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I feel like this attitude that English is an easy major smacks of the guy who goes to a meditation retreat for his competitiveness, never gets the point of what

I feel like this attitude that English is an easy major smacks of the guy who goes to a meditation retreat for his competitiveness, never gets the point of what he's there for, sits there bored and learns nothing, then walks away saying, "That was easy, and I was the best meditator there." It's easier to bullshit, but that's largely because of lenient grading. You can actually fail a math course if you don't understand any of it. If you fail an English course, you typically get a C. Also, while I think STEM majors are more valuable, I would argue that it's a sign of cultural decline that English and history majors often can't get quality jobs. Sure, if you're not from money, you should study something practical. That is true. But it sucks that so many people can't study humanities and have decent careers.

justin_vanw 14y ago
I'm not sure if this disagrees or agrees with your point, but English is an easy major because stupid people can complete it without a lot of stress, and come out with a degree even though they still have absolutely no special ability in, nor deep understanding of English.
- JoeAltmaier 14y ago
  Don't go showing your biases or anything, but I remember quite a few not-very-bright Engineers getting their degree too.
- michaelochurch 14y ago
  Is this limited to English? I've interviewed some appallingly bad programmers with PhDs from top-5 CS departments. I'm sure they had high IQs, but they were awful programmers and, thus, in the context I cared about, were stupid.
SatvikBeri 14y ago
I have noticed a large number of people who have a mental block that they "can't do Math" or "can't learn foreign languages." In contrast, I have not noticed people with a mental block towards History/English/etc. I think the notion of STEM majors as "hard" is bad marketing on our part. From my experience, these mental blocks can be overcome. One trick that worked for me was to tell my students that I would take full responsibility for their learning during a tutoring session. That helped them relax and learn much more effectively. Alas, I was never able to get past the deeper beliefs-I suspect a therapist would have better luck with that.

justin_vanw 14y ago

I'm not sure if this disagrees or agrees with your point, but English is an easy major because stupid people can complete it without a lot of stress, and come out with a degree even though they still have absolutely no special ability in, nor deep understanding of English.

JoeAltmaier 14y ago
Don't go showing your biases or anything, but I remember quite a few not-very-bright Engineers getting their degree too.
michaelochurch 14y ago
Is this limited to English? I've interviewed some appallingly bad programmers with PhDs from top-5 CS departments. I'm sure they had high IQs, but they were awful programmers and, thus, in the context I cared about, were stupid.

SatvikBeri 14y ago

I have noticed a large number of people who have a mental block that they "can't do Math" or "can't learn foreign languages." In contrast, I have not noticed people with a mental block towards History/English/etc. I think the notion of STEM majors as "hard" is bad marketing on our part. From my experience, these mental blocks can be overcome. One trick that worked for me was to tell my students that I would take full responsibility for their learning during a tutoring session. That helped them relax and learn much more effectively. Alas, I was never able to get past the deeper beliefs-I suspect a therapist would have better luck with that.