Humanities majors aren’t impractical

“What are you going to do with your degree?” This skeptical question is all too familiar to most humanities majors. As the perception of the humanities as useless disciplines proliferates, their numbers rapidly decline: The number of history majors has decreased by 45 percent since 2007, and English has plummeted by half since the mid-1990s. But data indicates majoring in the humanities doesn’t limit students’ future options. Moreover, we should reject the notion that choosing a major is primarily a profit-maximizing decision. Liberal arts education, and liberal arts degrees, are inherently valuable because success is more than affluence.

On campus and in our culture, humanities degrees are often dismissed as indulgent and restrictive of future success. The Daily Princetonian has previously published pieces that unpack widespread denigration of the humanities at Princeton, and it’s an attitude I’ve heard reflected in my own social circles, even those that are replete with humanities majors. Even former U.S. President Barack Obama (who graduated from Columbia University with a degree in political science and a specialty in English literature) disparaged the humanities, repudiating art history as an impractical degree while promoting the earning potential of skilled trades.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)’s alleged superiority for career stability is complicated: Although STEM majors earn more than their peers in the humanities at the beginning of their careers, their edge dwindles within their first decade in the workforce. The initial period of stability and higher income offered by STEM majors is compelling to many — some students from low-income backgrounds in particular don’t feel they have the luxury of choosing a degree for intellectual interest alone and opt for STEM majors because of their ostensible security, in spite of the tenuous nature of that advantage.

But early-career security is all that STEM offers over the humanities, in financial terms. The disappearance of the head start is partially because the importance, and thus the desirability, of certain STEM skills changes frequently. For instance, the programming languages that Princeton’s Computer Science Department teaches now may well be rendered obsolete by technological advances in the next decade, especially as AI develops more sophisticated coding abilities. Meanwhile, the qualitative and abstract skills that humanities courses confer — critical analysis, original research, writing proficiency, even empathy — transcend fluctuations in the job market and remain valuable across time periods. (Although AI could eventually adopt these qualitative skills, it’s comparatively more difficult to program AI to produce unique arguments or moral thought.) Employability is a capricious concept, but a humanities degree holder’s aptitude for critically evaluating existing paradigms and contributing and communicating their own ideas is an advantage in any career, from law to medicine to finance.

While there are differences in employment rates and earnings between humanities and STEM degree holders, they are marginal. The differences in earnings among majors are so small that the gender earning gap wipes them out: Among terminal bachelor’s degree holders, men who majored in the humanities earn more than women in any field except for engineering. And it’s important to remember that these statistics represent the national average. The cultural cache of a Princeton degree exceeds the comparative value of any particular major, nullifying these disparities. Princeton graduates arrive at profitable careers from a wide variety of majors. For instance, the University’s comparative literature, history, classics, and philosophy departments all boast alumni in finance and consulting careers — but also in law, policy, journalism, academia, and medicine, suggesting that the skills humanities education fosters are broadly applicable, even to careers that aren’t concretely connected to individual majors. While we should discourage Princeton students’ aversion to career paths with more modest salaries, the data demonstrates that Princeton humanities degrees facilitate pathways into a diverse range of high-paying, respected, and intellectually stimulating careers. The opportunities and resources that Princeton provides ensure that one’s major does not restrict one’s career options.

For students intending to pursue an M.D. or J.D., undergraduate major matters even less. In fact, a recent study found that for advanced degree holders ages 49-60, the unemployment rate was the same — 2.6 percent — for those who majored in the humanities, business, or engineering. Additionally, undergraduate major is not a significant factor in admissions for medical and law schools. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, “it’s best to major in what you want, not what you think [medical schools] want.” In 2022, 79 percent of history majors and 76 percent of English majors who applied to law school were admitted, making these the fourth and fifth most popular degrees for law school matriculants. Majoring in the humanities does not preclude lucrative career paths.

But even though humanities degrees can pave the way for future affluence, we should abandon the tendency to use post-graduate expected income as our metric for determining the “usefulness” of different majors. A career’s potential to make a positive impact or even its social prestige isn’t predicated on its salary; teachers, nurses, and public defenders make far less than investment bankers and hedge fund managers, but their societal contributions are undeniable. And just like financial compensation doesn’t correlate to the societal benefit of a job, future affluence doesn’t dictate which majors are “most worthwhile” to pursue while in school: An English major who becomes a consultant hasn’t necessarily gained more or less from their education than one who works for a publishing house, because a humanities education is a worthwhile endeavor for its own sake. Learning to read and write and think critically makes one an asset in the workplace and enriches one’s quality of life.

Beyond the professional and personal benefits of a humanities degree, humanities majors also shape the cultural zeitgeist. They are essential because they require and cultivate the ability to formulate and justify original arguments, to appreciate aesthetic considerations, to evaluate ethical quandaries, to inhabit perspectives fundamentally different from one’s own. As artists, educators, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, writers, academics, nonprofit founders, and policy makers, humanities majors offer their communities beauty, creativity, moral values, and informed solutions to social problems. And when people feel financially liberated to do what they love, it increases the likelihood of success and productivity in school and the workplace. We should be embracing the myriad possibilities that the humanities offer, instead of allowing unwarranted fear of job insecurity to discourage us from intellectual exploration.