 commencement issue: a Google Sheets document summarizing everyone’s achievements, majors, and future plans. Sitting next to me, a classmate looking over my shoulder comments on the abundance of people investing in “useless” majors and careers — people who (unlike him) didn’t intend to work at Wall Street or were involved in a pre-professional pathway. He declares that the people on the list — even if they’re playwrights, physicists, and literary scholars, among other things — wasted their four years at the college. When I tell him the senior I’m profiling is an environmental studies and history double major, he shakes his head; it’s only when I reveal she had thought about law school that he decides that her college career wasn’t a waste of time.

Before my words might be misinterpreted, let me elaborate that I don’t care what anyone majors in, let alone whether it’s financially viable or not. I am not here to lambaste people who are majoring in subjects I’m not interested in, nor does it mean I’m here to put the majors I’m interested in on a pedestal, either. I am not here to judge people for their fiscal decisions; my issue is the abrasive attitude certain people have when discussing their classmates’ choice of major.

I’ll begin by saying my classmate isn’t the only one with such a dismissive outlook — I’ve heard many people on campus declare certain majors as “useless” based on whether they would be a good return on investment. Too often have I heard people default to majors like sociology and film and media studies (FAMS) when they need examples for “useless” majors, often in front of people studying the same or parallel subjects. It’s only when someone brings up an aspiration to become a lawyer or some other vocational occupation that there’s a sudden nod of approval. Another classmate once told me that she’d judge anyone who graduates from a prestigious college and doesn’t make much money, Amherst or not. Comments about a degree’s lack of financial viability or “what are you going to do with that” (asked with condescension, separate from questions asked out of genuine curiosity) aren’t limited to just the humanities and social sciences, either — I’ve seen the same attitude applied to biology majors on the non-premed track, geology majors, and environmental studies majors as well, just because scientists aren’t considered rich. I could go on and on about the countless examples I’ve heard, but that list would grow too long.

My point is that the obsession to quickly find a major that leads to a well-paying job often comes at the cost of being respectful of others’ interests and passions — those of us who are unsure about what careers we want to pursue. I get it. We’re all concerned about our futures. You don’t know how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “In this economy?” I’m not exempt from this attitude either: Most of my time here has been spent running away from humanities courses (despite applying as a humanities major) because the lack of career structure intimidates me. But whether or not my fear is true shouldn’t matter; just because I’m afraid to major in the humanities doesn’t give me the right to openly judge English or philosophy majors. It shouldn’t give you the right to openly judge my or anybody else’s education, either. My struggle is only mine to evaluate. Invalidating another’s time and effort in front of them or like-minded people just because you don’t understand what they’re studying is disrespectful. It’s ignorant. It lacks courtesy and respect.

Maybe prejudice towards certain majors and career pathways is expected outside of campus, but the fact that I’ve heard the same ignorant attitude at Amherst — one of the few colleges in the United States with an open curriculum, where we are encouraged to explore courses — is frustrating. Even at an institution that’s so focused on learning just for the sake of it (to the extent there aren’t any vocational majors), why do I still have to hear people saying art history and religion majors are wasting their time? As Amherst students, we of all people should know best how to legitimize other people’s experiences and treat their interests with respect, even if we might disagree with their intentions. We of all people should know best what it means to study something because you’re so drawn to a subject you can’t imagine studying anything else. No one should have to be openly disparaged for the education they want, especially at this school.

People have the right to their judgements, and no one should feel as though I’m telling them what to feel. But listening to people deride entire disciplines and careers because of a few annual government statistics is exhausting, and feeling the need to defend the education I want is painful. All I’m asking for is an acknowledgment that not everyone who attends Amherst wants to work at Goldman Sachs or Latham & Watkins, that many people come here just so they have the freedom to study whatever they want, even if the return on investment doesn’t seem that high. It’s important to think about our careers, but oftentimes the worry creates an environment hostile to people who aren’t interested in pre-professional pathways. All I’m asking for is a little more courtesy and mindful language, a little more consideration around those who still haven’t figured themselves out yet.