Being a humanities student at university can often feel like you’re living in an alternate academic universe. While STEM students seemingly spend countless hours in labs, attending back-to-back lectures, humanities students often find ourselves wondering what we are being offered in comparison.
Part of this disconnect comes from the nature of humanities work itself. With fewer contact hours and a learning model that emphasises independent reading and essay writing, it can sometimes feel as though we are doing significantly less. Even the work we are doing just doesn’t quite feel the same as the life-changing experiments our STEM peers are apparently taking part in on the daily.
The reality is that understanding a dense philosophical concept or crafting a nuanced analysis doesn’t result in a product to showcase but rather a slow, personal intellectual growth that’s harder to quantify. The lack of right or wrong answers can lead to the sense that we are not achieving, with our progress feeling invisible.
While we may enjoy our studies, the stark contrast that remains between the humanities and STEM raises questions about the different fields, and the broader debate surrounding the academic and societal devaluation of humanity subjects, sometimes even by the students ourselves.
Since coming to university, I have found myself constantly asking what exactly I am paying for. This term, I have three days of the week off. While I am definitely not complaining about having free time, paying £9,250 a year for 9 contact hours makes it’s hard to ignore the fact that something is not adding up.
Even the days I do spend on campus can sometimes feel underwhelming. The independent nature of the course means I still end up leaving some lectures with a sense of pointlessness. A sense of frustration with the fact I could have written up the very same notes in much less time. A sense of repetition, with the class structure the same week in and week out.
I love my degree more than anything. But it is this love that wants more. While science and technology drive innovation, humanities give context and meaning to the world and it’s advancements. They challenge us to not just find the facts but to think critically about culture, society and the human experience. Yet, despite this, respect and investment in hums subjects continues to be diminished. While STEM degrees are promoted as the future, humanity programs seem to be the first to go when budgets are tight, reinforced by the typical question: ‘What job are you actually going to get from that degree?’.
For decades, the percentage of students enrolling in humanities classes has continued to decrease, only adding fuel to the fire for those waiting to prove their point and re-allocate funding. We must stop teaching young people to being embarrassed about an interest in books rather than numbers, in philosophy rather than equations. It’s time we reclaim pride in what we study. No more participating in the downplaying of our efforts and the jokes about our ‘easy’ workload. No more internalising doubts about our future employability when in reality, our education is about much more than just job prospects.
As for universities, it’s time they reevaluate and realise that without the humanities, their institutions would be a much different place. They must recognise that investment in the humanities is a necessity, putting the emphasis back on the subjects that nurture the richness of our culture and the depth of our understanding- skills invaluable to a vibrant society.
But this is a long process. So, it’s up to us as students to redefine the narrative. We may not spend the most time at the library, but it is exactly this that offers the unique opportunity to explore a range of extracurricular pursuits and the chance to work on our personal development. While this was something I never grasped in first year, my second year has been filled with many new opportunities, and the ultimate realisation that university offers much more than just the formality of a degree.
So, take this unique chance to try something new in your spare time, re-ignite that hobby you once loved, or do some extra reading around your favourite part of your course. Reshape what it means to be a humanities student.
I may never step into a lab, cure an incurable illness or pioneer a groundbreaking scientific discovery, but this doesn’t mean I am not adding something equally vital to the world around me. While our contributions as hums students might not be measurable in formulas or experiments, they shape the unspoken narratives that truly define our society, and it’s time we all start to appreciate that.
