Major Decisions

College, Career, and the Case for the Humanities

By: Laurie Grobman, E. Michele Ramsey

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eBook | 13 March 2020

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A practical how-to guide for students and a powerful reminder of the value of a humanities education

In recent decades, the humanities have struggled to justify themselves in the American university. The costs of attending a four-year college have exploded, resulting in intense pressure on students to major in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), business, and other pre-professional or "practical" majors that supposedly transmit more marketable skills than can be acquired from the humanities.

But, as Laurie Grobman and E. Michele Ramsey argue, this vision of humanities majors idly pondering the meaning of life for four years is inaccurate. Major Decisions demonstrates how choosing a major in the humanities is a worthwhile investment in a global economy that is shifting in the direction of college graduates who think broadly, critically, and ethically. Indeed, the core skills and knowledge imparted by an education in the humanities—including facility with written and verbal communication, collaboration, problem-solving, technological literacy, ethics, leadership, and an understanding of the human impacts of globalization—are immensely useful to employers across a variety of sectors.

Major Decisions serves as a deeply informative guide to students and parents—and provides a powerful reminder to employers and university administrators of the true value of an education in the humanities.

Industry Reviews

"Major Decisions is both a treatise on the importance of the humanities to society at large as well as a practical, informative explanation of how students can integrate their humanities education into career paths for the benefit of our ever-changing world. I highly recommend it."—Julia Miller Vick, coauthor of The Academic Job Search Handbook