For a student, selecting the right major hinges on two factors, first, life goals, and second, identifying the subject that most excites the student’s passion to learn. For the fortunate few, the two are in accord. Among the others, many have a straightforward life goal: to maximize earnings. The major they select will be one that leads to high earnings, assuming they have the aptitude to succeed. Other students will pursue the second factor and select the major that most excites their passion, with only a secondary regard for earnings.
Majors and Careers That Pay the Most
On May 15, the Texas Postsecondary Commission issued a study (the Study) of the earnings of one million bachelor’s degree graduates. The Study was based on data from students who enrolled in one of 86 public colleges in Texas starting in the 2008-09 academic year and extending over a 15-year period.
The Study found that earnings vary widely by major. The biggest payoffs were found to be in engineering, architecture, business, economics, and security/protective services. Liberal Arts, recreation studies, and social sciences majors had the lowest payoffs.
Table A shows what premium students with different majors earned over the 15-year period compared to students who did not attend college after high school.
Table A
Texas Postsecondary Study
Earnings by Major Compared to No College Attendance
| Category of Major | 15-Year Earnings Premium |
| Engineering & Architecture | $204,686 |
| Business & Economics | $183,841 |
| Security & Protective Services | $109,925 |
| Agriculture & Natural Resources | $106,758 |
| Biology & Health | $100,287 |
| Physical Sciences & Math | $98,173 |
| Communications | $70, 382 |
| Social Sciences | $51,314 |
| Parks, Recreation, Leisure, Fitness | $42,362 |
| Liberal Arts | $35,410 |
Source: Texas Postsecondary Commission
STEM, the Liberal Arts, and the Humanities
As is the case with the authors of the Study, many people are confused by the terms Liberal Arts, the Humanities, and STEM. The Humanities are a specific cluster of academic disciplines within the liberal arts that focus on human culture and expression. A list of humanities disciplines is provided below in Table B.
Table B
Humanities Disciplines
| Anthropology | Theology and Religious Studies | History |
| Geography | Linguistics and Foreign Languages | Performing Arts |
| Literature & Poetry | Law, Government, and Public Policy | Philosophy |
| Rhetoric | Writing and Grammar – English | Fine Arts |
The liberal arts are an educational philosophy and curriculum model, i.e., the idea that a broad, well-rounded education in multiple domains produces better graduates and citizens. A liberal arts education encompasses:
-
- The humanities (e. g. literature, philosophy, history)
- The natural sciences (e. g. biology, chemistry, physics)
- The social sciences (e.g. psychology, sociology, economics)
- Mathematics
As noted in Table B, the liberal arts include all the STEM fields except engineering as well as the humanities. Distinguishing between STEM and the liberal arts is meaningless.
In the recent past, many colleges have lightened requirements in the humanities to allow for more courses in STEM fields. This is the due to the impression that there is little demand for them as well as the fact that required courses in the humanities, to the extent that they displace STEM courses, lessen the future employability and earnings of graduates. It is argued that the humanities don’t prepare graduates for the realities of the 21st century job market. These arguments are misleading, yet they drive many students, often against their best interests, away from the humanities.
Historically, the rationale for the founding of American colleges was not to train students for a career in one specialized field. Rather, the guiding philosophy was that exposure to a broad intellectual tradition, i.e., the humanities, was necessary as the foundation for leadership in commerce, the professions, government, and clergy.
The humanities focus on teaching two capabilities that are absent from a STEM curriculum: communications and critical thinking. In the humanities, students learn to fully engage with the material, consider it from all angles, solve problems creatively and without bias, express themselves well, and adapt to new situations.
The Humanities Can Also Lead to High Earnings
In today’s fast-changing world, large employers, when searching for general management candidates, aren’t looking for people who know one field in great depth. They’re seeking candidates who are quick, innovative, and creative, the characteristics fostered by the humanities. A study for the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that 93% of senior executives agreed with the statement that “A demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than a job candidate’s technical prowess in a single field.”
At the top tier of American management, the Fortune 500, there is a fair representation of CEOs who graduated as humanities majors (149), second to those with business degrees (220) and more than those with STEM and STEM-adjacent majors (125). According to Ross Douthat of the New York Times, “One thing the humanities do is prepare you to exist in a corporate environment at a technology company, a start-up, or The New York Times.”
In comparing humanities earnings to STEM earnings, the Study shows liberal arts (by which they mean the humanities) coming up short. But this analysis lacks nuance. According to the New York Times, “The top 25% of history and English majors earn more than the average major in science and math, while the bottom 25% of business majors make less than the average of those majoring in government and public policy.”
Technology is Hitting a Wall Called A.I.
The STEM field that has grown most rapidly since the 1970’s is technology, especially digital technology. According to Maureen Dowd in the May 16 issue of the New York Times, “After decades of dismissing liberal arts and humanities studies as useless and insisting that the mastery of science, engineering, math and tech is essential to future success, the tech world is coming around to the idea that learning about human nature could be a valuable asset in the coming artificial intelligence revolution”.
The number of tech-related jobs is declining after decades of growth during which tech majors assumed they would get a job in the industry soon after graduation. Now, even the fundamental task of coding can be done by A.I., and humans may soon be superfluous to many other tech jobs. But A.I. will never perform tasks that are not automatable because they are of the essence of humans, such as empathy, emotion, and critical thinking. In other words, A.I. can never possess the human values that are instilled in humanities majors.
Future Jobs
Outsourcing and A.I. have made getting started on a white-collar career more difficult than ever before. The good jobs of the future will go to those who can collaborate widely, think broadly, and challenge conventional wisdom — precisely the capacities that the humanities develop. Students shouldn’t be deterred from the humanities if that’s what they love.
Recent Comments