According to vocabulary.com a stereotype is “a preconceived notion, especially about a group of people.” While most stereotypes you hear are negative, there are some positive stereotypes. Even if a stereotype can hold true for some people, it does not necessarily hold true for all people in that particular group. From the time I declared a major, someone always had something to say about it. I figured that I could not have been the only person to hear things about my major. I decided to make a survey to see if there were other students that were facing similar problems.
I heard back from a total of 70 students from varying majors, colleges, and even different states. This basic survey asked for their major, how happy they are in their major, if they had been stereotyped due to their major, what stereotype they were tired of hearing about their major and why it was wrong. 71% of surveyed students responded that they had been stereotyped due to their major, 23.2% said they were not, and 5.8% said they were unsure. While the majority of surveyed students said they had been stereotyped, 88.6% of students still ranked their happiness as a 4 or 5 on a five-point scale.
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Among Psychology majors, myself included, the most commonly heard stereotypes were that we all wanted to be counselors, and that we are always analyzing the people around us. "I don't psychoanalyze people, most people don't do that," said one student. Another student said what most of us are thinking when asked about psychoanalyzing, "to be honest, half the time I don't care enough to know what you're doing and why you do it."
Those in the English department are tired of hearing that they are "grammar nazis," or that they won't be able to find jobs after graduating. "English has plenty of transferable skills that can lead to many different job opportunities, including jobs in the field of business," was one Shippensburg University student's response, while a West Virginia University student added on saying, "Copy writing, editing, freelancing, grant writing, library science, marketing, publishing, social media, and writing are many of the fields that majority of English majors go into. English is also a common degree used to transition into law school."
Early Childhood and Special Education majors were tired of people thinking that they were in their majors to get out of working over the summer or that they will be glorified babysitters. "Teachers do so much more than teach ABC's and 123's. Teachers teach love, compassion, understanding, communication, honesty, and the list goes on and on. One teacher can have a lifelong impact on a student's life. It takes a special heart to take on the role of teaching kiddos."
Accounting and Mathematics majors want you to know that they are not all boring and that these majors are not only for guys. "The job may seem boring to some, but that has no connection to someone's personality." One Computer Science major was tired of people assuming they could fix computers just because of their major. "While some people are good at fixing computers and are computer science majors, this is putting computer science in a small box. Computer Science is much more theoretical and has a great amount of programming."
Biology majors have had enough with people assuming that they are going to med school, or that they can't be religious. "Not only are there plenty of jobs available, I also do not ever want to be a doctor. Ever," responded a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.
Exercise Science majors want to let everyone know they don't spend all of their time in the gym getting in shape. "There are so many components of physical fitness and I know that I don't reach all of the standards for our guidelines and a lot of other students probably don't either," was one student's comment. Another student included, "Some of us do like food and being a couch potato more than exercising."
One student shared what is was like being undeclared. The stereotype they were tired of hearing about was that they were not intelligent. They said, "I am smart; I just want to make an informed decision before jumping into a career path."
The most common stereotype heard among all majors had to deal with the degree of difficultly others viewed it to be. The main stereotypes were that majors were easy or seen as too hard for the person. From Journalism to Education, Speech Pathology to Film, and Psychology to Geo Environmental Studies, we were all faced with the similar stereotype and many people had something to say about it. "Journalism majors often go above and beyond to gather stories and information on their subjects. People are often unwilling to talk to reporters, making the job even more difficult." "Sociology is actually extremely complicated and detailed once you get past introductory level courses." "[J]ust like every other major our upper level courses are very challenging and packed full of valuable information." "I'm on set on weekends, sometimes up to 14 hours a day, and I'm learning an actual craft with my hands-not just sitting around watching movies." "Anyone can be in any major if they work hard."
A final thought for everyone before you comment on someone else's major:
"My major is not easy; just like your major isn't easy. If every major were easy, everyone would be able to do all of them. Just like you have to be able to crunch numbers in seconds, I have to remember legally binding specifics about a child, and what they need because of their disability, and be able to accommodate that when plans change suddenly. Just like you have procedures to follow, I have mandated laws and common core standards to follow/teach. The saying isn't, 'Those who can do. Those who can't, teach.' It should really be something like, 'Those who do what they do, do it because they love it.'"
