One thing I have noticed recently, in my experience as a music major, is that people tend to have an extremely negative connotation surrounding those involved in creative or "less-work" majors. There is a running joke here at USC that unless you are an engineering, premed, or computer science major, you really don't have to do much work. In conjunction with this, people also look down upon certain majors under the assumption that they are "easy" or "useless."
I'm not sure why this is a trend in the sense that there are so many valuable majors in each university that reflect the talents and individuality of all the students. Of course, I completely respect those who are involved in the sciences, engineering, and so on. But why do certain people feel they need to put down my major?
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I couldn't tell you the answer, but for all those who think that music, business, communications, theater, and the arts are "useless" or "easy," let me prove you wrong. As a music industry major, I take marketing, publishing, law, and theory classes that are all as integral and relevant in real life as an engineering major's classes. Business practicum alongside cultural and economic implications are what I study, just in relation to a different medium: music.
The business side of my major involves taking economics, accounting, and business entrepreneurship with my other music-oriented classes as well. I can't speak for other "easy" majors, but I do know that at this academically stellar university, no one is working any less than anyone else.
To some, these kind of "creative" majors may seem simple and impractical, but creativity is what drives our world. What do you like to do in your free time? Listen to music? Read a book? Go see a movie or a concert? Maybe you like art, or graphic design. All of these things have distinct and important industries that have evolved over time to become some of the largest-grossing industries in our economy.
Despite the fact that I could defend the legitimacy of creative majors all day long, it's important to recognize the real problem. Why aren't we encouraging people to discover their real talents? Maybe your passion was medicine or science, but that's not for everyone. Our world wouldn't function properly if everyone had similar likes and goals.
It's important to recognize each of us has an individual calling. For some that may be medicine or law, and for others it might be art or literature. It makes us unique, it makes us special, and it highlights the best part of our humanity. So the next time you want to make a comment about someone's major that you think is inferior, just remember their unique place in the world and at college.
