Science=Real Major/Career??? Mine is not??

[RelaxByWater84]

My friends are into science and math and have gone into those areas of study. I'm more into history and religion and culture and geography. I have gone into Religion with a specialization in Biblical Studies and plan on becoming a musuem curator. They claim that their majors/careers are real and more important to society. They say that they will benefit society more than my interpretation of history will ever benefit. Some have said that I have a useless major. How is it useless when I have learned skill that teach interpretation. I have learned to break apart words and find meanings that are correct. How do you deal with people that think their major/career are better than yours? How do you deal with people that think people who go into history or religious careers aren't smart?

[Batya33]

Given their closed attitude it sounds like they won't be contributing much to society no matter what their major is. Your major may be less practical given the number of museums with curator job openings versus the number of jobs for math/science majors but that has nothing to do with contribution to society! I hope you choose to ignore them and your major sounds really interesting!

[CaptainPlanet]

I think that science majors are learning material that has contributed more to society but without good ideas nothing from science can be put to good use for the benefit of humanity.

 

I think some majors are more powerful than others but I would not judge a person based on their major, though I would like to see the odd arts student accept that an engineering degree is much harder. As a science student myself, I accepted that engineering is much more powerful and in depth. I would go as far as to say that most engineering students are smarter than most science students.

 

I think it depends more on the individual as to what benefit they will get from a degree. You need to be presentable and articulate enough to impress someone from HR or you will not get a job anyway.

 

I think the hard sciences are a lot more difficult than a humanities degree. A lot of what you go into is personal choice. I have my gripe with humanities majors but that is more based on the type of person I have found to be involved with such majors.

 

I think it is very easy to get decent grades in a humanities degree, but just as hard if not harder to get the top marks.

 

I have taken one history subject in my lifetime. The subject was about Eurpean history from 1900-1960. I seriously studed two days before the exam and got an 87 overall. The exam was a joke, including questions like 'what is the gold standard explain and discuss...' I got through a lot of it based on general knowledge.

 

I think with humanities majors it just depends on how you take it and what direction you want to go. I tend not to like people who aren't down to earth unless they have a vast amount of technical or mathematical knowledge, then I am willing to cop it. If that explains it, I found a lot of humanities students tended to act superior.

[RelaxByWater84]

To clarify I want to be a curator of a military history museum or a national battlefield museum curator.

[shikashika]

no useless majors only useless people.

 

I know people with degrees in "Feminist movement in early 20th century Europe" or "Middle Eastern African Studies"

 

and you know what.. because they apply themselves, get out there work hard, do a lot to add to their degree it means they get good jobs.

 

I've said this in other posts, but I have seen students who are top students in areas where they *should* be able to get good jobs.

 

But when you ask them, "So, what have you done to look for a job" they reply "ummm..i applied for a job a week ago I think"

 

Whereas someone with that 'useless' English degree is getting a great job for a major company working in Marketing or Communications or PR, or business or whatever.

 

Also, university isn't a trade schools. So many people think "history degree?" what are you doing to do with that, be a historian or work in a museum?

 

 

There are so many things you can do with any degree, you just need to apply yourself..

[PixelPusher]

Just do what you want to do, and who cares about what others think. Your career is for YOU, not them. For what it's worth, I got the same thing from my extended family when I was in school. Especially my grandparents. They just couldn't understand why I was in school "to draw" and that no one could make a living "drawing."

 

What they didn't understand at the time, but eventually learned, that I was not just "drawing." They soon learned what graphic design was about and that everything around them was designed by someone. Once they realized that... they'd always ask me questions about my choice in career.

[CaptainPlanet]

I do think women get more out of humanities degrees than do men, I think I should add.

 

Infact I remember reading a study that shows women get more out of tertiary education full stop.

[shikashika]

I.

 

 

 

 

I think the hard sciences are a lot more difficult than a humanities degree. A lot of what you go into is personal choice. I have my gripe with humanities majors but that is more based on the type of person I have found to be involved with such majors.

.

 

we all know you have some gripe with people with a humanities degree fro some strange reason.

 

But what you are saying that sciences are harder than humanities is just wrong. i work with Science students, I see their grades in their English/history/humanities electives. Many of them hate doing their Arts electives and do poorly in them. My brother did... A's in all his Math courses, but D in English.

 

You say you do will in your History courses, so why not study that then instead? Perhaps that is your forte... if you do well in something, why not pursue it?

A finished degree with good marks will get you a better job than no degree and whining about those who have one.

[RelaxByWater84]

Another thing that gets me is that family and friends will ask why do you want to do that?? And then someone on "the outside" will be impressed that I want to be museum curator. LOL.

[PinkRoses]

Well i think that is a smart career sure math could benefit alot as well as science, but your career is perfectly fine.

 

Like the others have said, it's your life & career, do what is best for you, if they are your real friends they should support you.

[CaptainPlanet]

we all know you have some gripe with people with a humanities degree fro some strange reason.

 

But what you are saying that sciences are harder than humanities is just wrong. i work with Science students, I see their grades in their English/history/humanities electives. Many of them hate doing their Arts electives and do poorly in them. My brother did... A's in all his Math courses, but D in English.

 

You say you do will in your History courses, so why not study that then instead? Perhaps that is your forte... if you do well in something, why not pursue it?

A finished degree with good marks will get you a better job than no degree and whining about those who have one.

 

 

I am male, big and ugly I am not suited to a communications or relations orientated career. I need something specific, a general degree is not going to help me. No one is going to hire me into adminstration, unless it is a government job as they tend to be more impartial. These are the destinations for a lot of humanities graduates.

[shikashika]

I am male, big and ugly I am not suited to a communications or relations orientated career. I need something specific, a general degree is not going to help me. No one is going to hire me into adminstration, unless it is a government job as they tend to be more impartial. These are the destinations for a lot of humanities graduates.

 

Well, if you say 'its not going to help me" then it won't.

 

You just say you are good at History, so why not do something you are good at... and see where it leads!

[hosswhispra]

Positions/careers in the heathcare field and education field are numerous, stable and portable (you can move anywhere and work). Museum curator positions are not as numerous and more dependent on geography, I would imagine. But if you really know you want to be a museum curator and know where you want to live etc. you should go for what you love.

[skittles52026]

This may be am answer that you may not be willing to give to them, however if someone were to say something like that to me and try to put down my hopes or ambitions because they weren't what they thought was conventional. I would thank the, for being closed minded and congratulate them for conforming to society and just acting like sheep.

[dragon111]

 

You say you do will in your History courses, so why not study that then instead? Perhaps that is your forte... if you do well in something, why not pursue it?

 

I totally disagree, i was really good at history, it came so naturally to me that although sounding big headed i know i could have got the highest marks in a uni degree and could have written some pretty good and insightful books, i'm good at stuff like that (and i had always wanted to do archaeology so naturally found everything fascinating), but then since i knew i could have done that i saw no point in actually doing it because i would have done it, got to the end of my life and said, well, so what, you knew you could do that anyway, so instead i took the subject that i did worst in and also enjoyed, physics, and took that for a degree and got the best in that in the first year, so it's not about doing what your best at, it's about continually pushing yourself to the limit.

[dragon111]

And then when i'm old and retired i can always go back to things like archaeology and history and write a couple of books then if i feel like it, but orders important so i do the harder stuff now.

[arwen]

My friends are into science and math and have gone into those areas of study. I'm more into history and religion and culture and geography. I have gone into Religion with a specialization in Biblical Studies and plan on becoming a musuem curator. They claim that their majors/careers are real and more important to society. They say that they will benefit society more than my interpretation of history will ever benefit. Some have said that I have a useless major. How is it useless when I have learned skill that teach interpretation. I have learned to break apart words and find meanings that are correct. How do you deal with people that think their major/career are better than yours? How do you deal with people that think people who go into history or religious careers aren't smart?

 

I think what matters most is that you choose something that YOU like. Remember that if you want to make a career in the same field you major in... a study is a couple of years, but a career can build up to 40+ years. So don't pick a subject for other reasons than what YOU like to do in life. I have been in your shoes, very much so. I chose to study Linguistics and Philosophy. I am doing my PhD research in Linguistics now. Most people are not aware that Linguistics is not about spelling or prescriptive grammar. But my field of work fits into... things like link removed !

 

I think different (scientific) fields require different persons. The world would be a terribly odd place if we'd all love to be a historian or a linguist. Please don't let others decide what you want in life. People would tell me there was no future for people working in the career I chose. I feel that this is what I MUST do. You seem very convinced in your heart that this is what you want to do, you have a very clear picture of what you want to do after your studies which very few people can say I think- I am SURE you will get there and be happy.

[pinkelephant]

im a science major and sometimes i find it kind of useless.. lol

[RayKay]

I used to work in in a regimental museum (I was in military, and it was a side job of sorts for me).

 

I was also a history/poli sci major. I did not pursue them further directly (worked in finances, insurance, contracts) but did go back to school last year for my law degree - there are lots of arts undergrads in law actually, and law is definitely not "easy" so someone doing an arts major does not have it "easy". I remember my last year of undergrad I had to write 10 papers on top of exams....it was ridiculous and certainly not easy!

 

I don't think there are "useless" degrees. For me, you don't know where you are going if you do not know where you have been, hence needing historical understanding. And intelligence and knowledge come in MANY forms.

 

It would be a rather dry world if everyone was in the sciences/maths. My boyfriend is an engineer and more scientifically minded and I am on the other hand more "artsy" minded however we compliment one another well and learn from one another. I think everyone could learn from other's strengths and "minds".

[Batya33]

I am male, big and ugly I am not suited to a communications or relations orientated career. I need something specific, a general degree is not going to help me. No one is going to hire me into adminstration, unless it is a government job as they tend to be more impartial. These are the destinations for a lot of humanities graduates.

 

Many people who get liberal arts degrees get grad degrees in specific areas. And, at least in the US you are wrong about the humanities-government link. Especially since there are many government agencies that require a math, science or engineering background.

[CaptainPlanet]

In my opinion people with hard science degrees aren't rewarded nearly enough for their hard work. They can be thrown into the same boat as someone with an arts degree which is not really fair because I science degree requires a lot more dedication and study to achieve decent results. In that regard an arts degree could be a wiser choice, easy work and higher grades for less effort.

 

Science doesn't have as many practical applications as engineering. I would love to see a proper comparison in any detail done between the job prospects and salary between engineering and humanities graduates.

 

The problem with these tyes of discussions is that it always boils down to 'insert statement in protection of whatever course I chose here'. In reality I won't say a science degree has any better employment prospects than a humanities degree, but I do find the suggestion that they're 'just as hard' to be laughable.

[rocio]

I personally find science and math much easier than courses like biblical studies or history. My lowest marks were in biblical studies and anthropology, and it wasn't for a lack of effort. I have a huge amount of respect for those degrees. They also give you interesting things to talk about. Who wants to discuss chemistry? Not many people. Who wants to discuss gender role differences between Christians and Muslims? almost every woman I know!

[CaptainPlanet]

Put it this way, when science comes into demand it will be superior.

 

I was studying Geoscience, the typical starting salary for Geology graduate is around $65,000 per year, and can go as high as $100,000. Why ? Because the Geologists are in shortage, and in demand, a humanities graduate can't really go out in the field and do much of anything. They almost need Geology graduates, if they didn't the salaries would not be nearly as high because humanities graduates would be taking their places, for example.

 

This is in Australia btw, where our Universities thought it was a good idea to axe geology and mining engineering programs just as base metal prices were starting to rally.

 

That is the difference, science can be a much more specific 'skill set' where as a humanities degree is a general education, and will always be just another degree.

[CaptainPlanet]

I personally find science and math much easier than courses like biblical studies or history. My lowest marks were in biblical studies and anthropology, and it wasn't for a lack of effort. I have a huge amount of respect for those degrees. They also give you interesting things to talk about. Who wants to discuss chemistry? Not many people. Who wants to discuss gender role differences between Christians and Muslims? almost every woman I know!

 

That is true but most of the very intelligent people I went to school with the well rounded type who are now doing well were equally good at humanities and sciences.

 

The difference is as I was told and well knew it was that a humanities subject will take two hours to write an essay and pop a B+ to and A. For a mathematics or science subject everyone would study much, much more.

 

Often they would be learning their maths and sciences before the year had even started, humanities would almost always be left until the night, or lunchtime before. The general consenus was that humanities required a lot less work and study.

[RayKay]

Lots of assumptions here. It's not as simple as saying "humanities degrees are easier". All depends on 1) how well you apply yourself 2) the field you specialize in 3) how far you take it 4) your own aptitudes.

 

Here an engineering degree is a second degree, it is a professional designation that comes after an undergrad - comparable to going on to be a lawyer, accountant....it requires more schooling as well as particular on-the-job training and "articling" of some format. So you cannot compare it to a basic arts/humanities degree.

 

A engineer-in-training here (as after you complete your engineering, you need to go through a further four year understudy before getting your "stamp" and Professional Engineer designation) generally starts at $35-42,000. in my province. With a basic arts degree my first job was at $18,000, my second at $25,000 and my third at $30,000 but that was after several years experience AND further designations (insurance licenses, securities course, etcetera).

 

It's a totally different way of learning as well; for me (I was also good in sciences by the way, just was not my calling) sciences, maths was a lot about memorization and repetitive review....review it enough times eventually it sinks into your head. You still need to apply it or know how to apply it, but if you memorized it well enough, you could write the test. Arts was more about understanding various (and often conflicting) fundamental concepts, theories and their application additionally with your own analysis and being able to show proper argument based on those theories and perspectives.

 

In my graduate program (law) there are people whom have science backgrounds - including a medical doctor and a Ph.D in chemistry for example. Both find law, which would normally be considered an 'artsy' professional designation to be a lot of hard work and requiring a lot of effort.