Why the lack of men majoring in humanities?

[Anonymous]

I've had a son and daughter at good single sex schools. The all-boys school emphasized professionalism and career prospects. Many of its graduates selected engineering, CS, and econ as prospective majors.

For the all-women's school there was much more emphasis on self-discovery and self-care, not on professional skills. And it was a progressive women's high school.

I think we're still socializing our children of different genders very differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn't hard. A lot of boys just prefer math. They use a different part of their brains. Boys typically scorer higher in math than in English on the SATs.

Male thinking is generally black and white, which is what math is. While they may do well in humanities subjects, they aren't as interested in subjects that require introspection. They just want to do things, problem solve, not sit there and contemplate.

Of course, this is a generalization, but I think it's true for most boys.

Math is not black and white at all.
-Mathematician

[Anonymous]

Will my son be able to attract a mate if he majors in the humanities?

[Anonymous]

Humanities feels like "writing well" is your college outcome.

If AI is going to make it so a STEM or Engineering PhD or financial whiz no longer needs your humanities-trained child to translate their work into English for the masses, then it feels like a risky path.

Not sure what else though. Seems like knowledge work of many kinds is gonna get eaten by the AI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn't hard. A lot of boys just prefer math. They use a different part of their brains. Boys typically scorer higher in math than in English on the SATs.

Male thinking is generally black and white, which is what math is. While they may do well in humanities subjects, they aren't as interested in subjects that require introspection. They just want to do things, problem solve, not sit there and contemplate.

Of course, this is a generalization, but I think it's true for most boys.

Math is not black and white at all.
-Mathematician

Saying that math is black and white is like saying that writing is black and white because you (generally) have to follow grammatical rules. It misses the point entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn't hard. A lot of boys just prefer math. They use a different part of their brains. Boys typically scorer higher in math than in English on the SATs.

Male thinking is generally black and white, which is what math is. While they may do well in humanities subjects, they aren't as interested in subjects that require introspection. They just want to do things, problem solve, not sit there and contemplate.

Of course, this is a generalization, but I think it's true for most boys.

Math is not black and white at all.
-Mathematician

math is black and white in that the answer is either right or wrong. The answer is not subjective, like humanities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boys are raised with the social expectation that they need to support their family. (And yes this is related to attracting a mate.) Girls are not. The question for me is why are there so many girls still attracted to the humanities, despite the economics? What aren’t we teaching them?

None of this is to suggest that the humanities should not be taught, even required. But I do think that girls excuse themselves from thinking through the economic implications of majoring in humanities in a way that boys do not. And that’s our fault.

+1. But I don't think it's a bad thing at all. Boys and girls inherently are different and have different interests. This is news to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will my son be able to attract a mate if he majors in the humanities?

Sure, male lawyers find wives. You just need to spend more to get that law degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had a son and daughter at good single sex schools. The all-boys school emphasized professionalism and career prospects. Many of its graduates selected engineering, CS, and econ as prospective majors.

For the all-women's school there was much more emphasis on self-discovery and self-care, not on professional skills. And it was a progressive women's high school.

I think we're still socializing our children of different genders very differently.

We're not "socializing" them this way. We are acknowledging their inherent differences. Which you obviously agree with, or you wouldn't have chosen single sex schools for both of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pointing to examples of people with humanities degrees who are successful, and then generalizing from that, is about the level of argumentation I would expect from a humanities major. There are plenty of smokers who live to 90, maybe you should do that too.

Smoke or live to 90? Your poor, non-humanities writing makes your point unclear.

Oh thank you. Now maybe I can get a humanities major to explain to me what “pedantic” means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will my son be able to attract a mate if he majors in the humanities?

People who major in the humanities are truly educated, in ways that STEM majors are not.

Yes, if your son goes on to law school or business school or something else that produces an attractive income, he will have no problem attracting girls. Lots of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn't hard. A lot of boys just prefer math. They use a different part of their brains. Boys typically scorer higher in math than in English on the SATs.

Male thinking is generally black and white, which is what math is. While they may do well in humanities subjects, they aren't as interested in subjects that require introspection. They just want to do things, problem solve, not sit there and contemplate.

Of course, this is a generalization, but I think it's true for most boys.

Math is not black and white at all.
-Mathematician

math is black and white in that the answer is either right or wrong. The answer is not subjective, like humanities.

Higher math does not consist of problem sets where the answer is "2."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had a son and daughter at good single sex schools. The all-boys school emphasized professionalism and career prospects. Many of its graduates selected engineering, CS, and econ as prospective majors.

For the all-women's school there was much more emphasis on self-discovery and self-care, not on professional skills. And it was a progressive women's high school.

I think we're still socializing our children of different genders very differently.

We're not "socializing" them this way. We are acknowledging their inherent differences. Which you obviously agree with, or you wouldn't have chosen single sex schools for both of them.

And there goes all of modern feminism, bobbing down the stream. We tried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pointing to examples of people with humanities degrees who are successful, and then generalizing from that, is about the level of argumentation I would expect from a humanities major. There are plenty of smokers who live to 90, maybe you should do that too.

Smoke or live to 90? Your poor, non-humanities writing makes your point unclear.

Oh thank you. Now maybe I can get a humanities major to explain to me what “pedantic” means.

No, but I _can_ tell you that you need to use a comma following the interjection ("Oh") in your sentence.

[Anonymous]

The idea men's thinking is not suited to the humanities is pretty easily dismissed by examining the entire history of the humanities.