<p>American Studies
Arabic and Hebrew
Archaeology
Art History
Classics
Cultural Studies
Dutch
English
European and East-European Studies
Film and Television studies
French
German
History
Information Science
Italian
Linguistics
Literary Studies
Modern Greek and Byzantine studies
Musicology
Philosophy
Portuguese
Religious Studies
Scandinavian languages and literature
Slavonic languages and literature
Spanish
Theatre Studies</p>
<p>Waste in terms of what? It really depends on how you view an undergraduate education. If you view it as training for your first job and to maximize your chances at getting a high paying job out of undergrad, then humanities and social sciene is a waste. You’re best off majoring in accounting, engineering, and nursing. Pure science ain’t bad either, but engineering pays better.</p>
<p>Yes it is. For one, your job prospects are terrible. For two, most of those subjects can be sufficiently learned with a library card and access to the internet.</p>
<p>I would ask the same question: a “waste” of what? </p>
<p>“High paying” jobs are certainly not the be-all and end-all of life. There are many, many careers that may not put you in the upper income brackets but do allow you to earn a comfortable living – but more importantly, can bring you personal satisfaction.</p>
<p>imo, NO education is ever a “waste.” It can only help to make you a better human being.</p>
<p>You can get a perfectly fine job with any of those majors. If you dont have some sort of plan after you graduate then yes, they are kinda useless. If you plan on going to grad school or law school, it doesnt really matter. If the job you are aiming for wants something like a language for instance then you’re good to go. If you want to teach those are good subjects as well. </p>
<p>My best friend and I both switched to liberal arts - she switched from bio to english and she has her heart set on grad school and eventually a Phd. </p>
<p>A humanities major doesn’t directly lead to a good job like a preprofessional major. Right out of school chances are most humanities majors aren’t going to see the same money as engineers and accounting majors. However, over time things start to even out as work experience becomes more important over college studies. Right out of undergrad though, I don’t see how an average humanities major has set themselves up for big bucks compared to an average person who majored in something more preprofessional.</p>
<p>“most of these subjects can be learned with a library card and access to the internet”</p>
<p>You really have no idea of how much depth in the humanities you are missing out on without the tutelage of a good professor. This presumes that you actually want to learn and appreciate the subject, instead of treating these classes as ‘OMG not another general ed!!’</p>
<p>The bottom line is, no, a humanities degree is not a waste and you won’t starve even if the engineers/accountants make more money coming out of school than you. It’s a good base for generic corporate employment and from my experience as an intern, after a while, humanities majors tend to get promoted higher up the office food chain than other majors. If you do have outside marketable skills though, e.g. knowing web design, that does add value to your degree and you should pursue these skills along with your studies. I know that’s an ordinary, stale piece of advice, but quite a few of my engineering friends here at UIllinois can’t land jobs for the life of them, simply because they don’t have any internships and outside experience. With an economy like this, I don’t think any major provides a clear path to the gravy train.</p>
<p>I haven’t mentioned graduate school, but law schools are full of humanities majors, and med schools tend to like humanities/social science majors for their fresh, outside perspectives (so as long as they took the required science classes to get in, of course).</p>
<p>Look if many kids find it easier to learn some subjects with some good books without a teacher, maybe a professor is not needed. I know those books could be written by professors. If you major in English, you probably will not like the books your professor recommends. If you major in political science, your professor will probably not balance conservative vs. liberal views. Sure you need teachers once in a while, but how many students self study an AP course and get 4’s and 5’s on their AP tests. Oh yeah, remember APs are college courses or close enough to them.</p>
<p>Very, very few people can self-study and learn as much about a subject as someone majoring in it can. A BA isn’t about cramming knowledge into your brain, it’s about teaching you the skills needed to not only acquire knowledge, but to interpret and challenge what is put in front of you. A BA and an MA teaches you how to write, think, properly read, ask good questions, figure out how how to properly research, and begin to form your own original thoughts about the subject. A PHD teaches you how to actually do original research in the field on a professional level. </p>
<p>A self-studier may be able to regurgitate facts back to you, but they usually haven’t developed the critical reasoning abilities to properly use or interpret those facts. There are always exceptions, and I’m sure someone, somewhere has been able to read a piece of literature, then create masterful interpretations of that work. But a professor is usually needed to hone those critical reasoning skills.</p>
<p>There are merits in a humanities major for learning how to read vast amounts of pages in a short period of time, writing research papers, forming thoughts and arguments, etc. Whether or not you need a full blown BA or just a few humanities courses is debatable.</p>
<p>You don’t need a college education to do anything. If you want to pay 40k a year to learn something a $5 library card comes pretty damn close to doing, go right ahead.</p>