Hi This is extremely nice data, but I never bought the argument about no problems with Humanities enrolments. Here’s a graph of what I consider the more job-related BAs (excluding Education).
http://benschmidt.org/Degrees/#%7B%22startyear%22%3A1966%2C%22endyear%22%3A2011%2C%22denominator%22%3A%22total%22%2C%22field%22%3A%5B%22Communication%20and%20Librarianship%22%2C%22Business%22%2C%22Engineering%22%2C%22Social%20Service%20Professions%22%2C%22Vocational%20Studies%20and%20Home%20Economics%22%2C%22Agriculture%22%2C%22Art%2FArchitecture%22%2C%22Computer%20Science%22%5D%2C%22gender%22%3A%5B%22Male%22%2C%22Female%22%5D%2C%22displayOrder%22%3A%5B%22field%22%2C%22gender%22%5D%7D They have almost doubled from about 25% to about 50% of all BAs, largely but not solely because of the increase in Business degrees. Schmidt notes that the increase in Business at least is largely due to increasing numbers of women doing Business. Perhaps he notes it somewhere, but they are probably coming from Education, which has declined markedly. See: http://benschmidt.org/Degrees/#%7B%22startyear%22%3A1966%2C%22endyear%22%3A2011%2C%22denominator%22%3A%22total%22%2C%22field%22%3A%5B%22Education%22%5D%2C%22gender%22%3A%5B%22Female%22%2C%22Male%22%5D%2C%22displayOrder%22%3A%5B%22field%22%2C%22gender%22%5D%7D What does this have to do with the Humanities? Education students, unlike Business students, were expected to have a content Major other than simply Education. Thus, they also took courses in teachables like English, Math, ….. And enrolments in these areas have declined markedly. http://benschmidt.org/Degrees/#%7B%22startyear%22%3A1966%2C%22endyear%22%3A2011%2C%22denominator%22%3A%22total%22%2C%22field%22%3A%5B%22English%20and%20Literature%22%2C%22History%22%2C%22Foreign%20Languages%22%2C%22Math%22%2C%22Physical%20Sciences%22%5D%2C%22gender%22%3A%5B%22Female%22%2C%22Male%22%5D%2C%22displayOrder%22%3A%5B%22field%22%2C%22gender%22%5D%7D One exception to the above is the Life Sciences, which would also have been popular with teachers I expect. But it does not show the decline, and has continued to increase as a Major, especially for women. See http://benschmidt.org/Degrees/#%7B%22startyear%22%3A1966%2C%22endyear%22%3A2011%2C%22denominator%22%3A%22total%22%2C%22field%22%3A%5B%22Life%20Sciences%22%5D%2C%22gender%22%3A%5B%22Female%22%2C%22Male%22%5D%2C%22displayOrder%22%3A%5B%22field%22%2C%22gender%22%5D%7D Of course the Life Sciences is the road to Medicine, another applied area, and perhaps that accounts for its popularity and growth. How about Psychology? We’re not doing too badly, having doubled our share of Majors since the 1960s. But then we too are one pathway to another profession, Clinical Psychology and related post-BA programs. http://benschmidt.org/Degrees/#%7B%22startyear%22%3A1966%2C%22endyear%22%3A2011%2C%22denominator%22%3A%22total%22%2C%22field%22%3A%5B%22Psychology%22%5D%2C%22gender%22%3A%5B%22Male%22%2C%22Female%22%5D%2C%22displayOrder%22%3A%5B%22field%22%2C%22gender%22%5D%7D In short, I think the story is more complex than that there is no crisis in the Humanities (and perhaps other non-applied disciplines). And if we want to make grander generalizations from these kinds of data, notice how the growth in Business and decline in Humanities and related areas is correlated with the growing inequalities in society, the disenchantment with science among Conservatives, the concentration of wealth in the top .1%, and so on. What great stories we could tell if it were not for our commitment to sound thinking and science! Take care Jim Jim Clark Professor & Chair of Psychology 204-786-9757 4L41A From: Christopher Green [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2013 4:49 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] What crisis in the humanities? Interactive Historical Data on College Majors Just for the record, there is no enrolment crisis in the humanities. It is an invention of those who wish it were so. Be sure to check out the fantastic interactive graphic on relative enrolments that is linked in this article. What crisis in the humanities? Interactive Historical Data on College Majors http://www.samplereality.com/2013/11/02/what-crisis-in-the-humanities/ Chris ....... Christopher D Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://www.yorku.ca/christo --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=29659 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-29659-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-29659-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=29662 or send a blank email to leave-29662-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
