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How To Respond When Someone Attacks Your Major

Defending What You Love

By Makenzie DockertyPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Image courtesy of ISTOCK 

There are some majors out there where people are unsure of why you're getting a degree. I'm majoring in mass media broadcasting production with an emphasis in video production (TL;DR I want to go into filmmaking). I've gotten questioned about why I'm majoring in that because "You could just go and look up how to do what you're doing on the internet" or some version of that.

Recently in a class we talked about how American prisoners of war in the Korean War would renounce their views on The United States. This is because they weren't used to defending it, which is why I failed in defending why I was getting a degree in what I was and why other people are as well.

Well, I asked my professor how to get around this and he gave me some advice.

The first piece, and biggest, was to talk about how people who have degrees get paid more. It is a statistical fact that people who end up with even a Bachelor's degree end up making more money in their field than people who don't have degrees and just go and learn through technical experience.

If someone doesn't believe you, then it is just a quick search to find those statistics and prove that person wrong. All you have to do is have the confidence to stand up to them and tell them they are wrong. Even if you don't have confidence, like me, just fake it. If you love your major enough you will find the confidence to defend it and say you are doing the right thing in getting a degree in that.

The second piece was to talk about the other aspects of the major you're learning. I'm not only learning hands-on camera and lighting things, but I'm also learning theoretical and law things. I know I'm not going to remember everything I've learned in Communication Theories and I definitely don't remember what I learned in Communication Law, and I bet no one else is going to remember those types of things either in whatever major specific classes they are taking. At the same time, there will be bits and pieces that stick or you'll know that it's a thing where you can go and search it. If you have a random fact or two that sticks in your brain, then you'll definitely surprise someone in an interview if they ask you a question about something you know.

Finally, don't care what people think about your degree. (This is more me than my professor) If you love what you are majoring in, then brush off the criticisms. You only have one life and you want to spend as much time doing what you love as you can.

I absolutely love what I'm going into and I would ignore the people criticizing my degree, but it still hurt, a lot. Now I can defend why I'm getting my degree and that makes me walk with my head high.. I'm the only one who get's in my way of completing, but I'm almost done and I'm getting done earlier, so anyone can do it.

Just get out there and have fun and love what you do. Get that degree that you actually love and don’t care what anyone says. Don’t go and do something that’ll make you unhappy just to make others happy.

So, remember, if anyone starts to attack your degree, then remember these pieces of advice:

  • One: people with degrees get paid more.
  • Two: you’re learning more than just hands-on.
  • Finally: don’t care what others think of your degree. If it’s something you love, then go for it and have the time of your life.

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