Daunted freshmen often find themselves evermore daunted come second-semester class registration. What will I major in? Why am I here? What classes should I register for?
There is no immunity from this existential major dread for second-semester freshmen. As a member of that group, let me begin by saying this:
I want to major in English.
My byline will say “a freshman majoring in political science.” That’s the truth. I’ll be majoring in political science — but I want to major in English.
Indeed, the natural gravitation of freshmen to more concentrated and “real” fields of major study is well-documented. In many ways, it’s an amalgamation of a few factors. A dwindling market for job prospects has increasingly led to emphasis on majors with relatively higher career placements. The increasing cost of college tuition has created a fearful perception, such that majoring in a field considered to be outside of the “applicable” realm is to sacrifice oneself to the wasting of four years of tuition.
A certain pressure exists from the outside, as well. We mold ourselves in the image of our peers, or at the very least are considerate of their choices. There remains some universally understood ethos — a head-nodding, no-question comprehension of what the practical majors are and what majors, like English, are more viscerally attractive, but less productive.
Binghamton University, of course, accepts and supports students of all breeds — English majors, political science majors, engineers and business students alike. We even place a special tag on those freshmen who are “undecided” as being “fundecided.” Still, this optimism mostly consists of idealistic platitudes. In reality, we comprehend and, in some senses, agree with the naysayers who claim that majors like English and art are useless. This is because we understand the naysayers. Empirically speaking, they aren’t entirely wrong to suggest that job prospects in those majors are considerably worse than they are in, say, engineering.
Still, the stigma that befalls those who choose more “impractical” majors is unjust. This quixotic wannabe English major is perfectly cognizant of the consequences that might beset me, should I choose to fulfill my dream of becoming an English major. Still, it is my choice.
Let’s adopt a more balanced approach to how we view major choice. At the very least, let the collective “we,” the new students at BU, create an environment that reduces peer pressure in the process of that very choice. Let’s avoid the extreme of the naysayers, permitting new students to experiment with classes and decide on a major as they so please. Still, let’s also avoid the extreme of being overly accepting of indecision. This is not to say that we need to stigmatize the indecision, but that we ought to provide new students with more access to job placement numbers and internship opportunities per major. Finding some in-between — a balance of honesty and empathy — will allow new freshmen to pursue a major in a field to which they’ve made an independent and informed decision to commit.
There’s a chance that the byline of this column could one day read: “a freshman majoring in English.” For now, though, I’m daunted, and as I look around at the other freshmen crafting their schedules all around me, it’s easy to see the movement and succession of one year of freshmen to the next. In these seats sat current graduating seniors, torn then between the polemic major fields of practicality and idealism. Some chose English. Some may have chosen political science.
And that’s okay.