What your major says about you

So... I'm a magazine journalism and English double major. As you'd expect, I do lots of reading and writing. Lots and lots and lots and lots. SO much reading and writing, in fact, thanks to this semester I think I'll throw up the next time I think about reading anything ever again. Writing seems harder to avoid. I think this blog qualifies.

But just because I chose to write and read and write and read and write and read some more doesn't mean I can't do other things. There are all sorts of major stereotypes that I find really quite annoying. For example - journalists can't do math. Ok, I'll admit that this stereotype has been circulated by journalism students just as much as non-journalism students, but there's a point where you have to draw the line. The other day someone prevented me from doing a task that required basic adding and subtracting because "you're journalism major. You can't do math." First of all, I took AP BC Calculus in high school. I wasn't exactly a wizard with calculus, but I scraped by with a C with some help so I'm not totally stupid. I can derive with the best of them (well, some of the best of them), thank you very much. And I can certainly add and subtract. I remember those flash cards from elementary school.

Just because I chose not to do math doesn't mean I can't do math. There's a difference, I feel. On the opposite side of the coin, there's the stereotype that people studying accounting, finance, actuarial science, physics, etc... aren't creative. I think that's total bull. I think everybody has the potential to be creative. I also think there's an aspect of creativity in all professions. Especially when it comes to problem solving. Sometimes you have to come up with some pretty creative solutions. That's creativity, too.

And to say that anybody studying anything is inept at whatever they're not studying is wrong. Drake has a core curriculum just like almost every other school ever so even if all you want to do is eat, drink, and sleep pharmacy for six years, TOO BAD. You have to take a variety of other courses in order to graduate.

It's a silly way of thinking and I wish we'd move away from it, but it's going to stick around for a good long time. In the meantime, I guess I'll just get back to reading and writing since I'm apparently good for nothing else. Maybe tonight I'll hide under my covers with a flashlight and do some derivatives secretly.