Proof that poets are subsidizing all the rocket scientists

In the Washington Post, Professor Steven Pearlstein, who teaches humanities at George Mason University, has noticed something about his students. He’s seeing fewer English majors, fewer history majors, and fewer philosophy majors.

He finally decided to ask his students why. You know what the students told him? Their parents wouldn’t let them major in the humanities.

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The parents want their kids to be Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory.”

But is this a crisis? Well, actually, the undergrad numbers are fine. Nationwide the percentage of undergrads in the humanities over the past 30 years has held steady at about 15 percent. But graduate humanities degrees have dropped by about a third.

And I have to think it’s because tuition-paying parents tend to think four years should be plenty of time to find one’s self, so grad school’s on the kid. That means it had better lead to a job that can make the loan payments, which means the degree better have the letters “S” or “M, B and A.”

Although here’s an idea to keep more students in the humanities: charge less for their degrees. I saw a survey of public colleges which found that the cost to the college to train an English major is only 40 percent of the cost of an engineer – and yet I’m pretty sure they don’t get a 40-percent tuition break, which means the poets are subsidizing the rocket scientists.

Then again you could argue some of the poets will get it back on tips when the rocket scientists buy coffee.

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