A new report by the American Historical Association indicates history has lost more students over the last decade than any other major discipline.
The other fields hemorrhaging the most students are all in the humanities – philosophy, English, area studies, and religion. At the other extreme, computer science - which has seen an explosion of interest on CC - is second only to exercise science in growth among the disciplines measured.
There is really not a lot outside of academia to do with a history major. And, within, the road to advanced credentials is long. It used to be seen as a pre-law degree but I’m not so sure that’s true anymore.
The different approaches in the US and UK interest me. In the US, it seems to be “I did a history major, what history job can I do?” In the UK, the emphasis would be on what they term transferable skills. So for example - I did a history degree, that means I am skilled in research: i pay attention to detail; I can synthesize a large volume of information into an appropriately brief, readable piece; I am able to examine and critically evaluate different perspectives and opinions to make an informed and balanced conclusion; etc. From this perspective, a history major prepares someone for a much wider variety of jobs than something just related to “history”. It wasn’t that unusual to meet history and philosophy and languages graduates among the economics, finance and maths grads on an IB trading floor in the UK.
However, it appears that skills that are not obvious from credentials and which are not easily tested in job interviews are devalued during the hiring process, at least in the US. This includes many of the skills you describe, even though they are among the most valuable skills when actually doing many kinds of jobs. (Although note that students in many other majors, not just history, are supposed to learn and practice these skills.)
In the UK, do jobs like IB or MC preferentially recruit from high ranking universities, like they do in the US? University-elitist employers may be using the elite university name as a proxy for those skills described above that are hard to test for (and perhaps other attributes, such as high SES socialization).
But since US job hiring practices tend to focus on credentialed or easily tested skills that the applicant brings right now, it is not surprising that people in the US tend to perceive history as a “useless major” if one does not want to become a historian or history teacher, is one of the very few who attends an elite university that has a fast lane to IB or MC, or is headed to professional school (medical or law) afterward (where undergraduate major is of much lower relevance in job hiring processes). The same may apply to other majors that are seen as not being related to jobs bachelor’s graduates seek.
There was certainly a tendency for the humanities grads - at least the ones I knew + to come out of Oxbridge, but that may partly reflect the fact that such elite universities do a lot to help prepare those graduates for interviews and help them sell themselves on points like that, rather than just a recruiter going “Oxbridge, tick”. (I know this kind of thing does still happen in the US too, from a close relative recruited a couple of years back on to almost-wall street. But I don’t really want to veer into the debate hot on the other thread about what you actually “get” at an elite university. ) Certainly the general trend in the UK has moved to much wider recruitment - though it’s also worth mentioning that Oxbridge themselves work hard to get wider representation in the student body in the first place, working a lot to get disadvantaged students in and successful. Merit is always key. You’d never these days see a student admitted into Oxford or Cambridge because of legacy, or because the family made a big donation. In that sense, elite perpetuation is probably more limited than it is in the US at the moment (kind of ironic).
Thanks, @SJ2727 My daughter will get her degree in history in 3 weeks. I really don’t feel any different about it than I did when she was majoring in theater, and then art history. What she learned (research, writing, presentation, connections between art, religion, and history and how to have a conversation about them) has really helped her mature during the last 4 years. She is talking a little about law school, but I don’t really think she wants to be a lawyer (her boyfriend is going to law school). I don’t think she feels limited by her degree except that she isn’t a nurse or a teacher or musician.
She can run entire categories on Jeopardy! That and $3 will get her a coffee.
I have 4 relatives who graduated with French degrees. None of them work ‘in’ French: 1) lawyer, 2) wall street lawyer who turned into 4th grade teacher, 3) telecommunications executive, and 4) secretary. The secretary is the one with the degree from a top ranked school. The telecommunications exec has degrees from a very low ranked city school and an MBA from U of Phoenix but she originally went to U of Chicago.
I’m sad about the demise of the English and history majors because the departments are shrinking. Other students benefited from the schools offering more courses in those subjects. I was not a history major but took a lot of history courses.
I’d hire a history major over a business major, all other things being equal, for almost any job.
Exercise Science - the new name for Physical Education. My son was an Exercise Science major until he realized that the only job he’d be able to get with it was personal trainer. And you only need to be able to count to 10 for that job. :))
It’s too bad that college level education is now so perceived as specifically tailored to a particular job/career.
I suspect the fact that college is no longer for the elite is one factor. Fifty years ago, children of the wealthy went to college and enjoyed a “life of the mind” for 4 years, coming out as skilled generalists able to use connections to perform well in well-paid jobs. They also performed well at corporate cocktail parties, as did their well-educated spouses.
A corollary is that as college becomes more of a necessity, at least in the eyes of the majority, more people who really don’t have the means to pay, are going. The heavy burden of loans means that a more certain and direct job outcome is seen as necessary.
Sadly, the skills for research and analysis gained in studying history, English or philosophy (not sure what “area studies” are) are extremely useful to employers.
College will become increasingly vocational while students at the most selective schools may still major in humanities because the name of their school will get them jobs.
History does offer some direct jobs: historical organizations, museums and schools. And any job, grad or professional school that requires a bachelors is still available to them: it just takes some searching and trying things out, which people have little tolerance for.
A lot of students have an Exercise Science major en route to the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree.
I went for a history degree in the last ‘trough’ in History Majors, in the '80s. I suspect that my interest in the subject was instrumental in getting me into Wellesley when my grades were substantially below Wellesley’s usual standards. The drop in history majors could be an opportunity for seniors who are at least vaguely interested in history - you’re perceived as a scarce resource now.
I suspect at least part of it is due to the atrocious way APUSH and AP World are taught today. They seem to be set up with the firehose model. Due to scheduling conflicts my kid didn’t take either course but I heard horror stories from his friends who did, and I’ve read horror stories online about hours of homework every night. I wonder how much the way AP history classes are taught in high school turn kids off of the idea of history classes in college.
Survey courses suck in general. What’s cool about history is delving deep into a particular country and time period and finding out about the kooky characters or amazing coincidences or dramatic stories of a different society.
I agree. My D21, who has always loved Social Studies and excelled in it, just hit AP Euro as a sophomore. I can’t believe the level of detail required for every country/region in the entire continent of Europe, 1350-the present. Tomorrow, she has a “dates quiz” with literally 30 dates (1350-1700). Teacher will pick some, call out the event, and class has to write the exact date. No partial credit for the correct century. Nightmare for D21 who is dyslexic.
I hope her love for the stories, trends, and characters of history will survive. APUSH is known to be far less memorization, and she will take that next year, so fingers crossed.
I dunno, my kids managed to delve into some pretty weird pockets of history with APUSH and AP World. My son wrote a research paper about Gustavus Adolphus a 17th c general and king of Sweden. He was required to have and actually found a primary source to use - a diary of some Scottish mercenary whose account was at the NYC Public Library!
@ninakatarina my son’s girlfriend has a history degree from Wellesley, she was gainfully employed by an NGO for a year before deciding to go for a PhD. She seems to think there are a number of things she might do with the degree.
" It wasn’t that unusual to meet history and philosophy and languages graduates among the economics, finance and maths grads on an IB trading floor in the UK."
Happens in the USA, too. You’ll bump into plenty of history (and other humanities majors) on Wall Street. Ditto in the field of law.
We immigrated just before D19 entered high school, and she knew just about nothing about US history…but she loved APUSH (and scored a 5), and same for AP Euro. She’s now very keen on history and is aiming at a course (international relations/politics) that complements history well. I’m not sure what is meant by how it is taught now, because I don’t know how it was taught before; but D has always been excited about her high school history classes and how they are taught, though I suspect she is lucky here to have had some very good teachers. She hated history class back in middle school in our home country…
Yes, I majored in history and I’ve had a pretty solid career though I focused mainly on computers. There is such a focus on STEM and preprofessional degrees nowadays, it seems. History helps you to recognize cycles, too. The skills a history degree teaches you won’t go out of style. The fewer people have those skills, the more valuable those skills will become in the market.
@doschicos , happy to hear that… pity more incoming students don’t seem to realize that there are many routes into many types of jobs.
It may be teacher dependent. Did your D19 have “Dates Quizes” with nothing but events and exact dates? It’s a significant portion of the grade. D’s Euro teacher also doesn’t do research papers (which D has loved in previous history classes, especially when you get to choose your topic).
They did have dates quizzes, and that annoyed the heck out of her, but they did research papers too. I definitely remember a paper on the causes of WW1. She always said that her teacher made Euro really interesting. And it was probably a lot of the war stuff that got her more interested in IR, I think.
I think there’s an analogy in economics (I’m an economist). Back when I did undergrad many moons ago, we spent a while on topics such as economic history, history of economic thought, and political economy as well. These days, an econ focused undergrad seems to mainly be math, math and more math. I believe that just like history, students today lose an important part of being able to recognize bigger picture things affecting cycles and understand stuff like before.
My D took world and US AP and I don’t think she ever had dates quizzes. Both of her teachers were excellent. Her World teacher was one of the most popular in school.
I’m sure many teachers teach AP badly. Many HS teachers teach history badly, period. I was a history major I never had a particularly good history teacher until I got to college. Then history suddenly was really interesting.
In that sense, maybe the prevalence of AP is a problem because students can avoid history in college with AP credits and thus never have a teacher who makes it interesting if they didn’t luck into a good high school teacher.