The Comeback of the Humanities And Why These Majors Matter More Than Ever

If you’ve heard the steam whistle at Georgia Tech, you probably picture engineering labs, robotics competitions, and students racing between high-tech classrooms. However, on a recent episode of the College Uncovered podcast, hosts Jon Marcus and Kirk Carapezza revealed something surprising happening on this STEM-dominated campus: the humanities are experiencing a boom.

While humanities enrollment has fallen nationwide for decades, Georgia Tech’s College of Liberal Arts has seen an 80% increase in the past five years. This fall, nearly 2,000 students chose majors like literature, history, public policy, digital media, philosophy, and international affairs.

This is more than a quirky campus trend. It reflects a national shift in how we understand the purpose and value of a college education.

From Punchline to Priority: How the Narrative Is Changing

Not long ago, the humanities were easy targets. Back in 2014, President Barack Obama was speaking to GE workers in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and he joked that students choosing art history over technical training weren’t making the most practical choice. The criticism was sharp enough that Obama later wrote a handwritten apology to an art history professor at Hamilton College, clarifying that he didn’t mean to devalue the field and, in fact, loved art history himself.

Today, Obama’s stance is very different. And his words matter, because they reflect where the job market is heading. In a recent conversation at Hamilton College, found here about the rise of AI, Obama made a striking prediction: “I would argue right now, unless you are really good, like top 1 percent in terms of understanding code, you’re better off with a liberal arts education.” He went on to explain that AI will likely be just as disruptive to white-collar professions as machines were to steel mills and textile factories. And this is the critical part, Obama explained that machines still can’t do the most human parts of our work: “What these machines can’t yet do, and I anticipate won’t be able to do, is tell a good story, or show compassion, or inspire a child, or build a sense of teamwork and get people to understand and believe in a common mission…" Those kinds of people-based skills, human skills that are unique to us, there will be more need for that than ever.”

Why the Humanities Are Back

One of the Georgia Tech students featured in the podcast, senior Kristen Su, describes taking humanities courses surrounded by engineers, an unlikely mix that’s becoming more common. She shared that those classes push students to think differently, collaborate across disciplines, and analyze complex, ambiguous problems. That’s exactly why we’re seeing renewed interest in humanities majors:

1. AI has made human skills more, not less, valuable.

AI can process information, generate text, and recognize patterns. But it can’t:

• interpret nuance

• understand human behavior

• make ethical judgments

• persuade an audience

• create meaning

• lead people

Those are humanities skills.

2. Employers want thinkers, storytellers, and communicators.

Surveys of Fortune 500 executives show the same needs: critical thinking, communication, creativity, empathy, and cultural fluency. Even in tech, product teams thrive when they include people who understand users, not just code. Google’s own research (“Project Oxygen”) found that its best managers excel in communication, empathy, coaching, and critical thinking, not technical mastery alone.

3. Humanities grads succeed across diverse career paths.

They aren’t confined to a single industry. Instead, they span:

• consulting

• UX research

• marketing and communications

• public policy

• law

• education

• nonprofit leadership

• journalism

• entertainment

• international affairs

Their advantage comes from flexibility, adaptability, and the ability to understand and communicate complex ideas.

What Humanities Majors Actually Learn

Humanities students gain skills that remain relevant in every industry:

• Critical Thinking: Interpreting information, asking deeper questions, and evaluating assumptions.

• Communication: Writing, speaking, persuading, storytelling.

• Cultural Literacy: Understanding identity, power, history, ethics, and perspectives.

• Creativity and Innovation: Generating insights, making connections, seeing possibilities others miss.

• Collaboration and Empathy: Working with diverse teams and understanding human motivations.

These are not “soft skills.” They're leadership skills, and they’re hard to automate.

Why Students Today Are Reclaiming the Humanities

Gen Z is observant and pragmatic. They know the job market is changing. They want careers that feel meaningful. They want flexibility, not a single predetermined track. And they want to understand the world they're entering. Humanities majors offer exactly that.

At Georgia Tech, where a 19th-century steam whistle echoes across a state-of-the-art campus, humanities students sit beside engineers and data scientists, not despite the school’s STEM reputation but because tomorrow’s problems require both.

Bottom Line for Families

If you or your student loves writing, debating, analyzing culture, thinking about history, understanding people, or exploring global issues, the humanities are not a gamble. They’re a strategic, future-proof choice. As Obama put it, the skills AI can’t easily replicate, the ability to inspire, communicate, collaborate, and spark shared purpose, are the skills “there will be more need for than ever.” And those are exactly the skills a humanities education cultivates.

Choosing a Major Is Personal

Every student’s strengths, interests, and long-term goals are different. There’s no one “right” major, only the one that aligns with who you or your student is becoming. If you or your teen is unsure how to balance passion, practicality, and future career paths, I can help navigate that decision with clarity and confidence. Let’s build a smart, personalized plan together. Reach out to me today