Last year around this time of year, I was challenged to an intellectual duel by a close friend of mine. He was an engineering major at RIT and had implied that by picking communications and journalism as my dual majors at NYU, I was picking “easy” majors, because I wasn’t good at math. “I bet I did better than you in math during high school,” I retorted. “Oh yeah?” he said. “What score did you get on your Calculus AP exam?” I told him I had received a 5 and that shut him up pretty quickly.
This simple exchange is nothing new. There’s a noticeable stigma surrounding certain majors and career choices. Somehow, if one is majoring in a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) related field, society has come to view that person as smarter than someone majoring in art, English or many humanities majors. People look favorably upon pre-med students, or engineering majors and often comment, “Wow! You must be so smart!” towards those students. Students with humanities majors rarely get this response. Since when does one’s career choice define intellect?
Just because I have chosen writing-related majors does not mean I’m not intelligent, nor does it mean that I picked an “easy major.” I could have easily majored in mathematics, science, or technology, since I had a good grasp on those subjects throughout high school, but instead I chose to major in something that I’m passionate about. Because of this, people stigmatize me and assume that I was incapable of majoring in a STEM field, so that must be why I chose a humanities major.
I acknowledge that some majors may actually be harder than others, but I feel as though getting good grades in any major is never easy. It can be extremely difficult to receive an A on an essay or paper, especially if the paper is 30 pages long, or is due the same week as two other papers. Similarly, it can be extremely difficult to trudge through pages and pages of complicated reading and actually comprehend what the paper is saying. While it may take hours to finish a math assignment, deciphering these readings can take just as long. Anyone who has ever had to read Nietzsche or Judith Butler for class will understand what I am talking about. Successes in any field, whether it be science or history, should be respected.
Furthermore, there are many different types of intelligence. Even if someone isn’t strong in STEM subjects, it does not mean that they are unintelligent. I know people who failed chemistry, yet can speak three languages fluently. Howard Gardner theorized that there were seven different types of intelligence, yet since publishing this theory, many others have speculated that there may be even more. The problem is that as a society, we seem to only be recognizing and crediting certain types of intelligence, primarily logical-mathematical intelligence, while making people with different types of intelligences feel worthless.
These stigmatizations go beyond just one’s major and extend into the workforce. We respect many businesspeople (Just look at the reverence we have towards Stern students), doctors, scientists, and researchers, but we look down upon many teachers, historians, writers, artists, and performers. That’s not to say we don’t respect anyone in a non-STEM field. Obviously, we have respect for established artists or famous writers, but we don’t really revere the average teacher. As a society, our admiration can be misplaced and discriminatory.
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to recognize and respect other types of intelligence and stop predominantly exalting STEM-oriented people. To end, let me ask you a seemingly simple question. Who is the smartest person you know? Answering this question is a lot more complicated than you might think.
