Posted on 12/11/2018 7:55:14 AM PST by C19fan
A recent study confirms a disturbing trend: American college students are abandoning the study of history. Since 2008, the number of students majoring in history in U.S. universities has dropped 30 percent, and history now accounts for a smaller share of all U.S. bachelor’s degrees than at any time since 1950. Although all humanities disciplines have suffered declining enrollments since 2008, none has fallen as far as history. And this decline in majors has been even steeper at elite, private universities — the very institutions that act as standard bearers and gate-keepers for the discipline. The study of history, it seems, is itself becoming a relic of the past.
It is tempting to blame this decline on relatively recent factors from outside the historical profession. There are more majors to choose from than in the past. As a broader segment of American society has pursued higher education, promising job prospects offered by other fields, from engineering to business, has no doubt played a role in history’s decline. Women have moved in disproportionate numbers away from the humanities and towards the social sciences. The lingering consequences of the Great Recession and the growing emphasis on STEM education have had their effects, as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at warontherocks.com ...
Wow, sounds like they did everything but wine and dine ya. Nice.
did I forget to add wining and dining at the faculty club? This was a full court press.
As an aside, I turned them down. This created some hard feelings. My grade in Spanish for Semester 1 was reduced to a C+ which meant I had to take Semester 2 per the rules in effect on the language requirement that a grade below B required an additional semester.
It was not a happy semester for me or for the instructor.
Another factoid: Harvard, gave me full credit in advance for their language requirement in their acceptance letter if I had gone there.
So, retribution followed. That figures. The steady downward spiral of higher education puzzles analysts.
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