Classics vs. coding: STEM subjects have been catching up with Humanities

Classics vs. coding

‍20 years ago, roughly 8% of all US bachelor degrees were attained in the 4 core humanities subjects — a figure that’s fallen every year since 2007, with the share now sitting at just 4% per data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Conversely, STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) have been growing at an unparalleled pace, as students swap Charles Dickens for computational dynamics and Jane Austen for Javascript.

Indeed, computer science has risen from a 2.7% share of all degrees in 2009 to 5.4% by the end of 2022, while engineering has risen from 7.2% to 9.4% in the same time frame — more than double the share that the core humanities subjects currently occupy.

Man vs. machine

‍The rise of computer science as a subject is particularly interesting. The oft-repeated “learn to code” mantra likely rings loud in the ears of the 49% of arts and humanities majors who wish they’d studied in a different field, per the most recent Economic Wellbeing of US Households survey. Things might be starting to change, though, as the development of coding bots and generative AI threatens, ironically, computer science’s status as a “safe major”.

Interestingly, advocates of the humanities have been pointing to the burgeoning world of artificial intelligence as evidence of the importance of attributes that students can hone in humanities classes — like situational awareness and developing a personal voice  — or “distinctly human skills”, in comparison to coding, as a New York Times writer posited recently.