Is there a global failure in the humanities?

Shangyin Society

·March 15, 2025 16:13

Is there a global failure in the humanities?

Why are humanities majors being heavily abolished? Why are humanities more difficult to find jobs than science? Don't rush to say 'humanities are useless' yet, the most crucial point is that there is a problem with market supply and demand.

The impact of humanities knowledge on people is irreplaceable. Science emphasizes the spirit of skepticism and rational reasoning, while humanities place more emphasis on perception and practice. Both correspond to exploring outward and seeking inward, and are indispensable.

If science and engineering cultivate "productive human capital", then humanities correspond to "risk reducing human capital", responsible for creation and order respectively in human civilization.

With the rapid iteration of current technology, hidden risks that are difficult to detect are also accumulating at an accelerated pace, which requires "risk reducing talents" more than ever.

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The humanities seem to have an unfavorable lifespan.

At the end of last year, an article titled "The Global Collapse of Liberal Arts is Coming" published by "Nanfeng Window" sparked a heated discussion across the internet. The article quoted a news report from Harvard University, stating that Harvard Undergraduate School will cancel at least 30 courses in 2024, involving more than 20 departments. These are mostly humanities majors.

Not only prestigious universities like Harvard, but also a considerable number of universities around the world are taking action in the humanities.

For example, West Virginia University in the United States cut 28 majors as early as 2023, mostly in the humanities fields such as language and arts;

Last March, the University of Kent in the UK announced the gradual phasing out of courses in six humanities disciplines, including art history, anthropology, and journalism;

Busan University in South Korea has suspended the enrollment of German and French education majors since last year, and the liberal arts majors of many universities have also been cancelled or merged;

Northwest University, University of Science and Technology of China, Sichuan University, and other universities in China have all implemented significant reductions in liberal arts majors. From 2019 to 2022, as many as 1422 liberal arts majors were approved for revocation by the Ministry of Education.

As for why liberal arts majors are being abolished, some schools are trying to cut expenses, while others like Harvard, which are financially strong and not short of money, are because many students are under employment pressure and do not choose liberal arts courses.

So the topic of "the demise of humanities" frequently appeared on hot searches.

Amidst the continuous rain at night, DeepSeek emerged, and the continuous iteration of AI caused a stir, intensifying people's anxiety about being replaced. In the eyes of many people, the top priority is humanities majors, which cast a shadow over the prospects of humanities.

Faced with the wave of technological change, many "Double First Class" universities such as Tsinghua University and Peking University have announced that they will expand their undergraduate enrollment this year, with the number of enrollments ranging from 150 to 500. Most of the expanded students will be invested in artificial intelligence and related disciplines.

Majors related to new technologies such as AI are honored as guests of honor by universities, which further highlights the loneliness of humanities. There are also voices online that criticize liberal arts.

Is humanities really a 'useless study' in the face of new technology? Has the humanities really declined?

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I think that statements such as "the decline of liberal arts", "the disappearance of liberal arts", and "the wave of liberal arts bankruptcies" are too exaggerated. Liberal arts students do not need to blame themselves. They cannot assume that liberal arts are not good just because there have been widespread major adjustments in liberal arts majors in recent years. You can't just look at things from one point.

Why are humanities majors being heavily abolished? Why are humanities more difficult to find jobs than science? Don't rush to say 'humanities are useless' yet, the most crucial point is that there is a problem with supply and demand.

Last year, Liu Yuanchun, the president of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, mentioned in an interview that "not only are general liberal arts colleges expanding their enrollment, but a large number of comprehensive universities and science and technology universities are also offering liberal arts programs. Especially when they use money from science and engineering to pursue liberal arts, there is an oversupply of students in arts, politics, law, and economics in China

If the supply of liberal arts students really exceeds market demand, it is a normal phenomenon in the market economy for liberal arts students to find jobs and for universities to lay off some liberal arts majors.

Even the most useful skills will experience significant depreciation when the supply in the market far exceeds demand.

The majors in Chinese universities can generally be divided into two parts: humanities and social sciences, and natural sciences. The former is considered a humanities discipline, while the latter is a science discipline. According to the "Catalogue of Undergraduate Majors in Ordinary Higher Education Institutions (2024)", all majors are divided into 12 major categories, including philosophy, economics, law, science, and engineering.

Among them, philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, management, and art belong to the humanities and social sciences, while science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine belong to the natural sciences.

The "China Education Statistical Yearbook" provides a detailed list of the number of undergraduate, master's, and doctoral graduates in each category each year. However, considering that most universities only target undergraduate students with reduced enrollment and major adjustments in humanities, we only look at the situation of undergraduate students.

I found the data from 2018 to 2022 online. In 2022, there were a total of 4.71 million undergraduate graduates nationwide, with 2.44 million graduates from humanities and social sciences combined, accounting for 51.7% of the total.

The figure shows the number of graduates from regular undergraduate programs by subject category in 2022 (Source: China Education Statistical Yearbook 2022)

Looking back a few years, the proportion of undergraduate graduates in humanities and social sciences has remained at around 52%, or more than half.

As early as more than 20 years ago, a statistical data from the Academic Degrees Office of the State Council showed that natural science bachelor's degrees awarded by Chinese universities accounted for 67% of the total number of bachelor's degrees, and science graduates accounted for the absolute majority.

So overall, the proportion of liberal arts graduates in universities has actually increased significantly over the past 20 years.

On the one hand, as the service industry gradually replaces industry as the leading industry in national economic development, a large number of talents in humanities and social sciences are needed.

For example, after China's accession to the WTO, foreign trade, foreign languages, and other fields became popular majors. I studied international trade for my undergraduate degree, but when I entered university, shortly after the global economy was hit hard by the 2008 economic crisis, international trade had become bleak. When my professors recalled the heyday of foreign trade, they would always proudly mention that they had recruited the best students at that time. Finance, accounting, and other majors were also quite popular, with investment banks, securities firms, and banks being as hot as today's high-tech industry.

Another important reason is that universities have undergone unprecedented large-scale expansion of enrollment.

From the historical experience of various countries around the world, as long as higher education moves from elitism to popularization, the scale of liberal arts training is almost always larger than that of science education.

The expansion of enrollment in universities in China began in 1999. Prior to this, the number of undergraduate and vocational students enrolled in China was only 1.08 million, and the gross enrollment rate of the eligible population was less than 10%, which was lower than the minimum standard for international higher education popularization (15%). Expanding enrollment in universities is an inevitable trend.

At this time, we are facing the Asian financial crisis, insufficient effective domestic demand, weak growth in foreign trade, and a large number of laid-off employees brought about by the reform of state-owned enterprises. In addition, there are still 3 million high school students who cannot attend university flowing into society, which has brought considerable pressure to our country's economy and employment. Expanding enrollment in universities to stimulate the economy in the short term and delay employment issues has become a good medicine.

The expansion of enrollment in universities has been quite fierce from the beginning. In 1999, the original plan to adjust the enrollment scale increased by 21% compared to 1998, but the actual increase was more than 40%, and it continued to grow rapidly for many years afterwards.

In 2008, the Ministry of Education originally stated that the pace of university enrollment expansion would slow down, but it encountered the global financial crisis, and it was not until 2011 that the number of university admissions gradually flattened. The enrollment scale of undergraduate and vocational colleges in China will reach 10.42 million in 2023.

From the perspective of the relationship between the central and local governments, the expansion of universities essentially delegates more enrollment autonomy to local governments, making local colleges and universities the main force in expanding enrollment.

With the expansion of enrollment, many local vocational colleges have been upgraded to undergraduate programs, colleges have been upgraded to universities, professional colleges have been upgraded to comprehensive universities, and many universities have been merged. Expanding enrollment enables universities to be upgraded, which in turn promotes enrollment. Not only industrial parks, but also university towns have emerged in the suburbs of every city.

In addition, the expansion of humanities is greater than that of science. As is well known, under the premise that the fees for liberal arts students and science students are basically the same, the cost of cultivating a liberal arts student is lower and the marginal output rate is higher.

Science students need to conduct experiments, purchase equipment, reagents, and have a strong matching faculty. Compared to that, the training method for humanities students is "simpler", with more "flexibility" in teaching and evaluation. With the same resource conditions, they can train more people and have higher efficiency. This has led many universities to focus more on the construction of humanities.

Even some science and technology universities that lack a liberal arts background and insufficient software and hardware have made the construction of liberal arts majors their first choice, and their major settings have also seriously followed the trend, setting dozens of majors at once, which itself deviates from market demand. That's why President Liu Yuanchun said earlier, 'There are too many humanities students, and some universities use money from science and engineering to pursue humanities.'.

What is the situation in the United States, where liberal arts majors are also being heavily abolished?

The number of undergraduate graduates in each major in the United States in 2022 was found on the official website of the National Center for Education Statistics, and a simple division was made. Graduates in humanities and social sciences accounted for over 60%. Looking back a few years, it's basically the same.

Distribution of Undergraduate Graduates by Major in the United States in 2022 (Source: National Center for Education Statistics, compiled by the author)

Since the 1970s, the United States has been deindustrializing, with manufacturing shifting overseas and gradually becoming dominated by the service industry. Large scale infrastructure has already been completed, and there is no need for a large number of engineering talents. At that time, education became the most popular field in disciplinary subdivision. By the 1980s, business had risen and long dominated. In addition, the proportion of undergraduate graduates majoring in health and medicine has increased from 3% in 1970 to 13% in 2022.

After entering the 1990s, the information industry exploded and technology accelerated. The demand for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) graduates in the market surged, but it did not shake the absolute majority of humanities and social sciences majors.

Among undergraduate graduates from countries such as Europe, Japan, and South Korea, there are almost always more humanities students, which is a result of the popularization of education.

At present, the abolition of some liberal arts majors by universities is more like a foam. "The disappearance of liberal arts" and "the uselessness of liberal arts" are serious exaggerations.

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The impact of humanities knowledge on people is irreplaceable. Science emphasizes the spirit of skepticism and rational reasoning, while humanities place more emphasis on perception and practice. Both correspond to exploring outward and seeking inward, and are indispensable.

Those who have made great contributions are all standing at the crossroads of technology and humanities. I remember Walter Isaacson mentioning in his biography of Einstein:

Einstein had an almost intuitive belief in the elegance of mathematics. He believed that the ultimate laws of nature must be concise and harmonious. For example, he firmly believed in the correctness of the field equations of general relativity because they satisfy covariance (mathematical symmetry), even though there was a lack of empirical verification at the time

Here, there is not only an exploration of science, but also an understanding and pursuit of beauty. The beauty stirred up by mathematical formulas in his heart may be similar to Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony".

Steve Jobs also mentioned:

The reason why Apple resonates with people is because there is a humanistic spirit hidden deep in our innovation. I believe that great artists and great engineers are similar, they both have a desire for self-expression

Currently, many universities are emphasizing the education of "new liberal arts", with the core proposition of restructuring traditional liberal arts, advocating the intersection of arts and sciences, and integrating new technologies into liberal arts courses. This is a very valuable exploration. Liberal arts and sciences should not be strictly distinguished, and can bring back the previously stagnant liberal arts to examine and respond to technological and social development.

Liberal arts knowledge can shape people and inspire creativity, and everyone has their own insights on this. From a macro perspective, humanities are also an indispensable part of human civilization.

Human civilization includes two parts: creation and order. The progress of civilization not only requires the improvement of productivity, but also enables people to live in stability, free from violence and threats.

Economist Chen Zhiwu refers to those who promote creativity as "productive human capital" and those who maintain order as "risk reducing human capital". The former can be seen as improving productivity through technological advancements, while the latter reduces the risks of human survival, including life risks, social risks, and psychological risks. These two types of talents roughly correspond to science students and humanities students.

From ancient times to the present, humans have faced too many risks, ranging from wars, disasters, food shortages, violent conflicts, to interpersonal disputes, family conflicts, and life changes.

Dealing with these risks not only relies on technological progress, but also often requires "risk reducing talents" to regulate through improvements in social organizational forms, output distribution models, interpersonal cooperation methods, culture, systems, markets, and so on.

So in human development, etiquette, family, clan, religion and doctrine have emerged, legislation, judiciary, and national systems have been established, and insurance, stocks, bonds, and funds have been invented, all centered around rules and order, or to strengthen interpersonal trust and cooperation.

Think about it, even if higher technology cannot be sought to create more increment for a period of time, if there is a more reasonable distribution system, narrowing the income gap, and reducing risks, it is actually a progress of civilization.

At present, new technologies such as AI are iterating at an unprecedented speed, and tools that can significantly improve productivity are poised to emerge. However, at the same time, the hidden risks behind them are also accelerating and accumulating, which actually requires "risk reducing talents".

After the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the social, economic, and political models at that time were unable to cope with the relevant new situations and problems. Feudalism, monarchy, and traditional religion are not suitable for managing industrial metropolises, millions of displaced workers, and facing the constantly changing nature of modern economy.

Dickens' portrayal of child labor in coal mines, World War I, and the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine are only a small part of the expensive tuition fees paid by humanity.

Modern civilization has nuclear weapons and various advanced technologies, and the destructive power is also more astonishing. We need to have stronger risk mitigation capabilities than when facing the Industrial Revolution. Otherwise, it would be as terrifying as driving a fast car with only the accelerator and no brakes.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Shangyinshecj" (ID: shangyinshecj). The author is Hao Ran. 36 Krypton is authorized to release it.

The viewpoint of this article only represents the author himself, and the 36Kr platform only provides information storage space services.

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