The Decline of Humanities Enrollments and the Decline of Pre-Law

A community college dean offers a thoughtful analysis of the recent decline in Humanities enrollment. (It’s not all about STEM.)

It’s a myth that humanities majors don’t care about post-graduation employment. What changed was the safety valve of subsequent law school enrollment.

Law school was long the default post-graduation plan for majors in qualitative fields.  As long as you had the prospect of a lucrative legal career after college, you could safely major in English or poli sci.  Those students didn’t ignore the vocational imperative; they just postponed it. And for a long time, that worked pretty well.

But the Great Recession, combined with AI and offshoring, did a number on law as a career option. —Inside Higher Ed

Post was last modified on 17 Sep 2018 4:23 pm

Share
Published by
Dennis G. Jerz

Recent Posts

Another corner building. Designed and textured. Needs an interior. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #medievalyork #mysteryplay

Another corner building. Designed and textured. Needs an interior. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #medievalyork #mysteryplay

21 hours ago

There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI

Two years after the release of ChatGPT, it may not be surprising that creative work…

3 days ago

The complex geometry on this wedge building took me all weekend.  #blender3d #medievalyork #mysteryplay #cgi #aesthetics #design

The complex geometry on this wedge building took me all weekend. The interior walls still…

5 days ago

Sesame Street had a big plot twist in November 1986

My older siblings say they remember our mother sitting them down to watch a new…

6 days ago