There is no doubt that STEM is sexy. Increasing tuition prices and consequent student loan amounts drive students and families to seek ROI on their educational investment. To many, this translates into a major that is easily identifiable as leading to a specific job. Engineering, coding, and even game-related majors dovetail nicely with careers that are in demand.
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There is no doubt that STEM
is sexy. Increasing tuition prices and consequent student loan amounts drive
students and families to seek ROI on their educational investment. To many,
this translates into a major that is easily identifiable as leading to a
specific job. Engineering, coding, and even game-related majors dovetail nicely
with careers that are in demand.
This has not been welcome
news for the humanities. Programs in history, English, and foreign languages
have been targets for cost saving, with departments shrinking by attrition as
tenured faculty retire, their lines going unfilled, and contingent faculty are brought
in to teach the must-have courses. This often sets off a vicious cycle.
Shrinking course offerings make departments and their majors less appealing to
students, which in turn lowers enrollment and reduces demand for full-time
scholars.
Nationally, however, the
concern may be out of proportion. While it is true that the number of graduating
humanities majors has declined in recent years, the historic pattern may not be
as concerning as one thinks.
Category
1985–86
2005–06
2008–09
2011–12
2015–16
Pct. Change from
1985–86
Pct. Change from
High
Pct.
Change from 2011–12
English language and literature/letters
34,083
55,096
55,465
53,765
42,795
25.6%
−22.8%
−20.4%
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics
11,550
19,410
21,169
21,756
18,427
59.5%
−15.3%
−15.3%
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities
21,336
44,898
47,095
46,717
43,661
104.6%
−7.3%
−6.5%
Social sciences and history
93,840
161,485
168,517
178,534
161,230
71.8%
−9.7%
−9.7%
Theology and religious vocations
5,510
8,548
8,940
9,304
9,804
77.9%
5.4%
5.4%
Table 1
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Looking at the data from the
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for five categories that
include humanities majors (Table 1), we see that most categories experienced a
decline in between 2011–12 and 2015–16 (the most recent year for which the NCES
has data). Many articles have cited this drop as evidence of the decline in
interest in the humanities, especially among English majors. In fact, this five-year
drop has spurred many institutions to dial back their humanities offerings in
favor of other areas that seem to show more potential for growth.
A longer view, however, shows
that all five categories have increased dramatically over the past 30 years. Of
course, much of this growth can be attributed to millennials (b. 1981–2001)
outnumbering Generation Xers (b. 1961–1981) as well as to increased
opportunities for degree completion and programs designed for nontraditional
students. As Figure 1 shows, English majors have suffered the largest drop from
their all-time high, but they are still well above this generational low. Other
categories have essentially remained stable over time. The most important
takeaway from this data is that the humanities are not at their all-time lowest
point of interest, and so universities should not plan for them to disappear
entirely or be offered only by select institutions.
This generation-spanning view
demonstrates how cyclical this sort of demand can be and why university leaders
should not let their humanities programs go neglected. Higher education in the US
is characterized by a continually oscillating focus—from classical or liberal
arts education to workplace readiness training and back again. To judge from
historical patterns, it is extremely likely that universities will refocus on areas
that include the humanities, and universities must plan to be ready to meet
that need.
This advance planning is
critical because the current contraction of humanities programs is creating a
pipeline problem that will manifest in two to three decades, when demand for
the programs may start to increase. The elimination of PhD programs, the
folding of multiple courses into a single survey, and the lack of emphasis on
the job-related skills these majors develop all mean that universities will
redevelop their humanities majors in response to demand instead of being out in
front of it.
Figure 1
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
For the university that
wishes to prepare for the inevitable rebound of interest in the humanities, I
have two suggestions:
Don’t drop your majors
While it is tempting to
eliminate majors in less-popular disciplines, such as classics and religious
studies, areas, it would be wise to keep these programs on the books with some
clear idea of how a student would complete such a program even with a
diminished number of faculty. Universities that, like most do, fund their
programs on the basis of enrolled majors need to find a strategy that
encompasses support for a certain number of less- or non-profitable majors that
fit within the university’s overall mission. A liberal arts–based institution,
of course, will need to maintain a broader selection of humanities majors than
one that is focused on other areas, but the offerings for either should be made
with the whole institution in mind.
Support your minors
Some universities fund
departments according to the number of majors but not the number of minors. Not
only does this approach damage departments that cannot then fund these
underutilized majors, but it robs the university of important pedagogical
opportunities.
Even the most practical major
can be buttressed by concentrated study in the humanities. A business major is
well complemented by a history minor. Engineering graduates can gain additional
marketability by studying a foreign language. The pairings are obvious; every
student in every field of study can benefit from focusing on the wider context
in which their discipline sits.
Ultimately, there is cause for
cautious optimism about the demand for the humanities as universities continue
to address students’ and parents’ concerns and desires. To paraphrase an old
saying, however, those who eliminate their history departments are doomed to
reinstitute them.
Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti is chair of LHE19,
editor of Academic Leader, adjunct professor of communication design at
Miami University, adjunct professor of art at Wittenberg University, and owner
of Hilltop Communications.
