Before submitting my UCAS application, I’d spent weeks agonising over my course choice – torn between my love of English Literature and Creative Writing, and the more practical appeal of Journalism. I eventually picked Journalism as my first choice as it seemed to offer clearer career prospects while still allowing me to pursue my passion for writing. That being said, it wouldn’t cross my mind to tell an English Literature student that they should have made the same choice. If anything, I admire people who based their decisions solely on enjoyment and I often wonder if I should have done the same.
Therefore, I was shocked about the number of dismissive comments I’d received from peers about my degree. When answering the 200th “What are you studying?” during freshers’ week small talk, I was stunned by the response “Right, so you’ll be earning max 20 grand a year.” Given that we’d all earned our places at University, I assumed we’d all believe we were stepping onto an equal playing field. But not everyone sees it that way, and hierarchy sneaks in fast. I discovered that this phenomenon is known as ‘Degree Shaming’ and throughout the year I became increasingly aware of the subtle- and more often than not, blatant- ways it manifests. It wasn’t just a one-off comment from some idiot after too many beers; it began to show up in conversations all around me and many of my friends had experienced it too.
So, who are the targets of Degree Shaming? You won’t be shocked to hear it’s not STEM students. Those in fields such as STEM, Law, Medicine, Business or Finance are often praised and respected, whereas people studying social sciences and humanities are looked down on for picking the ‘easy A’ . It’s not surprising that subjects with lower predicted salaries are the ones on the firing line of shaming and face the brunt of being labelled as ‘pointless’. While it’s easy to brush off stupid comments most of the time, constant jabs will eventually wear you down, especially during times of stress.
A friend of mine, studying history, lives with three Medicine students. She said: “I feel like I can’t ever mention that I’m struggling with my degree because it just becomes a competition of who has it harder. And I’m not winning that one”. The only thing worse than exam season is feeling like you can’t complain about exam season, as you supposedly have it easier than others. It multiplies your stress levels when you feel like you’re not supposed to find something challenging. Another friend said: ‘I feel like I’ve gone into debt for no reason since my degree is apparently a punchline’. I myself had an exam season meltdown where I considered dropping out and reapplying to study law, because at least then my struggle would be rewarded with respect.
You have to wonder about the psychology behind the shamers. Since awarding bodies set academic standards based on the intellectual demands of each subject, what gives others – often with no authority- the confidence to comment on the value of degrees outside their own? It seems egotistical. Perhaps it’s a need for superiority. Students who tie their self -worth to being at the top of an academic hierarchy feel the need to put others down so they themselves feel more capable and disciplined. Maybe it’s rooted in insecurity and cognitive dissonance. For instance, a student who holds two conflicting values such as wanting to earn a lot of money and therefore choosing to study Economics, while also knowing that they
don’t enjoy economics and art history is their true passion. Deep down they envy other people’s ability to make a different decision. So, to reduce their own discomfort they put others down to reinforce their own choice as being superior? And the ‘right one’. Others just can’t seem to comprehend that people would choose passion over profit, and because the concept is foreign, they feel possessed to cast judgement.
That’s not to say the humanities and social sciences are always the victims — it’s more complicated than that. I’ve had the odd snide comment from philosophy and history students too. We’re supposed to be on the same team guys! Maybe it stems from a more traditional or elitist mindset that sees ‘intellectual’ degrees as inherently more prestigious than practical or vocational ones.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’d seriously struggle – not to mention be bored out of my mind- if I were to give mechanical engineering a go. I’d be utterly useless. But I can bet you that most MecEng students would struggle to write an essay or slog through academic readings with twenty pages of footnotes and jargon. That’s why degrees should never be compared; we’ve all chosen degrees based on our interests and strengths. We need all fields to function as a society. The world can’t run on technology and money alone, we require communication, education, culture, justice, health etc.
So the moral of the story is, as is always the case in life: putting others down doesn’t make you smarter or more successful – it just makes you seem insecure and unlikable. You gain nothing from belittling someone else’s path, so why bother?
