One of the most enduring myths about the modern universityis that humanities education—understood broadly as the study of human history, language, and culture—no longer offers a reliable path to employment or financial stability for the millions of students who seek out higher education. In my conversation with professors Sarah Ensor and Matthew Tinkcom, we argue otherwise. We point out that the most powerful, inspiring, and valuable aspect of a humanitieseducation is its collaborative nature. In humanities courses students continually practice talking to one another about the things that matter most to their overall wellbeing and their future place in our society. We just happen to useliterature, media, language and history as the objects that inspire our conversations.

Without a doubt, the ability to collectively interpret the world around them grants students countless professional skills, like actually being able to communicate their thoughts in full sentences while navigating complex social dynamics with their peers; but it also makes students more capable democratic citizens who are better able to formulate original opinions, share their distinct points of view with others, and best of all, move through the world with greater confidence about their beliefs. If making money, owning property, and building generational wealth is considered the only worthwhile goal of a successful life, then the humanities will always be the underdog, because one of its primary aims is to question the very idea that there should be only one narrow idea of the good life. Put another way, if today, the science, tech, and business fields sell students on the fantasy ideal of nabbing high paying corporate jobs even at the expense of their happiness and self-worth, the humanities is far more interested in the question of what makes a life worth living. If it’s hard to quantify the value of this kind of education, it should be, because figuring out our purpose in life takes hard work that no ChatBot can possibly do for us. We come to the conclusion that the question of what makes a life worth living is one that every major—whether it be chemical engineering or gender and women’s studies—should help students try to find their own answers to. The humanities just happens to have a head start.