No more history majors...?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A liberal arts education emphasizes critical thinking and is not vocational training. My classmates who went to SLACs have been highly successful in many professional fields (law, med school, business, etc.)

I think once more people are mixing up liberal arts and humanities.

CS is rapidly becoming one of the most popular majors at liberal arts schools.

Obviously, people that went to med school were 99% a STEM undergrad major as well.

[Anonymous]

I have a college history major right now! Our kid is combining it with a mapping science and an in-demand foreign language (not a romance language). I can see this kid working in government, for a museum, a corporation, or getting a Ph.D. and teaching. I'm just enjoying watching it all play out as a proud mama.

[Anonymous]

The study of history requires one to read and analyze information and to be able to connect the dots. All skills that are no longer part of the K-12 US education system.

Very glad that my recent grad and 25 grad both minored in history. We are losing our culture because no one cares about history anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a professional historian and what bothers me isn't so much the number of majors, it's that the number of faculty and course offerings are so dependent on majors. Wouldn't it be GREAT if students focused on business, economics, engineering, comp sci, etc also had a strong grounding in history? Wouldn't it be awesome if it were part of the tool kit for future leaders?

I would love to see history integrated across the curriculum. But I guess I AM describing liberal arts education.

Just curious…do you believe history majors should also have a strong grounding in business, engineering, economics and CS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A liberal arts education emphasizes critical thinking and is not vocational training. My classmates who went to SLACs have been highly successful in many professional fields (law, med school, business, etc.)

The secret is that this is possible outside the liberal arts if teachers are good and students are intellectually curious.

All those post-grad degrees could have been more integrated into undergrad (as some countries do) without worsening the outcome.

So, an elite liberal arts education provided to elite students results in erudite professionals. That is hardly shocking. But it doesn't need to be everyone's path. Many people don't have an interest in prolonged contemplation of ideas, lengthy writing assignments, etc. And in particular, the speed of commerce makes many people quite impatient with pondering/inquiry, lengthy writing, etc. that smacks of academia. It must be acknowledged that it is possible to develop critical thinking skills outside of the liberal arts faculties. The declining interest in some majors really is an "adapt or die" situation for non-elite universities. But it doesn't mean that critical thinking will vanish from earth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s so frustrating to see history education fading away. As a history grad, it feels like history programs are becoming a rare breed, overshadowed by more “practical” majors. Take liberal arts colleges like Amherst—once bastions of broad, critical thinking—they’re slowly getting pushed aside for programs that are more focused on job training.

It’s like we're losing the value of understanding our past in favor of immediate career prospects. History teaches us to think critically, understand complex narratives, and appreciate diverse perspectives. But with fewer history programs and a shift toward more vocational degrees, it’s worrying that future generations might miss out on these crucial skills. Instead of pushing students into the latest job market trends, colleges should be championing the importance of a well-rounded education.

The mix of majors changes all the time.

The real reason for the current drop in the number of humanities majors is that humanities majors are pre-law majors, and interest in law has dropped off. It will probably come back once we get used to AI World.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, the history curriculum in many primary and secondary schools as well as in some colleges and universities has become tangled up in the so-called culture wars. How many people who learned about “the War of Northern Aggression “ are likely to be excited enough about history to want to major in it? How many students who were taught to value contexts and points of view on one hand — and, on the other, listened to members of their communities get excited about banning books and teaching the 1776 curriculum— would have the desire to major in something that doesn’t lead directly to a career path, or even some common agreement about the value of their studies?

I actually do value having a well-rounded education, but that’s very much a luxury for many of us.

It isn't the 90s anymore. You know Southern States have DEI offices for their districts and have a heavy black population to protest against never teaching the Civil War correctly, right? That is, unless you are complaining about rural southerners with access to very little information which...they have other issues we could tackle first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a professional historian and what bothers me isn't so much the number of majors, it's that the number of faculty and course offerings are so dependent on majors. Wouldn't it be GREAT if students focused on business, economics, engineering, comp sci, etc also had a strong grounding in history? Wouldn't it be awesome if it were part of the tool kit for future leaders?

I would love to see history integrated across the curriculum. But I guess I AM describing liberal arts education.

Just curious…do you believe history majors should also have a strong grounding in business, engineering, economics and CS?

Yeah, I believe people should take courses from across the curriculum. I definitely think it's important to have some understanding of math, science, and social science. But I don't have a proposed core curriculum of *specific* courses; distributional requirements vary a lot at different liberal arts colleges, with different degrees of student choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a professional historian and what bothers me isn't so much the number of majors, it's that the number of faculty and course offerings are so dependent on majors. Wouldn't it be GREAT if students focused on business, economics, engineering, comp sci, etc also had a strong grounding in history? Wouldn't it be awesome if it were part of the tool kit for future leaders?

I would love to see history integrated across the curriculum. But I guess I AM describing liberal arts education.

Just curious…do you believe history majors should also have a strong grounding in business, engineering, economics and CS?

NP, but sounds awesome. I think it's really hard to understand history without a little bit of understanding economics-not so much the rest of those things. Digital humanities is a real field with coding concepts so bring it in. How would you like engineering to be introduced to the humanities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, the history curriculum in many primary and secondary schools as well as in some colleges and universities has become tangled up in the so-called culture wars. How many people who learned about “the War of Northern Aggression “ are likely to be excited enough about history to want to major in it? How many students who were taught to value contexts and points of view on one hand — and, on the other, listened to members of their communities get excited about banning books and teaching the 1776 curriculum— would have the desire to major in something that doesn’t lead directly to a career path, or even some common agreement about the value of their studies?

I actually do value having a well-rounded education, but that’s very much a luxury for many of us.

It isn't the 90s anymore. You know Southern States have DEI offices for their districts and have a heavy black population to protest against never teaching the Civil War correctly, right? That is, unless you are complaining about rural southerners with access to very little information which...they have other issues we could tackle first?

Before the lying accusations start:https://www.dallasisd.org/racialequity, https://www.atlantapublicschools.us/Equity, https://www.birmingham.k12.mi.us/academics-experiences/character-equity-inclusion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s so frustrating to see history education fading away. As a history grad, it feels like history programs are becoming a rare breed, overshadowed by more “practical” majors. Take liberal arts colleges like Amherst—once bastions of broad, critical thinking—they’re slowly getting pushed aside for programs that are more focused on job training.

It’s like we're losing the value of understanding our past in favor of immediate career prospects. History teaches us to think critically, understand complex narratives, and appreciate diverse perspectives. But with fewer history programs and a shift toward more vocational degrees, it’s worrying that future generations might miss out on these crucial skills. Instead of pushing students into the latest job market trends, colleges should be championing the importance of a well-rounded education.

The mix of majors changes all the time.

The real reason for the current drop in the number of humanities majors is that humanities majors are pre-law majors, and interest in law has dropped off. It will probably come back once we get used to AI World.

Any source for the statement that “interest in law has dropped off” ? I can’t find year to year stats on applications

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s so frustrating to see history education fading away. As a history grad, it feels like history programs are becoming a rare breed, overshadowed by more “practical” majors. Take liberal arts colleges like Amherst—once bastions of broad, critical thinking—they’re slowly getting pushed aside for programs that are more focused on job training.

It’s like we're losing the value of understanding our past in favor of immediate career prospects. History teaches us to think critically, understand complex narratives, and appreciate diverse perspectives. But with fewer history programs and a shift toward more vocational degrees, it’s worrying that future generations might miss out on these crucial skills. Instead of pushing students into the latest job market trends, colleges should be championing the importance of a well-rounded education.

The mix of majors changes all the time.

The real reason for the current drop in the number of humanities majors is that humanities majors are pre-law majors, and interest in law has dropped off. It will probably come back once we get used to AI World.

Any source for the statement that “interest in law has dropped off” ? I can’t find year to year stats on applications

DP, but it is a much less popular field than when you could walk into a high paying career. My high schooler even started explaining to me the barbell distribution of salaries and I was taken aback. Kids are pretty aware of the main industries these days, cause google (and reddit) is free

[Anonymous]

The way to increase the number of history majors is to stop teaching race/class/gender/labor-based America-hating Left-wing drivel, but the history departments refuse to do that, so let them all sink into oblivion as they deserve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The way to increase the number of history majors is to stop teaching race/class/gender/labor-based America-hating Left-wing drivel, but the history departments refuse to do that, so let them all sink into oblivion as they deserve.

Hey, you seem really passionate in this. Can you show one history department that exclusive teaches race/class/gender/labor-based American...drivel? That's also a lot of groups to say "those histories don't matter to" and I'm not sure if your interpretation of history is just Constitutional law and White American studies?

Also students are the ones most interested in class/gender/race, etc. English faculty would jump to the sky if kids had any interest in old dead white rich dudes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s so frustrating to see history education fading away. As a history grad, it feels like history programs are becoming a rare breed, overshadowed by more “practical” majors. Take liberal arts colleges like Amherst—once bastions of broad, critical thinking—they’re slowly getting pushed aside for programs that are more focused on job training.

It’s like we're losing the value of understanding our past in favor of immediate career prospects. History teaches us to think critically, understand complex narratives, and appreciate diverse perspectives. But with fewer history programs and a shift toward more vocational degrees, it’s worrying that future generations might miss out on these crucial skills. Instead of pushing students into the latest job market trends, colleges should be championing the importance of a well-rounded education.

Good if you want to go to law school. That's about it.