Murdering In Fear Shiffman Analysis

In Mark Shiffman’s essay Majoring In Fear, Shiffman addresses the increase in students drive to rack up credentials with hopes of landing their high paying, secure job ten years down the road, instead of focusing on what they are truly interested in. He argues that millennials trade out their passion for ambition out of fear of failure.This leads students to opt for the more “practical” areas of study, like the STEM field, and neglect what they may genuinely care about, like the arts or humanities. Shiffman is surely right about students putting their energy into activities that may build their resume out of uncertainty of the future instead of activities that are meaningful to them. Society should push students to pursue what inspires them instead of what career path offers the most job security. This will not only preserve students’ mental health, but also aid in the reverse of the decline in the studies of humanities. However, while I agree on most points, Shiffman fails to address the importance of STEM; in today’s ever changing society global technological competition is more important than ever on both political and economic levels.
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Shiffman writes off technical degrees as “practical degrees” which they are, however I feel that he does not give them credit where credit is due. Pre Med majors put in just as much work as philosophy majors, just because there is a higher proportion of those studying maths and sciences doesn’t mean that their area of study should be belittled for being more popular. Furthermore, Shiffman does not address those students who are passionate about their “practical” degrees, those who are inspired by engineering or biology. Just because most people don’t get giddy over angular momentum doesn’t mean people like that aren’t out