Growing up in a science based society was and still is difficult. I was always told that I needed to study something in science or business as anything else would be useless in the world that we live in today. Being the defying individual I am, I decided to major in both English and philosophy. Many people have remarks such as, “your degrees are useless in the world.” to comments like, “you will never obtain a steady career.”

I won’t say that those remarks hurt when I hear them but I will say that in a world directed towards science and achieving the ‘American Dream,’ I have learned more about life in those negative comments than I ever would have thought. Yes, I knew the risks of majoring in my areas of study like obtaining a manageable job and the scrutiny I would receive from most individuals’ displeasure towards the topics, but I decided to follow what I love and what I am passionate about.

Going into college, I knew that my options after graduating with my degrees were slim and that graduate school would be a necessity and mandatory in order to achieve a job within one of my fields of study. Compared to science, English is limited on what we can do. We can teach, go to law school, or go into editing and publishing.

English is an intense area of study. Most people believe that English majors read Harry Potter, write papers, geek out about William Shakespeare and stay in on weekends to write novel length essays. Though most of this is true, I believe that English is an underrated degree that does not get as much credit as biology or chemistry.

I have learned how to think critically being an English major. It might not involve scientific equations or the quadratic formula, but it does involve looking into the author’s mind and what a certain passage or quote could mean in different symbolic perspectives. Learning how to think critically is essential in order to create pages and pages of essays that we happen to write quite frequently, or interpreting your own meaning of what you believe is going on. Thinking clearly involves being able to communicate these thoughts through evidence and communication.

English majors know how to communicate in many ways. We are forced to state our opinions clearly and thoroughly in an analysis or in a discussion. We have to be able to communicate not only on paper but also in person as arguments are prone to happen while discussing certain topics. Communication is a very broad subject that English majors have excelled at in many ways.

Unlike science where there is one answer, English lets you think creatively and free your imagination and all the unlimited possibilities within. There is no wrong answer in English. We are able to make conclusions to our beliefs based on our understanding of what we read or write. Not only that, but there is a universal beauty about literature that everyone can relate to. Everyone needs English or an understanding of literature to get anywhere in life. It is the most basic form of education there can be. Can people hold jobs without learning how to read or write?

I’m not saying that science is not important because it is. Science is beneficial to survival and advancing in health and technology. But before you go and bash those majoring in topics like English, remember who taught you how to read and write, remember who wrote those textbooks that you are studying from, but most importantly, remember that every single person has different interests and passions.