A typical asked question among college students, "What are you studying?" Many answers are possible: from education to music there is no right or wrong answer. What may be right or wrong is the response followed after.
College students are often put down for their future career and can be discouraged and annoyed when hearing these negative remarks. How to stop the negativity? Stop saying some of these things college students are sick of hearing:
1. "Isn't that a man/woman's job?"
No one likes a sexist, let alone a sexist telling them what they are studying is a job set for a certain gender. Any job can be successful despite race, sex, or ethnicity. With effort and hard work, anyone can succeed in their future with whatever they want to do. Stop telling people they belong somewhere else due to who they are. It's 2018, we accept and support everyone.
2. "That's a hard field to get into."
Yes, we KNOW it's not easy, we're the ones who are pursuing it. Whether it be law or theater, many people are put down their entire lives for what they do simply due to the fact that it "isn't easy." No career is "easy," and while some majors demand more work or time than others does not mean that someone should not peruse it.
People study the subjects they do because in some way that subject is their passion, and the worst thing you can do is insult someone's passion. So instead of stating the obvious support them for doing what they love.
3. "That must be easy."
Talking about majors being difficult, the next worst response is telling someone that their major is easy. Some people are born to be better at certain subjects than others, but that does not make it easy in any way, shape, or form.
There will be many ups and downs during the time of someone's college career, and to try to say all their stress and hard work is easy is a disgrace to them and their job. Try doing what they do every day and see the work they put in to do what they love.
4. "Wow, how much money does that cost?"
First off, we are all drowning in student loans. We do not want to think about it, let alone discuss it. Being broke is no secret while being in college unless you're rich (and if you are, thank your lucky stars).
But most of us are dying and barely making it so we don't need you to remind us. Plus it's impolite to talk about someone's financial status so keep it to yourself.
5. "Back in my day..."
Sorry, but we don't care how college was "back in your day," whenever that is. It reminds us how awful it is now to be an in-debt student and how we hate your guts because your four years of college would not even pay for HALF of our four years of college. Also, a lot has changed from the 80s to early 2000s, and we don't talk about it so you probably shouldn't either.
6. "What do you want to do?"
While some of us know what we want to do, some of us don't, and some of us are back and forth. Not everyone always has it figured out so stop assuming they do.
By asking questions to people who are undeclared or in between majors puts more pressure and uneasiness on them. Sometimes talking about what we want to do makes us every more unsure of exactly what it is what we really want to do.
7. "Why are you studying___?"
Listen, we're studying what we're studying because A) we want to, B) we want to, and C) we want to. It's a stupid and self-explanatory question that is annoying to answer every single time you tell someone your major.
There's a reason we are going into the field we are and sometimes it's personal or there really is no straight answer, we just love what we do. And that is more than a good enough answer.
8. "You need to go to school for that?"
Just because our major doesn't shout out what we're going to do for a living doesn't mean it won't give us a valid education. All majors have many, many job opportunities in different fields. And in today's world you need a college degree to get a solid job, so getting an education is important, no matter what the degree may be in.
That being said, the answer is yes: for any major you need to go to school. Also, we're paying thousands of dollars for our college tuition, so trust us when we say we do need to go to school for "that."
9. "I didn't see you as the type of person to do___"
The reason we're studying what we are is because WE see ourselves doing it for the rest of our lives, not YOU. We're the ones who are going to be making a career for ourselves so our opinion is the only one that matters. You telling us that you don't think we're fit for our future just feeds fuel to our fire. Drop the attitude and just send us good vibes instead.
The point is that it's annoying when you're dedicating your whole entire life to something just for someone to shut down you down about it. Therefore instead of tearing college students up, support them. Next time you ask, "What are you studying?" Be ready to reply with a positive comment...or don't ask at all.
