So after an increasingly stressful week of college (so far, without fail, at least 2 quizzes/tests per week since the start of the semester) I've been bitching to some friends about my classes and amount of
cousework/studying I have to do.
That, in itself, isn't very interesting. But the response I get is... almost everyone would respond "but Psychology classes are easy!"...
O'RLY? Of course, I should mention that the majority of those who use this dreaded phrase are (you guessed it!) NOT psychology majors. I don't personally have a problem with people being ignorant of the major contributions of the study of psychology to the world today (think; effective ways of teaching/learning/reducing anxiety, just to name a few things we encounter daily)... but it's the reductionist view that most people seem to take on the matter that dismays me. Needless to say, they also take a reductionist approach to judging people who chose to pursue psychology academically.
While the field is deeply rooted in empirical science, deals with statistics, has infinite future implications on technology, artificial intelligence and
humanistics... It seems that the general public dismisses psychology as "common sense" and "useless". At best, they see it as a "respectable but easy" field - wedged at the bottom of the academic ladder; don't need talent like the artistic fields, don't need mathematical processing skills like calculus, not
alot of practical application of science like engineering.
Which brings me to the point that, for some reason, engineers are looked upon as "G-G-G-Godlike". I've known a fair amount of people who seem incompetent of building a structure of
Legos and yet choose to pursue an Engineering degree for the prestige (even after discovering they have to sit through repeated failures)... but they seem to get a higher degree of recognition even if their "contribution" is probably going to be limited to the tuition fees associated with attending university under an engineering program. No offence, but just cos someone is an engineer does not mean he/she is more reliable,
knowledgeable, respectable than a psychologist whose works deal less with the mechanical than the social.
Anyways, gtg to class. Just thought I wanted to vent.
3 Comments:
i feel that psych is not getting the recognition tht it shld cos the field is still (relatively) young.
..and to a certain extent, psych really is intuitive =p
Maybe Engineers think they are better (and have convinced everyone else they must be) because they are mostly guys =O. Haha.
I certainly don't think Pyschology is any easier, it's just a bit different. Not quite as much problem solving, but more understanding and thinking. You could say pyschology requires more thinking and brains than following the forumulas of Engineering =P (but that is doing engineers a dis-service, cause they can create some great things too).
They are just different, no "better" or worse". And I think sinlee is doing a great job under the stress she is having to cope with =).
I just realized that a sizeable amoun of my readership (yes, that's all 5 of you, you know who you are) are engineering majors.
Just wanted to point out that I'm not pinpointing anyone in particular, just stating an observation I've made.
So if I offended any of you engies, sorry ya? =p
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