Our society has a classic archetype: the starving artist. Paradoxically, most artists are not starving because they have a practical place in society and in all businesses. We do not make technology and tools without giving them different styles, and those styles are developed in an artistic manner. We may emphasize a scientific formula of production, but we need artistic manners to wholly appeal to people as consumers. Additionally, we live in a society that puts more value in sciences and mathematics than the other arts that are just as necessary as science and mathematics.
Why is this? The problem is partially due to our society defaces the value of the individual emotional experience and deems anyone who is willingly to express their emotions as incompetent or weak. Emotions are not weakness because they are an intrinsic part of our lives that cannot be melted away. This is unhealthy. Denying half our existence only makes that part of us weaker. It is weak to deny our necessities instead of embracing them. Half of our individual experience is biological, and the other half is emotional. We cannot deny 50% of our existence and try to erode it away with a robotic philosophy of living life.
Liberal arts, humanities, and art emphasize the emotional side of our lives, and that is why these subjects are denounced. However, these subjects promote emotional intelligence, which is just as necessary as IQ.
Half of our problems in our individual lives can be solved by technology, but the other half are social problems that can only be solved with emotional intelligence.
Not everyone can have the same job, so it is not beneficial for certain job types to be considered more important than others. If everyone competes for the exact same career, our society would erupt in constant conflict. Our society is based upon the fulfillment of many different types of jobs, but if we are only prioritizing 1 or 2 subjects over the other ~10, then we make the mistake of ignoring the importance of those other subjects. We need science and mathematics, but we need the liberal arts, humanities, and art EQUALLY AS MUCH as we need science.
People that study liberal arts, humanities, and art are considered to not be making practical choices with their lives. This is a systemic problem that can be rectified. We need people to study history because knowing history means it is less likely to repeat itself. Human behavior and maturity levels have not undergone the same process of evolution as our biology and our technology. We need people to know how to read, write, and speak because we need to be able to effectively communicate with one another. We need people to understand psychology and other social sciences because it is better to understand each other than to fear each other out of ignorance. The more we understand the human conditions, the more empowered we are to live our lives without fear. Art is how we decide what curtains, rugs, silverware, napkins, and every other house item we decide to purchase as opposed to the competition that is arranged for us to view. We need subjects that help us understand ourselves just as much as we need subjects that help us create technologies that enhance our lives.
To force society to believe that only a few subjects should be considered relevant to a "correct" career path is to undermine the ability for people to feel as if they can make their own choices for themselves. Our society is based upon the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We cannot continually pursue these rights if there are values that portend an unsuccessful life as a consequence. We should NOT define success as only achieving ONE type of lifestyle with ONE type of career from specializing in ONE type of subject. We need diversity of subjects being studied and considered important just as much as we need to appreciate the diversity of the humanity around us.
