The Oxford Dictionary defines the word “useless” as “not fulfilling or not expected to achieve the intended purpose or desired outcome.” When it comes to choosing a college major, whether a major is considered useless depends on what you believe is the primary purpose of higher education. Is it about achieving financial success, pursuing personal passion or a balance of both?

In my opinion, no college major is inherently worthless because the value of a degree depends on individual goals and perspectives—and just as there are no useless people, there are no useless majors.

To fully understand this argument, it is important to clarify the purpose of a college degree. For many students, earning a degree is seen as a way to secure a clear, reliable path to higher earnings and better job opportunities. Society often reinforces this idea by favoring fields that produce tangible, profitable goods and services, especially in our current “quasi-utilitarian” economy. As a result, majors focused on abstract thought, history or culture—commonly referred to as liberal arts degrees—are often undervalued. Because these degrees do not always lead directly to vocational careers such as nursing or engineering, they are labeled as unprofitable and dismissed as “not worth the debt” of college.

However, I believe there is more to a career than how much money it can make you. Diminishing a life to its profit seems to me an incredibly close-minded perspective—and telling people their dreams are “useless” seems a little harsh. Each field provides a unique voice in our society—and while less popular majors may not pay as well or offer as many job opportunities, they bring diversity and creativity into the workforce. The entire point of having everybody specialize in a particular field is so that we as a society can have access to all kinds of information and fight against any issue.

Years of research support the value of pursuing an arts or humanities degree. Although these fields often do not offer the immediate career advancement that a medical or accounting degree might, they offer numerous proven benefits that often transcend standard or “practical” careers. First off, these fields are widely recognized for cultivating essential abilities in ethical reasoning, contextual judgment and communication that prove invaluable throughout any career. Graduates trained in liberal arts-related fields consistently demonstrate outstanding communication and problem-solving skills, qualities that, in many cases, surpass those of a finance or science degree. Also, the versatility of a liberal arts education means these abilities are highly transferable, allowing graduates to adapt and thrive even if they decide to change careers later on—a unique strength of the field. During their college experience (regardless of the field), students are invariably taught how to research, write and think critically, and earning a degree shows potential employers that a candidate has discipline, grit and is able to accomplish long-term goals—all qualities that are invaluable in any area of life.

Furthermore, recent studies have suggested that while students pursuing careers in conventionally streamlined fields have higher immediate job placement rates, graduates in fields such as liberal arts catch up to their peers in full time employment rates within a six month to one-year time frame.

That being said, choosing a college major does require a lot of thought and consideration; however, it’s important to avoid dismissing conventionally “useless” majors and focus on what would make you happiest in the long run. Even if a major may appear useless to you, every field of study can have benefits. As the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”