The Death Of the College Humanities Majors

Zero Hedge ^ | 06/10/2013 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

"People say you should do what you love," but in the new normal reality, it appears - based on the flagging applications at Harvard's humanities division - that oft-used phrase has been appended with, "but, I don't want to be doing what I love and be homeless." As The WSJ reports, among recent college graduates who majored in English, the unemployment rate was 9.8%; for philosophy and religious-studies majors, it was 9.5%; and for history majors, it was also 9.5%. By comparison, recent chemistry graduates were unemployed at a rate of just 5.8%; and elementary-education graduates were at 5%. Students have taken note. At Harvard, humanities majors have fallen to 20% in 2012 from 36% in 1954. School presidents and administrators at liberal-arts colleges have already started to take a more job-oriented approach to a liberal-arts education, but face an uphill battle in the wake of stepped-up global economic competition, a job market that is disproportionately rewarding graduates in the hard sciences, rising tuition and sky-high student-debt levels.

 

Via The WSJ,

The humanities division at Harvard University, for centuries a standard-bearer of American letters, is attracting fewer undergraduates amid concerns about the degree's value in a rapidly changing job market.

 

...

 

Universities' humanities divisions and liberal-arts colleges across the nation are facing similar challenges in the wake of stepped-up global economic competition, a job market that is disproportionately rewarding graduates in the hard sciences, rising tuition and sky-high student-debt levels.

 

Among recent college graduates who majored in English, the unemployment rate was 9.8%; for philosophy and religious-studies majors, it was 9.5%; and for history majors, it was also 9.5%, according to a report this month by the Georgetown Public Policy Institute that used data from 2010 and 2011. By comparison, recent chemistry graduates were unemployed at a rate of just 5.8%; and elementary-education graduates were at 5%.

 

Students have taken note.

 

...

 

"People say you should do what you love," Mr. Lytle said during a break from his job giving tours of the Ivy League campus Wednesday. "But the reality is that it's kind of a tougher economic time, and we do have to worry about living after graduation. I don't want to be doing what I love and be homeless," he added.

 

...

 

The weaker job prospects in certain fields have led four Republican governors to call for funding cuts at departments in public universities that they don't believe prepare students for the workforce.

 

"If you want to take gender studies, that's fine, go to private school," North Carolina GOP Gov. Patrick McCrory said in a radio interview in January. "But I don't want to subsidize that if it's not going to get someone a job."

 

...

 

"I think that's because they have a very primitive and reductive view of what is essential in society," [Homi Bhabha, director of the Humanities Center at Harvard] said. "There are jobs, and even in business, the humanities play a major role."

[Brad from Tennessee]

Rest in peace.

[rickmichaels]

[workerbee]

Then there’s my stepdaughter, considered Dramatic Arts as her major. You know it’s bad when her liberal-arts college advisor has suggested she think long and hard about that one.

[beef]

Q: How does an engineer get a humanities major off of his front porch?

A: He pays her for the pizza.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Dramatic Arts as her major.

Have you seen her on stage?

[rarestia]

Employed English major checking in. I have a graduate certificate in professional writing and make damn good money as an engineer and technical writer.

If you go into the humanities without a backup plan, like computer repair or help desk experience, you’re a moron.

[NEMDF]

Classic FR:

OH THE HUGN MANATEE!!

[Darren McCarty]

"I think that's because they have a very primitive and reductive view of what is essential in society," [Homi Bhabha, director of the Humanities Center at Harvard] said. "There are jobs, and even in business, the humanities play a major role."

And in business, there's nothing regarding humanities that I can't learn from personal experience - which is more accurate that what is taught in ethnic/gender/homo/transit studies.

[CommieCutter]

lol

[NEMDF]

HUGH MANATEE

(D’OH)

[BobL]

“The humanities division at Harvard University, for centuries a standard-bearer of American letters, is attracting fewer undergraduates amid concerns about the degree’s value in a rapidly changing job market.”

It also doesn’t help to have a faculty that is more left-wing then even three-quarters of the incoming students.

[BfloGuy]

The Humanities were killed by the very people who teach them. At one time [even in the early seventies], they were rigourous courses of study designed to form a well-rounded individual.

[Phlyer]

And in business, there's nothing regarding humanities that I can't learn from personal experience . . .

Actually, I disagree, but only on the margin. There are things in the humanities - notably English - that everyone should learn and should know before beginning a career 'in business.' But there's a huge difference between learning English in order to perform a useful function in society - like one of the 'hard sciences' - and learning English as an end in itself.

I saw a memorable comment in a letter to the editor in USNI Proceedings one time. The writer was a crusty old retired Captain, USN, and his comment was, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to be a social scientist, but it *does* take a rocket scientist to be a rocket scientist."

The foundational concept from the article is about subsidy. If you want to major in something like gender studies that doesn't have any reasonable chance of leading to a job in your degree area, then fine - go to a private school. But no societal subsidies for study areas that are not likely to return commensurate value to society.

Unfortunately, the logic of that escapes everyone who thinks it is 'compassionate' to give away someone else's money.

[workerbee]

She’s had a sum total of two onstage roles, both in high school.

Regardless. Dramatic Arts, as a major? Oy.

[the808bass]

The Humanities were killed by the very people who teach them. At one time [even in the early seventies], they were rigourous courses of study designed to form a well-rounded individual.

This X1000. I have a degree in Classics and make good money in ... medical sales, of course. My schooling was top-notch and helped make me the person I am today. There's nothing wrong with a Liberal Arts degree. It's a great way to learn. But it is incumbent upon the learner to practically apply his/her knowledge.

[CommieCutter]

For laughs. I couldn't believe this when I read it in an engineering book.

Leave it to a bunch of flakes to make professionalism complicated.

I wonder if people leaving humanities will simply result in more tripe like this. Much like we cheer when liberal states begin to fail only to watch them flee to red states which turn them purple.

[CommieCutter]

forgot to use the div tags....

[Calvin Locke]

Towards fulfilling the Humanities requirement for my BS in the late 1970s, I took Theater 1. The prof, on the first day, painted a pretty dismal career outlook for most people considering it.

[Darren McCarty]

I could have wrote the same thing without the BS in a paragraph, and I ramble.

Professionals need to act like professionals. That should cover all the bases. Do my job, and don't be a distraction (unless it is part of the job - and sometimes in my case it is).