The InHumanity of It All
NPR recently presented data about the college fields of study that lead most directly to profitable career paths for graduates. The data revealed that science and math related degrees lead to the highest-earnings while comparative literature and theater degrees produced the lowest. A similar report focusing on the highest-earning degrees appeared on the CNBC website in late August also. As one might expect, there were no surprises in this report.
Yet, this bit of information set me immediately down a tortuous thought path: if all students attend college in order to gain high-earning degrees in STEM fields, they will gain earnings from their jobs, but they won’t be able to spend any of their income on books or theater productions because those degree areas will not have been pursued in college. They’ll have an expansive collection of Every Tool is a Hammer-type books to read. However, those tomes will not be about creative engineering for stage and screen but will give them a peak into the varied creative genius of, say, the bike lock engineering field…
Clearly, this is very simple and spurious reasoning: the correlation exists in my mind but not in reality. The world is a much more complex place. I do, on the other hand, fear the devaluation and loss of the study of the humanities--see a March 2019, online article published on the Inside Higher Ed web site titled, “Academic Prioritization or Killing the Liberal Arts?” Despite its clear presentation as a defense of the study of the liberal arts, the article does provide this legitimate substantive insight: “These disciplines (the arts, humanities, theater, music, history, religious studies and philosophy, political science, sociology, anthropology, and foreign languages) have proven to contribute deeply to enhancing one’s malleable intelligence, a sense of civic duty and social responsibility, and engagement in critical citizenship.”
Of course, education is not just about career preparation and future earnings, and we have 12-14 years of general education that occurs before college. That being said, however, a literate, educated populace is an asset, individually and communally, to those living in that populace. Do we really want to lose track of history? Is philosophy a waste of time? Philosophers have had a great deal to say about economics, law, politics and governance to name a few important areas, and had a significant influence on the construction of both the modern state system as well as seminal documents such as the US Constitution (a significantly influential document throughout the world).
Consider some of the following humanities degree earners and their subsequent roles:
Undergraduate Degrees of Recent Presidents
Barak Obama — BA in Political Science
George W. Bush — BA in History
Bill Clinton — BA in Foreign Service
George H. W. Bush — BA in Economics
Ronald Reagan — BA in Economics and Sociology
Jimmy Carter — BS (US Naval Academy)
Undergraduate Degrees of Women in High Offices (maybe we will be able to add a President soon)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg — BA in Government
Sonia Sotomayor — BA in History
Hillary Clinton — BA in Political Science
Condoleeza Rice — BA in Political Science
Susan Rice — BA in History
Madeline Albright — BA in Political Science
Nancy Pelosi — BA in Political Science
Science and technology have contributed wonderful advances to modern civilization including, if not especially, to huge leaps in medical care in the past century. Without a doubt, we need students in STEM fields to continue making advances in the medical research, food science, energy development, and other technical fields. And students should definitely pursue their passions if they lie in these fields. But we also need historians, ethicists, writers, musicians, linguists, philosophers, history, and people who study human geography, law, politics, religion, and art. These folks keep us informed, ethical, ordered, entertained, and to greater and lesser degrees, well-led. There’s lucre and there’s value; I think we are better off with a combination of graduates, and how about showing the money to those comparative literature degree-earners?
Brimmer and May School
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Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
617-566-7462
As an inclusive private school community, Brimmer welcomes students who will increase the diversity of our school. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or any other characteristic protected from discrimination under state or federal law, in the administration of our educational policies, admissions practices, financial aid decisions, and athletic and other school-administered programs.