Over the past few decades, colleges around the country have been cutting humanities majors. Public institutions such as the University of Alaska, Iowa State, and Eastern Kentucky University have all announced significant cuts towards their programs.
From the rise of interest in STEM majors, there has started to be an increase in students who are looking for a degree that will land them a high-paying job. As a result, many have started to question the practicality of a liberal arts degree in the real-world job market.
“Humanities in college aren’t as clear cut,” Ms. Ferrara, a college counselor at Fort Hamilton High School, said in an interview. “If you go for something like nursing, you’re going to be a nurse. Because it’s more flexible, people may not know what to do with [a degree in humanities] doing something they love without a set career path for it.”
As someone who speaks to many students every day about college, Mrs. Ferrara has yet to be confronted by someone who is concerned about the decline in liberal arts education. The issue isn’t typically as published in the realm of prospective students in comparison to something like the removal of affirmative action, which was dominating headlines this summer.
“Humanities have always been a base for higher education,” said Mrs. Ferrara. “If you’re not getting exposure to those subjects you won’t be able to know if you have a passion for one of these areas.”
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, humanities degrees in the US have declined nearly 30% from 2012 to 2020, while STEM majors (science, technology, engineering, and math) have been on the rise.
The preponderance of STEM majors to humanities majors raises questions about how this generation of high school students will be affected.
“Humanities preserve the culture and history of each society and time period that has existed,” Mayar Shihadeh, senior at Fort Hamilton High School, said. “Without humanities, we wouldn’t understand how previous generations lived and how we evolved and developed on every level.”
Although Shihadeh is planning to go into college for biomedical science, she still believes that humanities are very important in higher education.
“They help with important things like writing and communication skills that every job in something like STEM would require,” she said. “Even if you aren’t majoring in humanities, they’re still essential.”
