Heidi Cuevas | Staff Writer
The misconceptions that the arts and humanities are “useless” degrees have been disproven over the years, but the fight for their value to be seen all year round, not just for a month, continues.
Choosing to major in the arts or humanities—especially during a time of artificial intelligence— means many of us find ourselves defending our discipline every time someone asks “what can you do with that?”
I would be lying if I said that I never had any doubts over my choice of major. By my third semester, I already began contemplating if it would be too late to switch my English major to something more reliable or secure.
My doubts were driven by the fear of lack of job security having an English degree would give me or the constant questioning as to what I could do with a degree that is often seen as invaluable.
It wasn’t until later that I realized that many of my worries were based on false information that has been repeated over and over again throughout the last few decades. The debate over the value of arts and humanities degrees is a tale as old as time, but it’s time for a new narrative to take over.
The arts and humanities are mainly ridiculed for lack of job security, but the truth is that every degree struggles to find a job. The employment gap between arts and humanities and STEM fields isn’t as wide as the media or general consensus makes it seem.
For one, humanities majors experience a similar rate of unemployment as business, physics, or criminal justice majors. And the labor market for recent college graduates reveals that STEM majors like computer engineering and computer science is at least twice as high of some humanities degree according to the Federal Bank of New York.
Bottom line? The job market is terrible for all of us, no matter what our degree is.
And in the age of artificial intelligence, the uncertainty of how humanities will adapt was on many of our minds. But the initial worries seemed to have faded away for some.
“AI is definitely changing the nature of work and labor,” says Alex Wieczorek, a second year transfer student studying History, “but for humanities positions, AI is not very helpful.”
Leandro Gonzalez, another transfer student majoring in History, shares a similar sentiment, “I think it is important to acknowledge AI as something that will stay, and probably there will be some way to integrate AI to the way we work…but I’d rather hear about an opinion from a human being than a machine.”
As to the answer to the age old question of what anyone could do with a humanities degree, it could be almost anything. An English Literature degree doesn’t limit students to one career option, but rather opens the door for a variety of occupations like law or education. Despite what we think about our degrees and the expectations they bring, where we end up could be almost anywhere, because our degree doesn’t dictate where we’ll be.
Though the misconceptions of the arts and humanities are constantly debunked, many of us still can’t help but have lingering doubt over our chosen field of study.
A while back I had mentioned how FIU does a great job in supporting the humanities and I haven’t been proven wrong since. The Humanities Edge offers year round opportunities for the arts and humanities ranging from research, internship, networking, mentorship, and Washington D.C. Fly in opportunities. It gives students the chance to find out what the arts and humanities could really provide for them long term— more importantly, put some of those doubts to rest.
Arts and Humanities month is a celebration of these areas, but it doesn’t have to end there. They deserve the same appreciation and recognition all year round, in and out of the classroom.
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