Everyone has heard jokes or lectures talking about how useless and impractical liberal arts degrees are. College students are often pressured to pick something more practical like engineering or nursing because non-mathematic or science degrees won’t guarantee you a job. But your choice in major shouldn’t be hinged upon what will likely make you the most money — all majors serve an important purpose.

With the ever-changing job market, no one field is stable in terms of success. Something new is always trending and so having a certain major doesn’t determine whether or not you have a steady job so you might as well do what you love.

A liberal arts education isn’t just so people can figure themselves out. According to aacu.org it “empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world.” They improve your communication and analytical skills — skills you need to deal with all the complications that come with being a socialized adult.

According to jstor.org, a liberal arts education “appeals to the higher ideals of human life and is not concerned with the necessity of learning specific methods and techniques for a trade or profession.” Though this isn’t entirely true — there are specific majors that require certain courses for you to be successful in the field — the general idea is present; don’t count people out based what they majored in.

Structure is great and math and hard sciences are crucial to understanding the very foundation of the world we live in. But being able to expand on our knowledge of our surroundings through a variety of areas of study is just as important — you can’t have one without the other. According to American society, however, majors like music, art and English get you nothing but heartbreak and debt.

But all is not lost. There are colleges who focus on these fields of study and regardless of how useless everyone will tell you they are, you can look at the world around you and see those people would be wrong. Some of the top California schools specializing in liberal arts degrees according to USNews.com are Pomona College in Claremont, Occidental College in Los Angeles and Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

So for all you naysayers, try looking at things from a new perspective. All majors matter and are important in order to get people into a variety of fields matching their skills and interests. Let’s make sure no one ever has to choose between a major that’s going to pay them excessively and a major that makes them feel good about the years ahead.