As this year’s freshers are undoubtedly now discovering, almost as prevalent as the rivalry between UoN and Nottingham Trent is the age-old debate between humanities and sciences students about whose subject is more worthwhile. Or, to be more accurate, the defence of their beloved subjects by humanities students, who are often criticised by the sciences folk, or asked the clichéd question: “what are you actually going to do with your degree?” Despite having less contact hours and not needing time in a lab, humanities degrees are just as valuable as a degree in the sciences.
The issue of contact hours is, of course, every mathematician and scientist’s favourite argument. They may indeed have a lot more hours of lectures than the humanities students, but do they, for example, have to read the whole of The Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney in Middle English in their spare time? Contact hours are not necessarily an indication of the work required to complete a degree. As everyone who has visited Hallward library around deadline day will know, humanities essays require a lot of research, planning and careful construction. A few additional lectures would feel like a breeze compared to an all-nighter with your head buried in a book.
“Contact hours are not necessarily an indication of the work required to complete a degree”
Yet hard work at university is one thing; the real post-Nottingham world is apparently much less optimistic for humanities graduates. Statistics obtained from Unistats, however, argue against such a theory: to use two random subjects, 62% of English graduates are in employment within six months of graduating. 70% – only 8% more – of Computer Science students are in employment. Despite jobs in scientific industries often being better paid, this does not mean that humanities degrees don’t also lead students on to well-respected occupations. Law and publishing, for example, are just two of the fields in which an extremely well-paid job can be obtained.
A more basic, but no less worthy point is that humanities degrees allow us to flex our creative muscles and really enjoy studying. Answers can rarely be wrong in many humanities subjects; the skill is being able to share our own opinions in a professional manner. Rather than poring over formulae for days, humanities students can fill up their spare time with reading. Even going to the theatre counts as productive for an English student. Surely that must be more enjoyable than algebra?
“The Trent Building is somewhat more attractive than the scientific end of the campus”
Of course, this is from an extremely biased viewpoint, but if scientists are still sceptical about humanities degrees after considering the aforementioned arguments, then humanities students should simply ignore the cynicism and enjoy the fewer lectures. Not to mention the fact that we can also enjoy the beautiful Trent Building and its surroundings, which are somewhat more attractive than the scientific end of the campus.
Rachel Harrison
Image: Amy via Flickr
