As an English major, I see how quickly the humanities are dying. In our society, there no longer seems to be an importance for art, literature, music or theater. Instead we are focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and news flash, not everyone likes or is good at STEM areas of study. Personally, I hate all four. I was never good at science or math in high school and I know little to nothing about technology or engineering, but to those who live for this kind of stuff, kudos to you.
I’ve noticed that people who are going to get degrees in those fields are never the ones who are asked "What are you going to do with that?” However, when I tell someone that I’m an English major, the first thing they do is ask me what I want to do with that. Well, my own plan is to maybe do some writing and to teach one day. It’s sad to say that they train you to give an answer in classes to explain why you are getting a degree in a humanities field.
As I said, in today’s society, the arts don’t matter. No one looks at a book or reads a book and says, “Wow! This is a great piece of art!” And no one thinks about the music they’re listening to as art, it is just music. It seems almost rare to find people who truly appreciate the arts -- technology controls too much of our lives. No one wants to read anymore, when you can watch a movie version of the book. (FYI the movie is never like the book.)
According to US News, some of the best college majors to get a job include biomedical engineering, biometrics, forensic science, cybersecurity and data science -- none of which are humanities majors, but all of the blame cannot be put on society for the lack of appreciation of the humanities. When your country feels like the education is not as good as other countries, or they see other countries doing things, they automatically think they need to be like the other country, hence the United States’ push on STEM fields. I am not saying that these fields are not important, I just wish that we did not see them as the only means of getting a job.
Instead of forcing kids to fail at something they do not understand, why don’t we let them excel at something they love and have a passion for? When a school has to cut programs, it is never a science or math class that gets cut, it is an art or music class. Law Street Media has shown that children who participate in art education programs (art, music, theater/drama, etc.) show an improved performance in school and higher graduation rates. It also showed that art programs can help keep at-risk youth off of the streets and out of the way of violence.
Hopefully as a society we will see the importance of the arts and humanities before it is too late. Also, I can only hope that the government will also realize how important the humanities are before they’re gone. Besides, the humanities are what makes us human.
