Is higher education tilting towards arts and humanities?

Jene Kostyla: Hi there....great question! I like the way you framed it, because you're referring to momentum - one step beyond the facts. Although institutional data partially answers this question, it's hard to say....you're correct that enrollment in "soft science" programs is on the rise in many schools....and enrollment trends are directly affected by demand in the private sector.....I'm just not convinced that higher education is "tilting" away from the hard sciences, especially not from areas such as the biomedical field and toward the arts and humanities - not yet. I would say this: "soft sciences" have a stronger presence in higher education than ever before, while programs in the "hard sciences" continue to dominate higher education, albeit by a narrower margin than in the recent past.Thanks again for the very insightful question!...Show more

Donald Caravalho: In general, you are right. There are several reasons for the shift: first, that supporting hard s! ciences is extremely expensive - it probably costs ten times as much or more to educate a physics, molecular biology, pharmacy or civil engineering major compared to an English major or History major; second, the hard sciences are getting harder! Biology in particular is extremely difficult to teach and learn compared to 30 or 40 years ago because of the explosion of knowledge about human physiology, molecular biology, genetics, etc. When I took bio 40 years ago we doodled around with a few petri dishes of bacteria. When my son took it a few years ago at the same top-ten school they programmed in C++ to make computer models of enzyme-receptor site interactions. Then they used 3D computer modeling to show the results of their projects; third, that years ago only the top 20% of HS kids went to college. Now, it's the top 50% or more. Kids who graduate in the middle of their HS classes probably didn't get good science training in HS and probably don't have the math skills they ! need to do science. Until the USA spends much more on science ! and math in schools, this is likely to continue. Meanwhile we will continue to fill our grad schools with the cream of the crop skimmed off 100 different foreign countries....Show more