Thursday, March 29, 2007

Arts vs. Science

There's a long, ongoing debate as to whether getting an Arts or Science degree is more difficult. Here's the general arguements from both sides:

Arts:
Less Class Time
More research for papers needed
More reading

Science:
More Class time
Labs and practical work instead of reading.

As a past Arts graduate and current science student, I'm here to say, that at least in English/History vs. Geology, this is all bull. I not only have more class hours and lab requirements to fulfill, I have to read nearly as much as I was required to in English, still have to complete term papers, and have twice as many finals to write because I have to do lab finals as well as lecture finals.

I put in at least 30 hours of work a week in class, then I work 12 hours a week, and I still have to clean and cook for myself. I also have an hour to hour and a half long commute each day. Now that I have 2 term papers, 2 lab assignments, 2 lab finals, and a lecture final in the next week and a half that's going to go up to a good 60 hours of school work a week.

I'm absolutely not complaining about the amount of work I have to do. I understand that I chose to do take Geology, and that I need to be responsible for keeping my house clean and eating well. I'm just saying that not all degrees are created equal, and that there is much more work required in Geology as compared to English. In fact, in some of our geology classes we have Engineers and Geophysicists, and they both state that our program is the hardest they have every experienced. Having been through various upper level classes varying from Linguistics, English, Classics, Math, Anthropology, and Geology I have to say that this just may be the most difficult and work-intensive program I have ever been in. And boy am I exhausted.

Sean comes home in 3 weeks. Thank God!

No comments: