So You’re an English Major — What are You Going to do with That?

As an English major who has spent the last summer at Make Muse working with a crew of brilliant young women-many of whom study the humanities- I know I’m not the first to experience the stigmas surrounding the humanities. The age-old judgment seems to be that the humanities are simply easier than STEM. There’s just less work. Not every question has one right answer, so any answer must work. After all, we just sit around and talk about books all day, right? At home, faced by my relatives who expected me to study math, I’ve faced this stigma. In my hometown, surrounded by students majoring in biology or computer science, I’ve faced this stigma. And even now, as I attend a Jesuit, liberal arts university, I’ve faced this degrading, insulting stigma that my major is simply easier than others. That I’m studying English because it’s an easy way to a high GPA.

The expectation that the humanities are easier than STEM has frustrated and confused me for a long time. And for an equally long period of time, I’ve defended the humanities and myself for choosing them. I’ve even written an in an effort to prove the worth and value humanities majors add to the world. But through this piece with Make Muse, I want to ask why I’ve even had to defend myself and my English major in the first place. Why have I had to explain myself? Why have I had to…