There aren’t many conversation topics more boring than the demise of humanities enrolments and arts degrees. What makes it so distinctly dull is that no one seriously contests it. When one mother wrote recently in this masthead about the mix of pride and fear she felt when her daughter enrolled in arts, the deluge of comments showed just how deeply her worries resonated, especially with other parents. A truth universally acknowledged, in short.
Except that it isn’t true: there’s remarkably little evidence supporting the idea that liberal arts graduates aren’t employable, or that the skills and values learned in humanities subjects aren’t useful. So, to misquote a well-known playwright, we come to praise humanities, not to bury them.
The perceived wisdom about the humanities – that they do not lead to well-paid jobs – is not supported by the facts.Credit: Peter Braig
It’s true that the numbers of students studying English and history are down by 30 and 36 per cent over 10 years to 2021, according to the federal Department of Education. Against that, only 1.5 per cent of students changed degree plans after the fees for arts degrees were raised by 117 per cent in 2020. Liberal arts graduates are not markedly less successful than others in getting jobs, and their starting salaries are about the same, too. Recent........