“Why would you major in ____?”
Fill in the blank with English, history or philosophy — or any other liberal arts major — and you get one of the most common questions among seniors at Saratoga High.
Too often, at Saratoga High and other schools that emphasize STEM fields, students who declare their intentions to major in the humanities evoke instant derision.
Humanities majors are becoming increasingly rare. According to the New York Times, the percentage of undergraduate students who major in liberal arts hovers around 7 percent — compared to 14 percent in 1970. Even at Ivy League universities, traditionally the stronghold of broad education, interest is declining. Harvard posted a 10 percent decline in humanities majors in just the last decade.
This national trend is reflected at Saratoga High, where students who declare their intentions to major in the humanities often evoke instant derision. Students strong in STEM eye them skeptically, inwardly questioning their future career prospects. They sneeringly ask intended English majors if they’re going to be teachers and wonder what graduates could do with a B.A. in history.
Students should be respected for their choices of major, whether they decide to pursue a technical field or not.
To combat the disparagement of liberal arts, the school should expose students to more professionals who majored in the humanities. For instance, they could invite speakers or organize more trips during which students could “shadow” a liberal arts major for a work day.
Perhaps, a more troubling trend is that some students who prefer STEM even say that they would not take English or social studies classes if they weren’t requirements to graduate. Instead, they would load up on more STEM classes.
This kind of thinking is foolish. A liberal arts education, especially in high school, is valuable throughout life, even if one doesn’t major in the humanities. English is crucial in not only communicating but also expanding people's capacities to think clearly, and a social studies education is important for participating in politics as an active citizen.
In addition, evidence suggests that reading literary fiction, a strong requirement in most humanities programs, can help people develop empathy and perform better in social situations such as job interviews.
Also, contrary to popular belief, liberal arts degrees don’t doom students to a lifetime of flipping burgers. According to a 2012 survey by Millennial Branding and Experience Inc., corporations actively recruit humanities students at a similar rate as technical students. Humanities majors could pursue careers as teachers or professors, lawyers, public relations managers, human resources specialists, political scientists, international diplomats, financial analysts and even medical doctors.
These skills can help a potential applicant get hired anywhere — even a technology firm like Google, which publicizes its goal of hiring applicants with “a variety of strengths and passions,” not people who can crunch numbers and nothing more.
Every company needs to hire workers in both STEM and the humanities fields. While companies may need programmers, they also need workers for human resources department, communications and finance. In short, the humanities aren’t as hopeless as they appear. In fact, they aren’t hopeless at all.