re: why do people major in the humanities?

I have a doctorate in polymer chemistry but took a ton of humanity type classes as an undergraduate. I did it because I was interested in subjects like history, sociology and philosophy.

My well rounded background has been a boon to me as I advanced up the career ladder with major corporations. Though, I have always had to battle (and laugh at) the Engineer types who are not able to think outside of the programming that they are given.

Because many are told they HAVE to get a degree or they are failures at life. Some of t hese same people often have no ambitions or goals so they major in something they are either interested in or are told is easy to eventually find out they have no job openings and crippling debt.

Higher education and studying the humanities is great for intellectual gain but don't be an idiot and expect a high paying job in your field when you majored in women's and gender studies focusing on the years of 1580-1600.

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no one has really answered the original question.

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why do people major in the humanities?

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Because this is America and they fricking want to.

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you can get into med school without a bio degree

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Isn't it true that the only prereq's for med school are biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, physics, and math/stats course?

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Though, I have always had to battle (and laugh at) the Engineer types who are not able to think outside of the programming that they are given.

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Very evident at times on this board.

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that depends, and, again, you're pidgeon-holing college as a trade school

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While I agree that college isn't 100 percent a trade school, it is still looked at in that manner. Why would the government give out student loans, if they weren't expecting that student to contribute to the economy with the education that they are receiving?

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Not everybody goes to college to learn a trade. Some people actually want to broaden their minds.

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"See, the sad thing about a guy like you is, in 50 years you're gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you're going to come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life: one, don't do that, and two, you dropped 150 grand on a frickin' education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library! "

you see, i got degree in sciences because i needed it to get into grad school, which guaranteed a well paying job.

humanities degrees don't guarantee anything. only people who make decent money with that are those who have connections and prob could have gotten the job without the degree in the first place.

not sure why people think going to college "broadens their minds" or "teaches them to think." i started doing that on my own reading books on my own. being forced to read stuff by professors doesn't broaden anything. it's just taskmaster work to keep them employed and you paying tuition.

they tell you to read a book and then write about it. why can't you do that on your own? do you not have access to the internet? to a library?

i did both, and the "Science" crowd was abysmal at their own subjects (obviously generally, there are some exceptions who can do it all like me). for example, watching science majors in foreign languages = fricking shite show

and you're arguing pre-reqs, which i could do with foreign languages as well, AND each discipline relies on a different set of pre-reqs

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not able to think outside of the programming that they are given

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the programming of humanities majors: i am smart because i am here for the love of learning. i have a broad, open mind, and i am a critical thinker. why? because i majored in a field in which my future employer's only perk is allowing to take home leftovers from the event we catered. it's not about money for me -- it's about this feeling of intellectual superiority and knowing that i love knowledge.