<p>Maybe it’s just me, as I’m in Philosophy at U of Toronto (regarded as one of the top philosophy departments in the world), but it seems to me that, contrary to the prevalent stereotype that all Liberal Arts majors are “easier” than STEM ones, this does not really ring true from my experience.</p>
<p>In high school, I took all the math and science courses, and now in university, I’ve taken Calculus and Physics as electives. In both cases, my marks in these science courses have been WAY higher than my marks in my philosophy courses (I’m talking almost solely about Philosophy here, as I’ve taken other liberal arts courses like Psychology, Economics, Gender Studies, etc… and they <em>were</em> indeed easy-A bird courses). In high school, my science/math marks were in the mid-90’s range, while my English/Sociology marks were in the mid to low 80’s (which btw were still the top marks in the class).</p>
<p>It’s not a case of me being more of a “math/science person” than a “liberal arts person” either – I’ve always been told by my English/social science teachers throughout high school and university that I’m a very good writer, good with creative writing, research, persuasive argumentation, etc… Rather, I think this all comes down to objective VS. subjective grading practices.</p>
<p>I believe it is actually easier to attain A’s in math/science courses than it is in “abstract” liberal arts subjects like Philosophy, precisely because answers in the former are often either right or wrong – there’s no argument. On the other hand, the way philosophy essays are marked is very much subjective, and depends a lot on the personal standards and style of the TA/professor who grades it (for instance, in one of my philosophy courses, we were assigned a very “simple” essay topic – “What is virtue according to Aristotle?” You would think that most would get an easy A on this, as the students are intelligent, but in fact the class average for the assignment was a rather low B-).</p>
<p>Note that I am NOT saying that the <em>content</em> of the material in STEM courses is necessarily easier to grasp than the content in many liberals arts disciplines – the consensus is that it often isn’t. All I’m saying is that it may actually be easier to get high marks in STEM courses because of the objective grading standards. I feel like whatever grade I get in a math/science course is a function of how much time I put into studying and homework; I feel like I’m in control of my grade. By contrast, I could spend months on a big philosophy paper, none of my propositions would be “wrong” per se, and I’d still end up with a B-. It feels like your grade is balanced precariously on a thin thread.</p>
<p>It’s easier to get A’s in the STEM fields as long as you work hard, but it’s also easier to get F’s if you slack off even a little bit. In contrast, in many liberal arts disciplines it may be easier to slide by with C’s or B’s without as much work, but it is very difficult to consistently get A’s, even with a lot of effort put in. (I suspect the deviation of grades is much smaller in liberal arts than the sciences.)</p>
<p>So…what do you folks think? Based on your observations and experiences in college and/or university, would you agree with me?</p>
