Humanities Majors in the US in Danger of Disappearing
According to a new report published by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAA&S), the number of students graduating from humanities programs at universities in the US has fallen to its lowest level since 1991. Job prospect anxiety and students' tendency to avoid heavy reading assignments have caused interest in these majors to decline by 30.4 percent since reaching their peak in 2012.
According to the data, universities awarded only 164,847 bachelor's degrees in the humanities in 2025. Robert Townsend, director of humanities, arts, and culture programs at AAA&S, stated that rising education costs have steered students toward fields with clearer career paths, noting, "A lot of students can’t even imagine what kind of job they could get with a humanities major outside of teaching."
The report highlights that in addition to employment anxiety, students' avoidance of reading long texts is one of the main reasons for the decline. It is noted that due to the habit of continuous, short-form content consumption created by social media, students are increasingly turning away from majors that require heavy reading, such as history (down 40.6 percent), English language and literature (down 43.8 percent), and religious studies (down 56.3 percent). In contrast, enrollment in visually based majors such as art history and film studies has seen an 18 percent increase over the past decade.