Why major in the humanities or arts?

About five years ago I bought a key chain that I found in a Nashville, Tennessee convenience store.  The key chain read, “I majored in the humanities…would you like fries with that?”  I bought it to use as part of a critical thinking exercise in the first-year seminar courses that I taught as a philosophy professor.  The key chain revealed at least two false assumptions.  The first was that those who work in the food service industry are worthy of scorn at worst, and at least ridicule.  Such elitism has no place in a democratic society, and I thought that my students should examine and scrutinize elitist claims.  The second, and the one that I will examine here in more detail, is that those who major in, and subsequently receive their degrees in, the humanities have limited career options.  This could not be further from the truth.  Individuals possessing humanities and arts degrees are among the most highly placed in law, graduate and business schools.  Individuals possessing humanities and arts degrees rank among the most influential people in business, industry and government.  Finally, individuals possessing humanities and arts degrees are equipped with intellectual skills that are not only actively sought by employers across a broad spectrum of businesses, but are also the foundation for surviving a turbulent economy.

According to the Law School Admissions Council, the organization that administers the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), four of the top ten highest scoring undergraduate majors are from the humanities or arts.  These majors are philosophy, art history, history and English.  Furthermore, the data show that philosophy, history and English majors tend to outscore their counterparts majoring in more popular pre-law majors such as political science and criminal justice.  Hard as it may be to believe, humanists also tend to score very highly on the Medical College Admissions Test.  According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, humanities majors score a scant 0.1 lower than the highest scoring mathematics and statistics majors on the MCAT.  Obviously, a humanities major planning to go to medical school must succeed in the science and mathematics courses that are prerequisites for medical education, but as is the case with law school admission, medical school admission requires a high degree of verbal reasoning skill and analytic ability.  On this section of the MCAT, humanities majors score high above their colleges in every other discipline.  Furthermore, according to the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the organization that administers the Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT), humanities and fine arts majors comprise five of the top 20, and three of the top 10 highest scoring majors on this admission test.  Most interestingly, philosophy and history majors outscored their counterparts in economics, finance, accounting, management and marketing.  Not surprisingly, humanities majors score quite well on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) , that test required for admission into most post-graduate programs in the arts and sciences.  According to ETS, seven of the top 20 and three of the top 10 highest scoring majors on the GRE come from the arts and humanities, with philosophy majors scoring higher than all majors except physics and mathematics.  The humanities’ emphasis on communication and analysis is responsible for these scores, with the top five scores in the verbal section of the GRE coming from the humanities. 

Why is it that majors in philosophy, history and other humanities perform so well on these exams?  Quite simply, the ability to analyze arguments and to communicate clearly and effectively about them is the most important skill that a lawyer can possess.  The law is a connected series of propositions, built through history.  This reasoning applies equally to the medical, management and graduate school entrance exams.  The sum of these skills also points to precisely why humanities and arts majors possess profoundly marketable skills.

Time and time again, corporate executives and human resource managers are asked to list the skills that they want in their entry-level employees.  Time and again, they list oral communication, listening, reasoning, and written communication skills as the highest priority “skills set” that they seek.  Add to this set a frequent and persistent demand for entry-level employees possessing problem solving and decision making skills combined with strong self-confidence and an ability to learn new material, and the pattern of the accomplished humanities and arts graduate emerges.  Four different standardized tests show that humanities and arts graduates possess, in high proportion to their non-humanities and arts classmates, the very skills that modern business needs.

Why not declare a major in one of these fields? 

While we may often turn a skeptical eye to that which is traditional and see it as rather dated, quaint or passé, the humanities and arts are as relevant to the survival of free society as they were when they first became a part of university life in the Middle Ages. Furthermore, Thomas Jefferson recognized the importance of the liberal arts for the future of the young American democracy, and listed on his tombstone the founding of the University of Virginia as one of his three signature accomplishments.  The Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Declaration of Religious Freedom are the other two.

The reasoning is simple – a free society must be comprised of an educated citizenry capable of clear communication and sound logical analysis.  Specialized subjects of any kind should be mastered only when these core skills were mastered.  At one time, in fact, the traditional Bachelor of Arts degree was comprised only of the “trivium,” thought to be the three most fundamental of the liberal skills.  These skills -- grammar, rhetoric and logic, form the foundation for all communication, persuasion and reasoning.

How else are we to thrive in such a rapidly changing environment?  The world was a dangerous and rapidly changing place when the liberal arts first became a part of Western civilization, and the world was certainly no less dangerous or dynamic in Jefferson’s time.  Is it any less so now?  Environmental problems, injustice, unethical business practices, international terrorism and a host of other threats to our lives, liberty and prosperity exist, and those who are best equipped and most adaptable will not only survive such turmoil – they will thrive within it.  The arts and humanities have been, and always will be, the safest educational investment that an individual can make.  They prepare an individual for almost any career choice, allow an individual to compete most effectively with colleagues from any other field, and equip one with the skills necessary for surviving turbulent times.

Dr. William McKinney, Former Dean

College of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts

October, 2002