Growing up, I always wanted to be an English major.
I loved to read and write, so English always seemed like the right choice, but then the real world hit me with a question that ruined all of my pretty little dreams: What jobs can you do with an English degree? How are you going to make money?
I’m sure I’m not the first person who had a humanities or arts degree in mind until their hopes and dreams got crushed, and I’m sure I won’t be the last. Parents have been opposed to humanities degrees since the dawn of time because they don’t churn out profit the same way a STEM degree does.
If you look up a random list of the highest-paying jobs, all of the top slots are usually taken up by some sort of profession based entirely in STEM. They are mostly doctors, but the point still stands: A humanities degree is not going to get you the same salary as a pre-med student.
There is nothing wrong with being a science student. These are the people moving the world towards technological progress and progress in health care and other vital fields. These students oftentimes change the world with their work and have the potential to do so much more. They are required to be experts in their fields, and some have to do extra school in order to get to the coveted high salary everyone seems to be salivating over.
While the humanities seem frivolous compared to these pursuits, we must not forget that “poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” There is all this talk about STEM being more important or more lucrative than the arts, but these very students listen to music while they study, watch movies with their friends or read books when they are waiting for yet another delayed MBTA train. We all go back to the humanities and arts, even when we don’t notice it.
Through these degrees, we learn what it means to be human, and we learn to connect with others through mediums other than a dry text from a situationship.
In English, we learn how to analyze texts and to understand them outside of the clear and obvious. We learn to empathize with characters who live lives completely different from our own, or we find connection in a shared experience with someone we’ve never met.
In history, we learn about our society and our past mistakes. We learn about causal relationships and how something as small as not changing seats on a bus can be enough to shake the world and inspire change. We learn that there is hope and that there is power in community.
In philosophy, we learn about our purpose for existence. We learn what it means to live a good life and how best to treat those around us. We learn how to think and give purpose to the mundane.
In music, we learn that others have felt the same as we do. We learn that we’re not alone in all of our strange and confusing human emotions. We learn to feel and bond with others through chord changes and powerful lyrics that feel like they were taken straight from your heart.
Every area of the humanities gives us purpose. We rely on it to exist, even if we throw it to the side and don’t actively think about it. As actor Ethan Hawke puts it in a video for TED, “art’s not a luxury. It’s actually sustenance.” So, by discouraging the newest generation of students from pursuing these degrees, we risk losing a crucial part of our shared culture.
In any case, humanities degrees are becoming more and more of a privilege. These programs are at risk of being cut in many American universities and are losing the funding they need to effectively operate. Also, at the end of the day, if you don’t come from a wealthy family, dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars on a humanities degree can be too risky for the average person, even if their importance is clear.
Studying what you are passionate about is a privilege set aside for people who don’t view college as a necessary step towards six figures, but rather a chance to learn. School is no longer focused on the pursuit of knowledge; it is now the gateway to a salary and a STEM degree is the best chance at that.
I am not surprised that society has turned away from these necessary fields. Art and culture have a habit of showing us the grotesque reality of the human condition; it is only natural for us to shy away from such a morbid truth. This, however, is why we need these degrees now more than ever, even if the unemployment rate is a little scary.
At any rate, it isn’t about one type of degree being better than another. STEM degrees are just as important as humanities degrees, and to have the opportunity to pursue a degree in either field is a blessing in itself.
The most beautiful thing about being human is that we can be curious about the world around us and learn more and more with each day. Whether you learn a fun fact about turtles or read a new book, you are expanding your mind, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.
