February 2, 2023

Humanities coming back?

Axios - Academic circles blame the humanities' decades-long decline for everything from the proliferation of falsehoods on social media to the rise in racism and the precarious state of democracy (not to mention our etiolated vocabularies). Some professors, colleges and departments have been trying to boost humanities' popularity by touting their real-world utility.

U.C. Berkeley saw a 121% rise in first-year students declaring majors in the arts and humanities — which includes English, history, languages and philosophy. Some other schools — such as the University of Arizona and the University of Washington — have also seen a rise in students declaring humanities majors. Colleges are still disinvesting in the arts and humanities and pouring money into vocationally oriented programs.

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