About Us
Whether it’s the first day of school, or talking to someone at a crowded mod party, “What’s your major?” is the inevitable and mandatory question when it comes to introductions. As a Lynch School girl, one of the “rare species” at BC, this question often leads to one of two conversations:
Rando: “So...What’s your major?”
Me: “I’m an Elementary Ed and Psych double major.”
And from here, the conversation goes in one of two ways:
A) Rando: “That’s cool! I could never become a teacher.”
B) Rando: “So, you mean Arts and Crafts?”
Granted, choice B is usually one of my friends joking around. Regardless, I’m DONE and TIRED of having to deal with these stereotypes every time I have to talk about my major. And I guess it’s my lucky day because I’m about to break three stereotypes I never want you to approach me with ever again. LEGGO.
Three major stereotypes about the Lynch School:
1) We aren’t as smart.
People are under the impression that we don’t work as hard or that it was easy for us to get into the Lynch School. I can’t speak for all people, but as for me, I worked my butt off in high school to get here. Like most BC students, I was one of the top students in my class, had good SAT scores and participated in a healthy amount of extra-curricular activities. So to assume that we’re “dumb” because we’re in the school of education instead of training to become a doctor or a businessman is one of the worst judgment calls you could ever make.
Courtesy of CollegeDegrees360/Flickr
2) We don’t have as much work and we sit around making art projects.
We may not have to deal with Organic Chemistry, Clinicals or Business Law, but we do have a workload and we DO NOT sit around making papier-mâché. Even this Yahoo! article acknowledges that the education major is one of the more challenging majors.
For Elementary and Secondary Education majors, starting sophomore year, we are required to have a “Pre-Practicum Experience” (teach once a week at a designated school) either Fall or Spring semester. By senior year, not only do we have to “Pre-Prac” for one semester, we are also required to “Full-Prac” (teach full time) for one semester.
I had my first “Pre-Prac” experience this past Fall Semester and as much as I loved it, it was also a big pain in the ass. I had to wake up at 6 am every Tuesday, dress like a secretary and work with second graders for a whole school day. Second graders are ADORABLE, but they are also needy, fight and cry over the smallest things, sneeze without covering their mouths and occasionally have lice.
On top of interacting with germ-infested kids, I also had to prepare for class, make lesson plans, and choose books to read to students. SO DON’T TELL ME I JUST COLOR IN DISNEY PRINCESS COLORING BOOKS (although they’re pretty awesome...).
Courtesy of coba/Flickr
3) Everyone in Lynch School wants to become a teacher.
The Lynch School also has an “Applied Psychology and Human Development” major, often neglected by everyone outside of Lynch, because most people assume that if a student is in the Lynch School, he/she is going to be an Elementary or Secondary Education major. It’s just like how people assume that every CSOM major is going to be a money-sucking spawn of the devil or every English major is going to be drinking coffee and reading poetry under a tree.
Furthermore, even though some of us are Elementary or Secondary Ed majors, we’re not sure if we want to become teachers and some of us are just not meant to be teachers!
So, even if it’s tempting to assume that we all want to teach your kid, it’s better to ask than assume.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I’m an angel who hasn’t likened CSOM to Slytherin or never thought that they were “money-loving soul-suckers.” Although I’m joking most of the time when I say or think these things, it’s a problem at our school. We automatically decide that people are “lazy” or a “jerk” or “dumb” by a label we all chose for our college application, a label which may or may not determine our careers.
Whether we like it or not, we judge people constantly for superficial things, such as what they’re wearing or their hairstyle. And now that we’ve entered college, we’ve added another category and built another wall that keeps us away from getting to know people for who they really are. If we assume that we know everything about a person based purely on their major, why would we even TRY to get to know who the person really is under the surface?
