As someone who is (OK, intends to be) a political science and sociology double-major, the study of humanities has always been of importance to me. Originally, I wanted to be an English major but I thought that it wouldn’t be sustainable in terms of its inability to broaden my scope of knowledge. Despite my perpetuation of the stigma around the humanities, I stayed – and chose political science and sociology as my scapegoat. I tried my best to indulge in chemistry, digital and computational studies, and economics (which I would argue veers into the lane of “hard” sciences because of the mathematics part). But I soon came to realize that those subjects were not of particular interest to me because I needed something qualitative rather than quantitative.
Robbie Washburne, a sophomore, said that prior to college he had always seen himself as a “numbers person,” he figured that since he excelled in math and science classes growing up, it would make sense for him to pursue that path. During his junior and senior years of high school, he explored higher-level humanities courses, which allowed him to find a middle ground. Robbie decided that at Bates, he would declare as an economics major and go into business. However, political science and other social sciences lingered in the back of his mind. After ECON150, it was clear that he was more interested in the theoretical side of economics rather than the math component. A few politics and rhetoric courses later, Robbie is now officially a politics major. He added, “the humanities teach you how the world works so you can work in the world.”
Cece Marshall, another sophomore, said that before college she was always language driven. Growing up in Thailand and Poland, she is well-versed in multiple languages including Thai, Polish, and French. As she grew older, she was immersed in analytical and creative writing while also being a top mathematics student at her school. When she moved to the U.S., language became more of a “backburner” since her experience with the education system here placed more focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). In high school, Cece took a biology class and enjoyed it so much that she began to think about careers in the medical field. Coming into Bates, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in nursing and declared as a biology and psychology major but also wanted to “take advantage of being at a liberal arts school.” She did so by taking courses in French, dance, and music. After taking PSYCH101, she thought it was fascinating “to be able to contextualize seemingly mundane things,” hence the decision to double major. Cece stated that “although it is challenging, I find that the STEM field opens up many avenues for students to make a difference in the world, which is what I intend to do.”
In an essay published in The New Yorker last spring, “The End of The English Major,” Nathan Heller discusses the value of a humanities education and how the COVID-19 pandemic perpetuated the stigma of it not being useful in the real world. Heller states “Vassar and Bates–standard-bearing liberal-arts colleges–saw their numbers of humanities majors fall by nearly half.” Only one of many facts and figures that place emphasis on the discouragement felt by students across the United States.
My experience during the pandemic, if anything, drew me toward literature even more. Though boredom may have been my motivation then, I knew I had always loved to read and it excited me to know that I had so much more to learn. In my last two years of high school, I took more rigorous English classes which fueled my passion for writing. Now I’m sitting here writing this as a sophomore in college who hasn’t taken a single English class at Bates. Throughout the article, Heller includes many anecdotes about students’ reasons for not pursuing a degree in the field of humanities (particularly English). One student, Luiza Monti, said “There’s an emphasis on who is going to hire you.” A statement that I, and many others, resonate with because what if an English degree isn’t reliable enough in the “real” world? What if I waste a college education? Another student said that they always know there’s someone who wishes that they were doing something else. I think another component of this indecisiveness, or perhaps conformity, comes from the desire to try something new, something deemed as being practical in our society today.
The perpetuated stigma of humanities degree not being enough fails to acknowledge that studying humanities is crucial to our understanding of human nature. Sure, computer science serves humans in a way that humanities cannot, but it will never be able to empathize with us.
In studying political science and sociology, I found comfort in understanding the when, where, and how. Without this, “it might mean to graduate a college generation with less education.”
