An increasing number of students are trading STEM for the humanities—here’s why.
Axios, a news website dedicated to brief, matter-of-fact coverage of local and national stories, recently published an article noting an increase in humanities majors across the country. In a post-pandemic world, students are realizing the practicality of studying the humanities in a STEM-centric world.
University of California, Berkeley, University of Arizona, and other schools have seen a recent uptick in students declaring majors in the arts and humanities—even up to a 121% increase over the last year.
Additionally, humanities students are earning more competitive salaries compared to those in STEM. “Biology majors aren’t making any more money than we do, and they’re getting all this press like they’re some sort of golden tickets,” executive director of the Modern Language Association Paula Krebs said.
With our ever-changing world, Sara Guyer, dean of Berkeley’s division of arts and humanities and director of the World Humanities Report said that, “students are turning to the arts and humanities as a way to make sense of our current moment.”
Read more about the research and arguments for studying the humanities here.
