As the school year is quickly approaching, I’d like to bring forth an issue that is important to many students at McMaster: the biases there are between different programs, and how some are apparently
I am absolutely tired of hearing that my degree (or degrees...I’m technically on my second, having graduated from a combined Soc Sci/Humanities degree in June) is an easy one to get. If it was as easy as everyone thinks it is, wouldn’t I be getting 12’s on everything? I don’t, and I’m not the only one. I have yet to hear of anyone I know who has gotten a 12 in an English or Cultural Studies course. Easy my big, fat butt!!
I’ve also heard how our degree is so much easier because we have less hours of class. The typical Humanities or Social Science course load has fifteen hours of class a week. Yes, we have a lot less class than you...but we have to spend a lot more of our out-of-class time preparing for our classes. The rest of the time we spend writing essays; and let me tell you, a (good) ten page paper takes more than ten hours of writing, which does not include research and editing.
Furthermore, we get less help from our profs and the department. We do not often get notes on WebCT, nor do we have test banks. If we don’t go to class there is no way for us to make up what we missed, as reading the textbook just doesn’t cut it when you have to analyze and interpret on an exam. Maybe I would get a 12 if I had all of those things to supplement everything else I do. Until then, I’ll have to work my butt (yes, my big, fat butt) off and see how close I can get.
That’s my own personal gripe with the attitudes that some people have at McMaster (at the keynote speech last week given by a Commerce Alumnus he seemed to have similar opinions about Humanities and Soc Science that I raised above). That and the spatula taunts...however, I know it’s not just students in the Social Sciences and Humanities that face the same prejudices against their program.
Last year, at the MacPass tent, one of the Health Sci reps (the Pathogens...also in blue suits like the Blue Suits [Soc Sci Reps]) said something really stupid to a first year student. They said that the student had no chance of getting into medical school with a science degree. A Sci Co quickly retorted: "Don't you realize we have other programs like Geo, Chemistry, Physics, etc. that don't necessarily lean towards med school? Good luck getting a job when you fail your MCAT."
Admittedly, the response was a little bit inappropriate, but the Path did not have the right to put a student down like that. Talk about lame and immature! And I’d also like to mention that you don’t have to be in the Sciences or Health Sciences to go to medical school; Humanities and Social Science do too. (For more info, read this and this article about medical school).
Similarly, Math students and Engineering students often get into superiority arguments. Soc Sci students often think they’re better than Humanities students. Physical Science majors say that Biology is an inferior science. The arguments go on and on, but to no avail. They really don’t mean anything in the end. Those who stick by them are nothing but close-minded, immature people.
Consider the following: people are usually in their degree program because that is what they are good at. For example, I am not the best at math (partially because there is no practical application for calculus to me), so I stay away from it. Some people are not good at writing essays, so they stay away from courses that are essay-intensive. We all learn differently, and we all have our own skills and challenges. A lot of faculty bashing occurs during Welcome Week, and it tends to give people the wrong impression about other programs.
Remember to think for yourself, and to stay away from the close-minded, stereotypical thoughts! You never know when you will need help from people outside your faculty! I had my Eng friends help me with Calculus, and I helped them by editing their lab reports.
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