williepete
Platinum Member
- Banned
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Tuition paying parents and students with their eyes on future paychecks are figuring it out:
WE HAVE ENOUGH BARISTAS ALREADY.
Why Are the Humanities Collapsing?
1. There is a widespread belief that humanities degrees should be avoided. Linking a master's degree in art history to working as a barista at Starbucks has become a punchline. Even President Obama mocked art history. The criticisms are exaggerated, but there's enough truth to them to scare prospective students away. A study by the National Center for Education Statistics shows that humanities majors earn less money than other students and are more likely to be unemployed.
2. The humanities generate too much nonsensical research. Postmodernist beliefs absolutely have ruined the humanities. For the uninitiated, postmodernism is essentially a form of moral and epistemic relativism. Right and wrong are relative, and truth itself is relative. When a field can no longer distinguish truth from lies -- or worthwhile knowledge from dubious anecdotes -- then it is flirting with catastrophe. The problem is so bad that there is a satirical postmodernist generator that randomly strings together essays. They are utterly nonsensical, but then so is some actual humanities research. How else can we explain that a PhD was awarded for this?
3. The humanities, and academia in general, are politically biased. The political skew among the humanities is laughably absurd. A paper in Econ Journal Watch showed that in history departments, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 33 to 1. Overall, academia is getting worse. The Democratic:Republican ratio among the oldest professors (over age 65) is a "mere" 10 to 1, but among the youngest professors (under age 36), it is nearly 23 to 1.
Humanities Enrollment Is in Free Fall | American Council on Science and Health
WE HAVE ENOUGH BARISTAS ALREADY.
Why Are the Humanities Collapsing?
1. There is a widespread belief that humanities degrees should be avoided. Linking a master's degree in art history to working as a barista at Starbucks has become a punchline. Even President Obama mocked art history. The criticisms are exaggerated, but there's enough truth to them to scare prospective students away. A study by the National Center for Education Statistics shows that humanities majors earn less money than other students and are more likely to be unemployed.
2. The humanities generate too much nonsensical research. Postmodernist beliefs absolutely have ruined the humanities. For the uninitiated, postmodernism is essentially a form of moral and epistemic relativism. Right and wrong are relative, and truth itself is relative. When a field can no longer distinguish truth from lies -- or worthwhile knowledge from dubious anecdotes -- then it is flirting with catastrophe. The problem is so bad that there is a satirical postmodernist generator that randomly strings together essays. They are utterly nonsensical, but then so is some actual humanities research. How else can we explain that a PhD was awarded for this?
3. The humanities, and academia in general, are politically biased. The political skew among the humanities is laughably absurd. A paper in Econ Journal Watch showed that in history departments, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 33 to 1. Overall, academia is getting worse. The Democratic:Republican ratio among the oldest professors (over age 65) is a "mere" 10 to 1, but among the youngest professors (under age 36), it is nearly 23 to 1.
Humanities Enrollment Is in Free Fall | American Council on Science and Health