This past Friday, the House of Representatives voted to pass the STEM Act, a bill that makes it feasible for immigrant students who are graduating with high degrees in science and math majors to receive a green card, allowing them to have permanent resident status in the United States.

Getting this bill off the ground has been no easy feat: Even now, there are concerns on how the bill will fare in Congress because of bipartisan arguments. One party thinks the STEM bill will help with the ever-current job demand in the math and science field, while the other sees the STEM bill as potentially getting rid of other visa candidates.

One of my main concerns is that if STEM passes, it will eliminate another visa category, the “diversity” visas. Diversity visas are for people who come from countries that have low immigration rates to the United States. There are only so many visas to give, and that the bill may exclude an entire subset of visa recipients makes me want to continuously bump my head against the counter.

But let’s just pretend that there was some magical way that STEM wouldn’t knock other visa applicants out of the water; that different people could get the visas they need. The STEM bill, in theory, is pretty handy. After all, it allows immigrant students to put their American university education to use and work for companies here, instead of overseas. 

These are some of the world’s most brilliant minds, and now employers can continue to fill their talent pool with these kids, thus, helping out our economy by filling these jobs. Plus, the makers of this bill recently added a revision that makes it easier for these students to legally bring in spouses and children.

Science, a great global economy, family … I’m down for that. Sounds like it works, right?

Not really. Right now, the bill discriminates — not just in what kind of person gets to receive a green card, but in which academic field is allowed a visa. STEM — science, technology, engineering, and math — but what about the other fields?

That’s right, I said it: STEM needs to open up. 

Now, saying this does not mean that I am a liberal arts child with an axe to grind on science enthusiasts. The STEM bill should include students who pursue the math and science tracks; these majors are vital to society and our economy. We need computer programmers and mechanical engineers, and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves.

It’s not fair that students who have studied math, science, technology or engineering should be given a higher priority over students who have studied education, or journalism, or business consulting. A major is a major, and an education is an education. It’s almost insulting that only foreign STEM students get an easier time getting visa, while others may not. Limiting immigrants’ right to working in the country that provided them their education based on the degree they studied here is not fair.

If anything, let’s look at lists with the highest demanding jobs in America. Obviously, things like “software engineer” and “computer specialists” are on there, but so are therapy jobs (physical, occupational) and marketing managers. It would be in our favor if we make it easier for more students, regardless of major, to stay here after they finish college.

And what happens if a foreign student, who studied a STEM subject for most of his or her college career, decides to switch gears and work as a social worker? They’ve been counting on that green card for their work in a science or math area, but now they won’t be able to get their green card, which they had been counting on, as easily. Simply because some interests changed. They shouldn’t be punished because they want to change their life path.

I do see that certain kinds of jobs are needed over others, and it’s fair to even stipulate that a majority of them are jobs where you need to come from a STEM background. But, in all honesty, our economy should see that most, if not all jobs, are critical, and must be filled. And we can only start to do that once we acknowledge that though many foreign students may be on the STEM track, not all of them come here to major in math or science. And they shouldn’t be overlooked because of it.

If we want to start protecting foreign students, we need to protect all of them — regardless of what degree they have.

Tolu is a senior in Media. She can be reaced at [email protected].