Just because I study the humanities does not mean I have it easier than you

When asked to describe the most difficult major at Cornell, most tend to speak of the Sciences. But if I were to ask an Engineer to read the 15 page, single-spaced paper I had to write last weekend for my English class, he would look the other way. Choosing to major in English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics has gotten me some looks, mostly because people don’t know what that means. For some reason, the humanities have been overlooked as the simplified majors and I attribute these assumptions to some form of insensitivity.

‘Do you want fries with that major?’

I have been asked this question numerous times since I have been at Cornell; because apparently, the skills we attain as students of the Arts do not earn us employment. However, our areas of study are just as valuable as your time in the lab or scribbling on the white board. I choose to spend my nights with twenty or so tabs open on my computer, several books scattered on my desk, and enough coffee to get me through a paper that probably won’t be my last one for the night. Yet, you don’t hear me mocking where your work might get you. So no, I would not like fries with my major(s).

The importance of the humanities

Learning to speak correctly, and secondly, creatively, is the first step to talking about anything. You can then apply this to science. I am always asked to edit the papers of pre-med kids, whose writing is sometimes incomprehensible. Even though the understanding has become that grammatically correct and coherent writing is ineffectual, I am still the one on speed dial away for all our future doctors who just aren’t quite sure how to cite their work. Interesting how it all turns out, right?

The rivalry

My favorite memories are when I casually correct someone’s sentence structure when speaking and the conversation goes from colloquial to “at least I’m not an English major” or “at the end of the day I’ll still be making more money” as if their only defense is the statistics behind STEM and its career paths. During my first ever seminar at Cornell, I was asked how I felt about the fact that my major was soon to be “extinct, or at least it should be” because of the growing number of students joining STEM programs. It is exactly for this reason that I stuck with my major, added two more of the sort, and talk about them everywhere I go.

This is not a competition

There should be no rivalry for the most challenging major here at Cornell. The discussion at hand is relative — what is difficult for one person may not be difficult for the next. That being said, we should also stray from berating other majors because we are proud of our own. This too stems from a lack of understanding. One of the most failed classes at Cornell is Introduction to Wines, yet nobody thinks of this initially when thinking of the most difficult course.

The hardest major at Cornell

The most demanding major at Cornell is probably your own, so don’t concern yourself with others. Don’t hit me with, “oh, you’re an English major?” if you haven’t read a book since The Great Gatsby in the ninth grade and definitely don’t patronize me if you can’t define comparative literature. If Cornell has yet to define its “hardest major”, then neither can you.