Archive for June, 2010
I’ve answered far too many reporter calls in the last few months in which I’ve been asked about whether this recession will finally put the nail in the coffin of the humanities. Of course, not one of these questioners seems aware of the most recent data on humanities majors or course-taking that suggest, for instance, that the number and percentages of students majoring in the humanities has actually been rising for the past twenty years. And several disciplines—including philosophy and religion—have seen increases in the numbers of students taking courses, if not choosing them as majors. They also seem unaware of the many skills and abilities employers are seeking that humanities majors exemplify. I suspect that increasing interest in the humanities will continue in our increasingly troubled world—and, unfortunately, so will the questions, including the all-too-common question, what can you do with a humanities major?
I share below the text of a wonderful talk given recently to prospective students at Muhlenberg College on just this question, reprinted here by permission of the speaker, David Rosenwasser, professor of English and codirector of the writing program at the college.
While the job market for new college graduates continues to improve, many companies are specifically seeking out candidates who possess excellent communication and teamwork skills as well as critical thinking and analytical abilities. (See both the recent New York Times article and AAC&U’s own recent survey of employers.)
In the current climate and given these employers’ expressed needs for talent, how can new graduates demonstrate to a prospective employer what they know and can do as a result of their college experiences? The traditional records of a student’s education are the academic transcript and his or her resumé, but both of these documents are limited in their ability to describe the effect of meaningful experiences such as project-based work, leadership in extracurricular activities, internships, and studies abroad. In a 2007 national survey, AAC&U discovered that more than two-thirds of employers found the college transcript either “not useful” (33 percent) or “just somewhat useful” (34 percent). In contrast, a majority of employers thought that e-portfolios would be “very” or “fairly useful” in evaluating college graduates’ potential for success.
