Reply to Majoring in English—why so much disrespect?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I know women’s studies, studio art, and political science majors from my LAC, who went to medical school. [/quote]

3% of med school students were/are humanities majors

It’s safe to say nobody knows many English majors who became doctors because it’s statistically impossible.

But you may know some.[/quote]

Statistically if you know 33 doctors one of them majored in humanities. To know two you need to know 67 doctors. To know “a few” or you need to know hundreds of doctors.[/quote]

That’s all humanities…not just English (poli sci most popular humanities major BTW).  We are talking specifically English majors which is the title of the thread.

You probably have to know 150-200 doctors to know one that was an English major.[/quote]

Gracious, I was an English major and even I understand that's not how probability works. You do not "have to know 150-200 doctors" to know one who was an English major. You can know just one doctor - the one in 150 who was an English major. [/quote]

And that’s why people look down on English majors. If you look at the prior post it started with the word “statistically”, meaning on average. You’re confusing a possible outcome with the probability that said outcome is realized. Where’s that sharp critical thinking that English majors supposedly develop while analyzing Shakespeare? Businesses will not pay you money for these trite arguments, you need to be productive.[/quote]

I'm not the PP but PP was not wrong. Perhaps PP was playing on the words as an English major. While the probability of an event happening before it occurs might be less than 100%, once the event has happened, it is certain, and its probability becomes 1 (or 100%).[/quote]

And THAT's where the nuanced critical thinking comes through - which your typical STEM person does not possess, exercise, or get.[/quote]

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