Stereotypes abound about liberal arts degrees leading to low-paying jobs, despite research showing that humanities majors earn salaries comparable to students in many other majors.
Authorities from the White House to high school guidance counselors have encouraged students to prioritize degrees in science and technology over the humanities because of their applicability to the job market. Some legislators have even argued that humanities courses should be defunded entirely.
As a result, enrollment in humanities majors in college has plummeted by 24% since 2012. Lower enrollment also means fewer people are training to teach in this field as well.
But employers value the skills that humanities majors have. Courses in art, literature, history and philosophy can provide students with life skills they can use outside the classroom too. This includes recovering from the current loneliness epidemic afflicting young people.
I’m the director of the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. Here are three scientifically proven ways that humanities classes benefit students and help them develop social skills within and beyond the classroom.
Development of empathy
As an English professor, I know that when I ask students to discuss the motivations of characters in novels, they inevitably find ways to empathize with the character as well as one another. Both narrative theory and cognitive science back this up. Spending hours immersed in the words and beliefs of other people changes students’ capacity to connect with others.
The same is true of studying history. Students can learn to view the world as a historical figure would have seen it – a concept known as “historical empathy.”
These benefits are not restricted to those who study these subjects as their majors. Medical students who take humanities courses score higher in terms of empathy than those who didn’t. This is a vital skill for those caring for sick patients.
Enrichment of conversational skills
Research suggests that an increase in technology use has atrophied humanity’s capacity to engage in and benefit from face-to-face conversations and to empathize and respond to people in real time.
Humanities classes give students the opportunity to build and sharpen these skills. As a result, there is increasing attention paid to the importance of students in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, taking these courses, too.
For example, students in humanities classes must listen to one another’s interpretations and respond, prompting deeper thinking. In one study, pharmacy students took a humanities course where they interpreted and discussed works of art that touched on themes of health care, patient experience and death. By the end of the course, they demonstrated more critical thinking and interpersonal skills, including better communication, self-awareness and ability to relate to others.
Developing the soft skills of interpersonal communication is necessary for students not only in the workplace but also in their lives as citizens.
Promotion of a sense of community
Because humanities courses engage a wide range of human experiences through reading, writing and conversation, students are able to experience other ways of living and relating. This allows them to feel a greater sense of choice in their own lives and a stronger connection to others, even those who make different choices. By studying the choices that people made long ago, students also reckon with how the actions of a few people can affect whole generations, a powerful indication of how profoundly connected people are to one another.
When students are exposed to literature written by authors from a wide range of backgrounds, they are better able to find common ground as they draw from both the author’s perspective and their teacher’s input to shape their own verbal and written responses.
Further, because literature classes often involve collaborative discussion between instructors and students as they work together to approach the text, students see their own contributions as a necessary part of the whole.
For students from marginalized and impoverished backgrounds, the invitation to imagine other ways of life has also been shown to enhance confidence in themselves and connection to others. When these students felt that their voices were an essential part of group discussion, they reported increased feelings of self-efficacy and a greater willingness to engage with the world.
Just as educators teach students to code, they can also teach them to connect to others, understand human complexity and read emotions as skillfully as they read data. These are not just soft skills – but survival skills. I believe the greatest tool we have for combating loneliness, fostering empathy and building a more connected society isn’t silicon-based. It’s the age-old practice of engaging deeply with human stories, ideas and experiences.
