Why I Believe Everybody Should Do A Sociology Course At Least Once...

This post might seem a bit random considering I blog mainly about mental health, fitness and occasionally about my family. But it's time I put some more academics into my blog. I've never really spoken much about what I did before my degree, well, I have 12 GCSEs. My GCSEs didn't come out the best but I was never going to give up on my dream of going to university to study marine biology and since I couldn't do my Biology A level straight away, I went on to study my second passion. Sociology, alongside Geography and Philosophy and Ethics. This may not look like the CV of a marine biology student but I can tell you, my sociology A level has been of more use to me than Chemistry and Physics ever would, because they just weren't my strengths at the time.

So, I've compiled a list of reasons has to why my Sociology A level has helped me so much even in my degree! I bet you've missed a good list, haven't you?

1) It helped me understand more of the world around me
Or at least, I understood how other people saw the world around me. In sociology you will predominantly look at 4 main areas; Crime, Religion, Education and the family unit. And my goodness, did it help me understand all the underlying mechanisms of the features listed above. I saw every point of view as well, from feminists, from fundamentalists, functionalists, marxists. I learnt about politics too, all the things that you aren't taught in "conventional" education.

2) You learn how to formulate your own opinion

I know in my class definitely, debates would happen frequently, We learnt to fight our opinion, no matter how wrong it might have seemed (provided you weren't being racist or sexist of course. That's just crude and wrong.) You could be given a marxist point of view, and you will learn to formulate your own opinion on things. You don't have to follow a textbook opinion, you are more highly rewarded for bringing your own opinion in!

3) You can analyse any study put it in front of you

Speaking from a scientific point of view, I can pull apart a scientific study article very quickly, I could tell you whether the study sample would make it a reliable study. I can tell you whether they have followed the correct ethical protocols of consent, predominantly I learnt way too many completely unethical early-sociological studies. This skill has been indispensable within the first few months of university. It also provides you with "filter" to many so-called "scientific" studies used by newpapers like the Sun. They could tell you they've found a miracle skinny pill, they tested it on 20 people. And only 75% of which noticed a change in weight. But they will publicize it to you as "75% of people have lost weight using PillX. Boom. There goes your money up in flames."

4) You learn how to construct a good essay
Well, some of my essays weren't that fantastic but towards the end of 2 years on this course, and writing many essays worth 40 marks. My writing style and even my common vocabulary improved by 10 fold. This too, has helped me immensely at uni. Even though I've only done probably about 3 essays since I've been here, my latest one scored me 98%, although, I'm still to this day waiting to find out what I dropped 2% over. Probably some kind of silly spelling mistake... Anyway. Onward to my last point.

5) It makes you more well-rounded as a person

What do I mean by well-roundedness? It means having a personality which is fully developed in all-aspects, I have a deeper understanding of the people I talk too, of how their background has probably led to who they are in that moment that I am speaking too them,. and due to this understanding, I can completely change my demeanor towards someone and as consequence of this, they trust me that little bit more. This has probably helped me more in my job role as a cashier, I can start a conversation with someone and within about 30 seconds, I can learn more about them in 7 minutes, I have learnt so much about their lives, because I can identify, in some ways with most of what they are saying, and also understand their opinions a little bit more.

So, if you're 16 and about to choose your A-levels, please consider sociology, even if it's just at AS level, because I can assure you, you will learn more about society in that one year, than you probably would in your whole life. Of course, I can put a lot of this down to having an absolutely phenomenal sociology teacher, so, Conor McGloin, if this post ever reaches you. I want to say thank you., you taught in such a way, that sociology wasn't just a subject, it was a whole life lesson.