The humanities are not in a good shape. But learning them as part of a broadly understood liberal arts education can have returns higher than you think.
When I arrived at Yale to start my PhD program in economics, I discovered that I was the only (or maybe just nearly the only) in my class with an undergraduate degree in liberal arts. The others were mostly STEM undergrads. I had some catching up to do in math, but I have thought throughout my career that my humanities background was a plus rather than a minus. One thing you don't dwell on is that humanities majors learn how to communicate in writing -- something in which many economists are woefully deficient. (This is a personal reply by Ed Dolan, Sr. Fellow at Niskanen Center, not necessarily the opinion of the organization itself.)
When I arrived at Yale to start my PhD program in economics, I discovered that I was the only (or maybe just nearly the only) in my class with an undergraduate degree in liberal arts. The others were mostly STEM undergrads. I had some catching up to do in math, but I have thought throughout my career that my humanities background was a plus rather than a minus. One thing you don't dwell on is that humanities majors learn how to communicate in writing -- something in which many economists are woefully deficient. (This is a personal reply by Ed Dolan, Sr. Fellow at Niskanen Center, not necessarily the opinion of the organization itself.)