In my first article this year, I discussed being an education major. I mentioned how I have had people tell me that I could do better with my life. People have even asked me, "Why? Aren't you going to be broke for the rest of your life?"

But for me, I have always wanted to be a teacher.

My education classes and history classes are where I am my absolute happiest. Helping people and education are two my biggest passions. I am a hardcore history nerd; therefore, there is no other better occupation for me.

When people tell me these things though it makes me really frustrated because they are not respecting my major and they are not respecting my decisions about my own personal life. What is even more frustrating is that I am not the only one that experiences this lack of respect when it comes to their major.

Major shaming. It is a whole new way to cut people down.

If you are discussing majors with someone and they are all passionate about what they are doing in life, why would you want to stifle their dreams? Why would you tell an art major that the odds of them becoming famous are little to none? Why would you tell an English major that there is very little to do with their major outside of college or an education major that their intelligence is being wasted? Does saying that benefit you? Better yet, does it benefit the person you are talking to?

It is not as if that art major will say "You know you are right. I'm just going to switch to a major that is much more practical according to your own personal standards." That probably would never happen. However, that does not mean that questioning someone's dream occupation does not hurt. Because the thing is, you are not just attacking their major. You are also calling into questioning their dreams, passions, and their plans for their future. Why would you do that?

Everyone is interested in different things and we all have various goals and targets set for our own lives. It is what makes our world so diverse and unique. How could our world run if we were all lawyers, doctors, teachers or actors?

If people were not trained in different occupations we would not be able to function. We need art to look at, movies to entertain, food to eat, and homes to sleep in. All of these occupations are filled by people who either did different training programs or had different majors in college. We need all these different jobs filled with people just like we need many different majors. If you think about it like that, all majors should be treated as equally important with any other major.

Not only are different majors necessary to create/ fill a variety of different occupations in our world but, they are also an expression of who people are. I have always been told that when you care about your job, it doesn't feel like a job at all. To get a job where you are excited to go to work in the morning has always been my ideal.

So I'll bring it back the idea once more, why would I not pursue an education major if teaching is something I have always wanted to do? Everyone deserves to have this feeling when they go to work in the morning. I know for fact however that for many people that is unrealistic. Some people do not follow their dream major in college because along the way others tell them that it is possibly "unrealistic" or that "it lacks a certain prestige". By putting down someone's major goals, you are indeed questioning their ability to make decisions and what they are passionate about. It hurts knowing you are not supported in what you want to do in life.

Why might this be an occurring theme? Well one reason may be that sometimes in society today it feels as if people are too caught up in trying to be the best in everything that they do. Whether it's the best player on the team or getting the best grade in a class. The thing is this obsession with "being the best" has even been transferred over to "being the best at being the most miserable".

For instance, how many times have you been talking to someone and you say something like "Man that was a rough test, I am so wiped." Then, the person you are talking to, responds, "You think you're wiped? I had two tests today and a paper due tomorrow. I am no where near being done".

People are always trying to one up each other with just how much they have going on in life. This way of thinking I'd found in to college students who are trying to prove that their major is the hardest. Some college students put so much emphasis on the struggles that they face within their own major. Then, they go around belittling other people's major because their major is not as hard or maybe does not require as many strenuous classes. When all in all, their classes may be just as challenging or intensive. Maybe it is, just in a different way.

Do I like math? No. Do I like science? No. Am I interested in art? Not really. But you know what? I can appreciate all those subjects or majors. I can understand how someone can be passionate about them even when I am not. I am not asking that we all rush to change majors just because someone thinks that one major is very special and unique. That would be highly unrealistic and we also need a variety of people working in different places.

All I am asking for is that we respect each other's majors. Even though it is not what we are interested in, it is still relevant and is still important. You don't have to participate in the major yourself you just need to appreciate it. I know for a fact that a lot of people really don't like history and I am okay with that. As long as you can respect it and understand that it does have importance in our world. If not, it wouldn't still be taught and it still would not be discussed.

Every major has importance and it is our job to support our peers in whatever they choose to pursue. We don't need to shame them and we don't need to be interested in all the same thing. Celebrated out differences and the way our differences shape our world.

*PLEASE NOTE: Over the last two weeks I have been discussing kindness. What it means to be kind, how to cherish kindness and so on. I was originally supposed to do a third week but sometimes when an issue comes up that you are really passionate about, you need to follow through with it and that's what I chose to do.