If you still believe that humanities and art degrees are less lucrative or narrower job markets than than S.T.E.M degrees, then you are one of the many who have been lied to.
In this day and age, humanities and arts degrees open up a world of opportunities outside of what those who look down on those fields believe there to be.
Political Science majors can go into business and public relations, English majors are now at the forefront of AI development and those with degrees in the arts, of course, create the majority of the entertainment industry.
These are just a few examples of what these majors can do with their degrees and the success that they have outside of school when they are applied in terms of projects, jobs, and internships.
According to U.S News, 90% of graduates who land internships outside of college are in fact English majors.
The idea that humanities and arts degrees are less in demand is damaging and leads to real world consequences, take for example the dozens of colleges across the U.S that are cutting or suspending programs in the humanities and arts to prioritize other fields.
As of March of 2024, the CSU’s chose to cut or suspend 137 programs as compared to both 2023 and 2022 when they cut and suspended 47 programs combined, majority being humanities and arts.
On that list included universities like California State San Diego suspending programs like Special Education, Music Theory, and International Relations.
This is just one of the many colleges that are choosing to cut or suspend humanities and arts programs.
With things like budget costs, enrollment rates, and many other factors, it’s important for colleges to recognize the need and importance of these majors and what they mean for students.
LBCC was ranked one of the highest recipient rates for associate degrees for transfer in California, which means a lot of students are looking at higher education after their time at LBCC.
According to Niche, a website dedicated to collecting statistics of colleges, the most popular majors at LBCC are in humanities and arts, with a difference of 1000 graduates or more as compared to other majors.
Humanities and arts programs are dying because they are not viewed in the same regard as S.T.E.M. fields.
Unfortunately, many students hold a stigma against humanities and arts degrees, believing that they are useless or lead to low-paying jobs, the reality could not be further from the truth.
In a report by the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the unemployment rate from state to state ranges from 2%-4% for the humanities, similar to both business and engineering majors.
This disproves the idea that it is harder to gain a job as a humanities major than any other.
While it is true STEM majors on average make more money the moment they start working, humanities majors eventually catch up and even surpass the average tech or engineering salary after time.
Humanities majors are in recent demand as well in the job market because of their creative problem solving skills, communication techniques and leadership qualities.
Regardless of the money, those in humanities and art fields have the important job of supplying our communities with connections and creativity.
When you believe the stigma around being a humanities major, you discourage students from pursuing what they are passionate about for the sake of monetary success.
That is why students need to recognize the importance of humanities and arts majors, including one such as LBCC with such a high percentage of these majors.