This may be a strange grievance, but it becomes grating when I list off my degree programs.

For reference, I am pursuing a master’s in both applied economics and statistics. Many people I meet consider this inordinately impressive, but I do not. These are the subjects I am passionate about and want to professionally pursue. I consider myself intelligent, but not because of these things. I am not what I study.

The number of people who faun over engineers, scientists, mathematicians and even us economists can be flattering and heartwarming at times. True, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) majors have answered the almost patriotic call to increase the number of Americans studying the fields that will carry much of our economy and technical industry forward.

However, this does not excuse the arrogance that too often comes with the craft. Many engineers, scientists and mathematicians, including those who have only declared the major but have yet to take the class, frequently expect the deference. Sure, the t-shirt that reads, “I’m an economist/engineer/scientist so let’s assume I’m always right,” got a laugh the first time and a smile the second.

The third time I came across it, I grimaced. I am not always right, and sometimes that is because I am an economist. The same would be said if I studied medicine, engineering or chemistry. Course of academic study does not mean one is correct in all fields. Quite the opposite, in fact – specializing in a field means knowing a lot about a rather narrow field of knowledge.

Certain degrees also do not guarantee higher earnings. The nurse and the economist will make more at the start of their careers – $35,000 and $42,000 in 2014, respectively – according to the Hamilton Project. The civil engineer will make only $32,000 in 2014. Fourteen years later, the economist will still make more than the civil engineer, and the political scientist will earn $7,000 more that year than the nurse.

For freshmen intending to enter STEM fields, learn now and learn well: what you study entitles you to nothing. Graduating as a mechanical engineer does not automatically mean you will make more, deserve more or create more than the English major down the hall.

The degree you decide to pursue is what you make it. The jerk that decides to study mathematics or electrical engineering will still be a jerk. Rigor of degree program does not absolve one from being a terrible human being.

Moreover, the world also needs the artists, writers, poets, musicians and social scientists to continue functioning. Even more so does it need the cooks, mechanics, plumbers, electricians and people of more humble means than the rocket scientists and physicists.

The gasps at my major, and those of my peers in other STEM fields, have grown tiresome. Even more tiresome is the expectation that I marvel at the guy in three-day-old gym shorts and flip-flops pursuing an engineering degree.

We are now and forever how we treat our fellow human beings. We are not what we choose to study. Sure, there will always be those people who hold STEM majors in almost deific esteem. That is their failing. It is even more so the moral failing of the STEM majors who use the name of their degree to boost an obviously fragile ego. If you need to improve your self-worth such that you expect homage when proclaiming your major, you have some soul searching to do.

Believe me when I say each degree has its struggles. I cannot imagine having the creative drive to write a comprehensive portfolio of poems and fiction like English majors I know do. I cannot fathom the specificity with which a sociologist must research a topic to write her or his thesis. I cannot grasp the passion it must take for a music major to submit four years of work and composition to the soul-crushing judgment of an academic panel.

Each academic discipline involves its own challenges equal in their respective merits. Despite the seemingly increased need for certain professionals, we have failed to continue to respect and treasure our social scientists, artists and educators.

At the end of the day, there is no course of study on how to be a good person, nor can a major absolve one of being a bad person. We are how we interact in our relationships and communities, not what we choose to study.