Decrease of Humanities

By Erin Choi

Orange Lutheran High School

As we all know, this pandemic has shook the whole world, impacting various fields and areas of the world. One certain area that was impacted was education. Millions of students were neglected hands-on learning and were not able to learn with their full potential. Due to online learning, many complaints rose up towards universities and colleges about receiving refunds for the lack of education they received. However, the most troubling factor is that the gap between humanities and STEM has been severely widening, proposing a concern for the disproportionate balance.

According to the article, “Humanities Are in Crisis,” history decreased 45% from 2007 and English has fallen nearly half since the 1990’s. Especially due to the impact of COVID, many students have switched their major towards science and mathematical research, as provisions are seeming to be efficient in the field. Eunice Kim, a junior attending Cypress High School states, “I think that peoples’ experiences with COVID drive them to want to understand the science behind the pandemic and find preventative measures to avoid such a scenario again.” It is also strongly implied as with heavily developing technology and innovative creations, more job opportunities are able to be presented as well as a higher prestige coming from the job.

The imbalance between the groups is seeming to be a significant problem as some predict that society would change drastically. The diversity between perspectives when dealing with worldly issues would lessen, increasing the chances for mistakes or regretful decisions. There definitely are positive effects humanities bring to society, but as those lessen and are about to be lost, the many more risks are becoming evident.

What can be done to solve this problem? Lianne Cha, a junior in Oxford Academy states, “Humanities majors would have the skills for a lot of different fields, so employers should be more open to bringing in people of that field. Also, there has to be an understanding among students that topics covered in humanities majors can be applied broadly as it provides a deeper understanding of our society and culture, so people can develop transferable skills for different occupations.” Moreover, increasing awareness to students that are about to decide on their majors as well as developing higher standards and limits for the jobs involved would attempt in lessening the gap between the two fields. This issue has been ongoing and efforts should be made to resolve this spreading dilemma.