Letter to the Editor: It Doesn’t Matter How Hard Your Degree Is — Focus on How How Much You Can Learn From It

There was an opinion piece in the Feb. 26 Exponent titled “Getting a Science Degree is Harder Than an Arts Degree” by Sarah Scharff. Basically, the article claimed that Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees are harder than Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees because BSs have grade-changing exams, require you to write midterm essays, have high course loads and need you to apply ever-changing concepts to real life.

Big whoop.

I was in a 3rd-year architecture studio giving design critique when the students told me that I needed to see this article. They were smirking. After some peevish redlining, I looked up from the article back to the students who had baggy eyes from staying up all night working on their projects. 

They had exams coming up, research papers due, deliverables to iterate, construction documents to make and juried reviews to prepare for. Simply put, anxiety levels were high, and most of us just wanted to go outside and sit in the sun. It’s clear the author has no idea what is going on in the College of Arts and Architecture.

People responded to the article in different ways. Some simply disregarded yet another bad opinion of today; others were pissed off and hot-headed. But absolutely nobody agreed with it. My opinion? Scharff’s article completely missed the mark. 

It was answering the wrong question — which degree is harder — and the answer didn’t add any value to our school’s culture. Instead, the question creates destructive dissonance between majors and impairs collaboration and empathy. Let’s shy away from that.

What is the point in talking about which degree is harder? Do BSs want someone to hand them an award for participating in the “hardest” degree? Do they think that because their degree might be harder, they’re smarter and more diligent than the rest of us?

Maybe they think that doing harder things is more important to society, and therefore, arts degrees are less valuable. Do they want us BAs to understand that we have it “easier” and should think twice before struggling with our workload?

Let’s give everyone the benefit of the doubt that they don’t actually believe these things. I’m assuming that debating over which degree is “harder” stemmed from a friendly discussion. Whatever it was, there’s something far more important going on here.

Education should be about learning as much as possible and, in turn, making progress towards creating a more meaningful life. Whether it’s hard or not has next to nothing to do with it.

It’s amazing how a biomedical engineer can make a life-changing prosthetic, or how an MSU-designed computer can go to the moon on a NASA mission. I’m very grateful to people who study health to improve others’ lives. I have no idea how mechanical engineers study fluid dynamics and heat transfer; that’s epic. Did you know that the civil engineers built a concrete canoe? Incredible.

Similarly, everyone should go to one of the College of Arts and Architecture’s concerts: pianists have memorized thousands of notes to be played with soulful rhythm and dynamics without pause for upwards of 30 minutes. I’ve seen extensive photography projects and movies made by my peers, launching them into careers and driving important conversations in our society. 

Check out the art galleries, where students have relentlessly iterated their ceramics and jewelry, searching for new material boundaries and possibilities. And be sure to visit one of the juried architecture reviews, where students have designed spaces for the public good while coordinating complex building systems.

I also want to make a point that both degree tracks are harder than the other. There are individuals in electrical engineering suffering through the night to get their circuit board working, just like how there are individuals in architecture who sacrifice their personal schedule to perfect their designs.

Contrarily, there are chemical engineering students who wait until the last minute to study for their exam and inevitably flop, just like there are music students who don’t practice enough and perform below expectations, failing the course.

The common thread? It all comes down to yourself and your willingness to learn from others. You get to choose how hard you work for your degree, and the eclectic scope of your experience in both college and life.

I’d like to close with an invitation to check out what us BAs are up to in our degree and in our lives. I also hope that some of you BSs will also invite us to your capstone projects or chat over some coffee. We all have something to learn from each other. 

Let’s work to see a change in the culture of MSU, where instead of debating over who has it harder, we can be curious about what makes each other passionate and driven to do what we do.