Majors at Stuyvesant: Stressful or Supportive?

In order to receive a Stuyvesant diploma, there are certain requirements that students must meet, but students have the ability to choose from many different electives and classes to fit these requirements. Brooklyn Technical High School (Brooklyn Tech), on the other hand, has a different system. At the end of the sophomore year, each student chooses a major. This system sparked an interest among Stuyvesant students. Junior Alfayed Alam and senior Victor Liu prefer science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) focuses, stating that they would choose the majors Biological Sciences and Chemistry, respectively. Junior Roshni Patel would pick Finance and sophomore Aishwarjya Barya would go for Law and Society. Of the 19 majors available at Brooklyn Tech, students can usually find something to further pursue in their high school career.

For many students, Brooklyn Tech’s major system makes the school one of their top choices. Every student is required to rank their majors, and once a major is chosen, it cannot be changed. This may seem drastic, but Patel speculated, “It would be chaotic otherwise because people would change their majors for something easier or something harder.” She added that the strictness of the major system may help establish a focus and that if changes were allowed, then they should be within the same field to prevent any issues.

In addition, majors are based on the classes in which a student received a high grade. Liu supports this part of the system: “It wouldn’t make sense for a person to take on a major that they are not good at, or else they’ll likely suffer in their coursework and regret such a choice,” he said.

Sophomore Charlotte Kastoun disagreed. “It forces a student to focus their studies on certain topics that might not even interest them,” she explained. Kastoun elaborated that if a student has a higher grade in biology than in history, but is interested in history, then it would not be fair for that student to major in biology. In her opinion, the major system does not prioritize personal choice.

Furthermore, “There are multiple factors that play on whether or not you do well in a class. Teachers play favorites, give unfair or easy tests, curve too much or not at all, etc,” Barya pointed out. These biases affect class averages, thereby proving that one’s grades may not reflect how they do in the class, but rather the nature of their teacher.

If the major system were to be implemented at Stuyvesant, it would be beneficial mainly to those whom have already decided on a career path. “If I were given the option to choose my major, I could really delve into advanced subtopics of bioscience or chemistry,” said Alam, who has decided to pursue a scientific field. Patel, who hopes to major in finance, also believes that she would personally benefit from a knowledge of finance as it is not usually taught in school. In this way, students can immerse themselves in one topic, helping them pursue it in the future.

Similarly, the major system could be stressful for those whom have not decided on a career path. Kastoun pointed out that the major system would decrease the freedom to choose from a multitude of classes in a variety of subjects, putting more pressure on students to pick the “right major,” Kastoun said. Liu added, “One thing I like about Stuyvesant is how many elective selections it offers, and I don’t like the idea of pre-ordaining what electives a student should take because they had chosen that major in their sophomore year.” To Liu, sophomore year is too early for one to choose a major, and like Kastoun, he believes that students may later regret their decisions.

Despite opposing views on the effects of a major system, students do agree that the system can be restricting. Heng and Barya said that though there are 19 majors offered at Brooklyn Tech, they neglect certain fields, especially the arts. Additionally, if a student were to choose one major, their elective choices would be limited to those required for their major. Furthermore, the major system would hold students back from trying multiple things by forcing them to make a decision early in their high school years. “It is especially true if you begin a major and realize it is not at all what you expected and that you want to pursue a different field,” junior Chrisabella Javier said.

With a major system, Stuyvesant students would have to make big decisions in their second year of high school. For the most part, though some students believe that majors would help ground them in a specific subject area, the system is only beneficial for the select few students who have already decided on their career path. The major system might also be an extra stressor for those who do not know their path. High school is a time to explore one’s interests without being tied to just one subject, and the major system restricts one from doing so.