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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The world does not need more history, philosophy, literature, religious studies students. Students who are going into these fields have not been advised properly.

Everyone is learning humanities. Including STEM students. Look at their course work, more than 60% in humanities.

You dont need a major in history. Who would need history majors? History teachers/professors, yes. That is a tiny portion of the population. The numbers graduating in that major are multiples of those actually needed.

How do we know? The market is a good mechanism for what skills are valuable. If you paid attention in humanities courses, you would have learned about it.

- STEM professional[/quote]
This is short-sighted thinking, and also written by someone who doesn't understand how college finances work. At many universities, the number of majors per department is not as useful a number as the number of students taught per professor. So, you'll have lots of people who need to take classes in math, statistics, foreign languages, history, literature, world religions, philosophy, etc., but they won't necessarily major in them. Universities need these faculty. 
The market is not always a good indicator--it's a short term indicator. It can take years of education to fully train people who become experts in the Middle East or East Asia. If you want to save historically important art or literature, you also need to train students for a long time. 
Humans are not just robots, there are a lot of factors that lead to a full and meaningful life. Maybe you and your family personally don't appreciate the arts, design, history, religion, or foreign cultures, but a lot of people do, and investing in people who can create and preserve these aspects of humanity is worthwhile for those who can appreciate their importance.[/quote]

I love history, studying foreign cultures, religion, philosophy and nearly 20% of my book collection is biographies. They are all important and make life interesting and meaningful.

[b]The flaw in your thinking is that we need a huge portion of our students to be majoring in them. [/b]As I mentioned, more than 60% of course work even for a STEM degree is in these fields. We dont need 25% of the population majoring in these to "who can create and preserve these aspects of humanity". The numbers a fraction of what is currently being output in universities.

You are dead wrong about the market. It might be wrong in the short term, but it is always right in the long term. Market gets somethings wrong in the short term, we see this again and again. But 100% right in long term. No exception. None. Show me one case where something has been wrong say 30 years in market price. Name one single thing.

The market is saying history and other such majors are not worth the money being spent. If you major in these, you are just hoping something clicks or the Government is going to wipe out your debt. [/quote]
Please read carefully. That is not the argument I made. [/quote]

There is a joke to be made here.[/quote]

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