I’ve lost count of how many times I have been “STEM-splained” by an engineer with a condescending undertone of how hard their degree is — a degree they chose entirely of their own free will. Each time, I am forced to entertain calculated complaints about their workload, fully aware that it’s a thinly veiled attempt to prove they have a more challenging degree than me.
The truth is, I’ve never invalidated their complaints. STEM majors have an undeniably hard workload and I cannot even begin to grasp the advanced calculations that they use. Frankly, I don’t even disagree with the argument that their degrees may be more intense than mine.
However, what I do have issues with is the contempt and superiority often implied when people — regardless of their major — speak snobbishly about how much more difficult their degree is. It is their inability to view life from any paradigm other than one that prioritizes conventional success above all else. It is their reliance on the rigor and intensity of their degree to express the value of their academic accomplishments. It is also their common misconception that a degree promising the greatest utility in the form of a high-paying job is superior to one with less tangible rewards. These tendencies do little other than reveal a narrow-minded worldview.
This is not what a college education should be about, especially at a liberal arts institution like Tufts that prides itself on fostering students who can “think deeply” and “distinguish themselves as active citizens of the world.” Whether for personal fulfillment or a broader ambition, college should inspire students to seek meaning beyond academic validation and conventional success, regardless of the perceived difficulty of one’s major.
In a Tufts admissions blog post, a graduate from 10 years ago shared that some of the most transformative moments of their undergraduate career came from courses like “Black American Politics” and “Gender and Politics.” These courses not only shaped who they were but also how they thought, and they claim that their “sense of self, sense of perspective, and sense of the liberal arts” was profoundly transformed, continuing to influence them to this day.
This process of transforming classroom discussions and academic knowledge into self-discovery is precisely what one should strive to achieve in college. At an institution like Tufts that focuses on personal growth and academics, and has a wealth of resources, students have everything they need to bravely explore their passions and leverage them toward a greater purpose. There are countless opportunities to make better use of a demanding degree than by fixating solely on its rigor, especially when it leads to the trivialization of degrees that don’t meet this standard.
When one is truly passionate about their studies and confident in the value they create, they can develop a sense of internal security and intrinsic assurance that frees them from the need to outshine others or seek external validation. However, when the goal of a college education is reduced to a mere test of competence or means to achieve a hyper-pragmatic end, it becomes impossible to find contentment in the inherent value of the degree itself as its worth becomes tied to external factors.
Creating real meaning from one’s education demands a certain depth of thought — a willingness to look beyond conventional success and question what truly matters. But an education characterized by finding singular fixed answers limits one’s exposure to normative debates that prompt introspection. While valuable, the emphasis on precision and calculation could strip one of the ability to ponder the fundamental principles of actions, in turn stifling one’s development of more nuanced thinking about the world and their place in it.
It’s thus no surprise that some students are inclined to brag about the difficulty of their degree — it’s a manifestation of an underlying insecurity that stems, not from a lack of competence, but from the very over-competence they are often pressured to embody. Consequently, they come to view difficulty as a replacement for true value to fill the void of a deeper, self-assured sense of worth.
This article is not about STEM majors. It is not even about majors in general. Rather, it is a reminder that there are far better things to do in college than competing over who has the heaviest workload, toughest exam, busiest schedule, longest study hours or which degree leads to the highest-paying job. I recommend starting by searching for a deeper meaning in life and letting that guide your academic pursuits.
