An article titled ‘The End of the English Major’ was published in the New Yorker last week which discussed the lower enrollment rates in the humanities that were dramatic in the US Universities. Over the last ten years, at Arizona State University, the number of English graduates fell by half. The same trend was noted in places such as Harvard University too.
Currently, the notion of the Humanities being dead is on the go. Various notions have suggested that STEM is king. Moreover, everything that deals with the social and cultural aspects of human affairs is just hobbies. Many young people, in today’s trend, do not enquire much about studying humanities in college. Sometimes, it is seen that people enquire about law studies. Law is generally not quite a part of the family and yet considered a part of it.
An article titled ‘The End of the English Major’ was published in the New Yorker last week which discussed the lower enrollment rates in the humanities that were dramatic in the US Universities. Over the last ten years, at Arizona State University, the number of English graduates fell by half. The same trend was noted in places such as Harvard University too.
Even if students to a degree in somersaults at Harvard, graduates would be employable. Yet, they choose to study STEM courses in the hopes that in the future, it will guarantee stable employment. This can be seen in both American as well as Indian parents. The article from New Yorker has pointed out that students tend to choose STEM courses as the universities create an atmosphere that favors STEM. Moreover, a student stated that according to him, the presence of big tech and consulting firms on campus shapes people’s perception that getting a job in humanities is nearly impossible.
Forms of Humanities
However, on the other hand, the Humanities, even though being dead as humanities, might be rebirthing in other forms. Students have been interested in film studies, music, and journalism. These are generally not traditional humanities subjects. However, they have the values of humanities engrained in them such as creativity, articulation, imagination, and individuality. For instance, film criticism is considered as an excellent gateway into politics, language, history, economics, and sociology, besides more philosophical issues about form and narrative.
Humanities and Technology
In a technology-driven world, Humanities will also become important. This is because, technology will require public regulation. A blog post titled, ‘Meeting the AI moment: advancing the future through responsible AI’ talked about ethical responsibility just as it focused on AI technology. Another article titled, ‘The Partnership of the Future’ also talked about AI and responsibility.
The web page on the Google-driven DeepMind project also figures Responsible AI prominently. New rules will be required for a new society if AI transforms everything. For an algorithm-driven process, the meaning of fairness, the ascription of responsibility to AI decisions, and the relationship between technology and privacy must be scrupulously formulated. Therefore, an interdisciplinary approach will be required in which people with humanities skills will be able to flourish.
Identification of skills of Humanities in Technology
However, it is necessary to identify these skills exactly. They may include the ability to be creative, and imaginative, the talent for communicating effectively with different audiences and possessing advanced interpersonal skills. In order to impart these skills, the humanities are much better placed when compared to the hard sciences.
From the above relations, it is easy to determine that the traditional humanities might be out of fashion for now. However, they will take forms and shapes. This major factor will make the domain relevant to the new generation. In any case, for this generation, a stable career is no longer a priority. Right from the time they graduate from university, young people want to explore novel but risky opportunities. Therefore, the humanities for such people are the crutch that will help them navigate the digitized world.
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