Perhaps the number one question college students hear from from their loved ones is “What do you plan on doing with your degree?”
For Liberal Arts and Humanities majors especially, the question is usually coated with condescension and expectations of failure.
Most understand why.
The economic downturn in 2008 made the job market competitive and difficult. At the same time, the market demanded more science and engineering graduates, meaning that many have grown up in an era where specialized technical education was the perceived solution to steady employment in a job market that was increasingly tough to get your foot in the door. Combined with the rising cost of student loans and the rising rate of default, parents and students alike were worried that they wouldn’t receive an adequate return on their investment.
The Status Quo
Things have changed over the past decade, however. The future of work in America is starting to look very different than it did in 2008. In fact, recent studies suggest that the conception of humanities majors being unemployable is undeserved and misleading. Instead, research shows that there is a high correlation between broad education rooted in the liberal arts and financial success.
“Those who take more than half of their coursework in subjects unrelated to their majors (a characteristic of liberal arts colleges but not professionally oriented colleges) are 31 to 72 percent more likely than others to have higher-level positions and to be earning more than $100,000 than are others,” one study notes.
The study, conducted by Detweiler, suggests that not only do the liberal arts and humanities prepare students for an enriching life well lived, but it also suggests that students will be able to achieve financial success.
When analyzed in this context, as well as recent hiring trends and technological advances, new narratives have begun to appear — ones that start to show that liberal arts education might be the foundation for professional success in the future. But why is that?
Unexpected Skills in Demand
According to the World Economic Forum, 65 percent of children entering primary school in 2018 will be employed in jobs that do not exist currently. New technologies like self-driving cars, 3D-printing, robotics and other kinds of disruptive technologies are going to fundamentally disrupt the way we live and work as a global society.
Future graduates can expect their careers to be affected and redefined by these changes. To find success in an ever-changing economy, students will not only need to be literate in their chosen field, but they will also need to be adaptable and have the ability to apply transdisciplinary knowledge and concepts in order to make it. In addition, the economy is only going to continue to become more globalized, meaning students will have to have to be prepared for cross-cultural experiences in the workplace.
This is going to take some adjusting, as literacy rates are already far below where they should be, and many hiring professionals believe that today’s college students are unprepared to join the workforce, largely due to a lack of interpersonal, problem solving, and critical thinking skills crucial to the workplace.
In order to curb this trend and succeed in the future, “Workers of the future will [need to] learn to deeply cultivate and exploit creativity, collaborate activity, abstract and systems thinking, complex communication, and the ability to thrive in diverse environments,” a recent Pew poll of experts said.
The Future of Liberal Arts
In years previous, government entities have given benefits and additional funding to colleges and universities that cranked out STEM graduates, and while that may have been necessary in previous economies, it’s unlikely that it’s going to be a sustainable practice moving forward. While those who complete technical and career-oriented problems generally succeed in the short term, they struggle to keep up with changes in industry as time goes on.
“Individuals with general education initially face worse employment outcomes but experience improved employment probability as they become older relative to individuals with vocational education,” write researchers Eric Hanushek, Guido Schwerdt, Ludger Woessmann and Lei Zhang in a 2017 issue of the Journal Of Human Resources. Later they conclude, “The advantages of vocational training in smoothing entry into the labor market have to be set against disadvantages later in life.”
This trend can be seen already. Many low-skill and manufacturing jobs are already being lost to more sophisticated forms of automation. But it’s not just blue-collar workers that have to worry about job loss, as automation and robotics have begun to take over for a number of white-collar positions as well. This makes critical thinking, problem solving, and the most human elements of work even more important in the job market of the future. Soft skills will be in greater demand moving forward than they’ve ever been.
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While it may be tempting to see this as a future trend, it’s something that today’s students should pay attention to as well, as these soft skills are already in demand.
A 2016 Job Outlook survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that hiring staffs are increasingly looking for skills that can be found in humanities and liberal arts graduates.
- 80.1 percent seek candidates with leadership skills
- 78.9 percent want graduates who are capable of successfully working on a team
- 70.2 percent prefer candidates with good written communication and problem solving skills
- 68.9 percent prioritize candidates who exhibit verbal communication abilities
These kinds of skills are learned through broad, liberal arts education.
Though parents, students, and politicians may be skeptical of this, the skepticism is likely misplaced. Time and time again, the liberal arts have shown themselves to influence students to be better global citizens, workers, and well-rounded individuals capable of adapting to new ideologies, cultures, and workplaces. Skeptics would do well to put stigmas aside and recognize the value of the liberal arts.
Image Credit: Pixabay
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