Why the lack of men majoring in humanities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are learning that you can just skip a humanities degree and go straight to Starbucks. There is no reason to waste four years on a humanities degree before Starbucks employment.

What? My degree is in the humanities. I make $275,000 a year working for Big Four accounting firm.

DEI positions will disappear soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just looked through the ‘25 class decisions for a local school on Instagram. Of 13 humanities majors, only 2 are male. Anyone else see this? This must mean that men get a bump.

Or it might mean the ROI is bad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

thank you im so greatfull for you fixing my grammer

[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.

This is only true in high school algebra class. Math is subjective at higher levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

He’s not interested in law. Maybe academia.

[Anonymous]

Degrees are too expensive these days to study something that doesn't prepare you for a specific job unless you've got family money. Don't be daft.

[Anonymous]

Maybe AI will change this?

[Anonymous]

As a few have mentioned, post-grad salary matters for men. They may be more competitive or want to more attractive to women (and one day be able to provide for a family). Yes, humanities majors can be successful but usually only at certain colleges or with connections.

[Anonymous]

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

He will benefit from a fantastic gender ratio in his humanities classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people are learning that you can just skip a humanities degree and go straight to Starbucks. There is no reason to waste four years on a humanities degree before Starbucks employment.

You sound dumb but know a lot about Starbucks. Work there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People with analytical skills and who can write. That is why the majority of the consultants we hire are humanities majors.

+100

It’s predicted this is the area we will need more than ever with AI

[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.

Oh, you’re welcome.

[Anonymous]

Does the new generation of male still care about finding a mate? I think the trend is less men desire a relationship, not to mention a marriage. There are a lot of asexuals this generation.

[Anonymous]

English major here: Here’s what I think the answer is:

1. As college costs have escalated, questions of ROI have become more salient; this shifts some from humanities to majors that are perceived as more commercial—I think this is the dominant consideration, tbh;

2. The humanities themselves are not what they once were; there has been an increasing focus on questions of representation and various forms of identity groups where white males are perceived as “the enemy,” and its not unfair to say that, as a rough first cut, humanities now = critical oppression studies. Wherever you come down on the merits of that view of the world, it should be understandable why it might not be as interesting to everyone, particularly the designated villains of the current story. People can take a hint and tell where they are not wanted—hear often enough that people are tired “stale pale males” and its pretty easy to conclude “this is not where i want to place my intellectual focus.” People get punished grade-wise for disagreeing with the political priors of their professor in a lot of cases; unacceptable risk in the current economic climate.

3. The kind of young men who are interested in studying the humanities in college are mostly interested in the idea of a coherent intellectual tradition. This is hard to find now, the deconstruction of the old canon and the lack of any coherent alternative canon makes everything isolated, a one-off, with no coherent story anymore. This reality is off putting to some, a point even those who think changes to the canon were long overdue should be able to understand.

4. Also, many people want to study the humanities because they love old books; many of the professors teaching in the humanities seem to hate them; there’s a disconnect. The mean-spirited nature of critical theories as applied to great works are is off-putting to some. That’s not the only way to do the humanities, but it’s the one mostly on offer now.

[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.

My sons are equally good in STEM as in humanities/English. I was similar and my dad talked me into majoring in STEM. My spouse majored in a language/Econ but has been in IT for 3 decades. If you are highly intelligent with a T10/20 degree u will do great in the job market.

Our sons liked science more up until HS and now they love history, ethics, philosophy, language. They can score 5s on calc and science APs- just as easily as the history/English,

They chose to go into history/language/international policy, one already has a job (other still in college). They went Ivy- but plenty of work for those with writing/critical thinking skills. Look at our country w/out those skills….