humanities degree

humanities degree

The Value of a Humanities Degree in the Modern World

1. Introduction to the Humanities

Regardless of the ever-growing importance and impact of technological and STEM fields, the humanities still play an exceptionally strong role in the education as well as the overall knowledge of students in almost all fields. It is not just worth noting this importance, but also arguing for, maintaining, and even growing that importance going forward. The study of the humanities does provide skills, mindsets, vantage points, and learning which cannot be obtained elsewhere, all of which are increasing in the contemporary professional world. The humanities brings both an ability to write and to understand writing in all forms. They value the ability to inculcate new points of view into any written work, provide new evidence and interpretations, as well as combining disparate complex concepts into complete and valuable understandings. Not offering this integrated combination would noticeably diminish the overall value of an undergraduate education.

2. Critical Thinking and Analytical Skills

Why does the seemingly abstract body of knowledge that comprises the humanities both impart and enhance valuable critical thinking and analytical skills? The humanities are important for the excelling of cognitive and critical thinking, analytical skills, and creativity by serving as the necessary foundation for human knowledge that comes afterward from other fields, and those skills provide the trained workforce that American businesses so strongly depend on for being competitive in the global economy marketplace. Regardless of the specific field or discipline, workers need skills in communication, critical analysis, and creativity to get ahead. Studies firmly show that many skills that are built through humanistic education are needed by other disciplines and industries, and are particularly important for in-demand fields outside of the humanities.

Humanities are the foundation of societies’ ideas, cultures, and actions. But as the amount of information that is delivered daily via technology increases exponentially, it has become increasingly difficult to communicate the continuing importance of the humanities. As educators, we often grapple with what the humanities mean and strive to extol the usefulness and importance of a humanities degree. The dynamic nature of modern education only serves to emphasize the link between the humanities and other fields. There are many reasons that the humanities are important, including: the valuable knowledge they contain, their unique ability to foster critical thinking and analytical skills, their profound impact on the economy, as well as their catalyst role in creating a diverse workforce. In other words, the humanities are important because all education is valuable, and all knowledge is important.

3. Cultural and Global Awareness

The University at Buffalo has responded to the challenge by creating institutions with global reach and has expanded its intellectual engagement with the world. For example, when UB President Satish K. Tripathi acknowledged the power of the humanities and social sciences to articulate in a more robust way the myriad benefits that this emphasis brings to a major public research university, he announced a major strategic initiative linking the social sciences and humanities with the university’s most pressing contemporary concerns—from sustainability and social justice to global citizenship and human rights—as part of the university’s “Building UB 2020” job-generating and economic-evolution program.

We live in an era when search engines can pull up any news from any corner of the world in seconds. For those who have the desire to learn, the only missing quality is need or curiosity. The humanities and social sciences, arguably more than any other disciplines, bring the world to people. This kind of literacy in its many forms surrounds students in their undergraduate experiences and gives them an invaluable advantage after they graduate. We are at a time in history when, thanks to technology, the possibility of global democracy, getting along with strangers and yet understanding and appreciating the differences that make us unmistakably our own selves is not only possible, but increasingly necessary. Graduates who have had the spectrum of the world introduced to them in history, religion, literature, music, language, culture, and politics are the ideal allies in this monumental task.

4. Career Opportunities for Humanities Graduates

Data indicate that humanities graduates can be successful in obtaining meaningful and rewarding jobs soon after earning their degrees. According to a report from the College Placement Council (1974), English Language and Literature majors enjoyed the highest initial salaries among all disciplines for graduates not possessing graduate degrees, and they also received proportionately more job offers. More recent salary data from the Educational Testing Service indicate that twelve to fifteen years after receiving their degrees, graduates with baccalaureates in philosophy, religious studies, English language and literature, history, and anthropology earned median salaries that exceeded those earned by accountants, elementary school teachers (K-6), registered nurses, social workers, and staff assistants working in financial institutions.

There are numerous career opportunities open to humanities graduates. At least part of the value of a degree in the humanities lies in the flexibility and creativity that is cultivated. Graduates can move easily into a variety of creative, educational, administrative, or technical positions, often doing work specifically relevant to the skills they have honed in their humanities disciplines. In addition, the ability to write and speak effectively, to synthesize new ideas, to think critically and persuasively, to appreciate what has been created, to understand diverse cultural heritages, and to take pleasure in the world’s intellectual and emotional products offers a large measure of personal satisfaction to the holder of a degree in the humanities. Such abilities allow recipients of undergraduate degrees in these fields to undertake many types of professional jobs, which may demand the use of those talents, but often not the specific knowledge gained in the humanities classes that they took while undergraduates.

5. Conclusion: Embracing the Power of the Humanities

The humanities teach us loquaciousness, to strive not only for velocity but also for veracity, not to excite merely by excreta and eroticism. Politically speaking, the humanities provide training that is useful in dealing with the philosophy of bias and underpinning divergent outlooks, while providing the skills for compromise and coexistence. Such wisdom, I believe, will appear a century from now as the most valuable legacy of the humanities.

In conclusion, perhaps today’s most important issues are moral and ethical ones directly connected with the humanities. In the shadow of globalization, isn’t the central humanities question the one about the limitations of capital and the scope of the will? It is through the humanities that we explore things such as terror, the future, and the enduring appeal of religion. It seems to me that the humanities need to reeducate the heart: to revive an understanding of reflection, values, and morality and to restore a sense of bipolar vision. It is the humanities which teach us cultural conservation – a consciousness that everything should not become standard, and a respect for diversity and for all dead works.