According to the 2023 QS World Rankings, the University of St Andrews boasts some of the leading Arts and Humanities programs for both teaching and research. But who chooses to study humanities in 2024?
As an English major, it’s at times obvious that some regard a humanities student as less serious, someone who fails to feel a practical urgency for the world’s problems, or, who isn’t doing enough to solve them. Unfortunately, people increasingly regard reading a subject like literature, classics or art history at university as a waste of time, offering limited job opportunities – though this is untrue.
Of course, I’m not saying you can become NASA’s head engineer with an English degree, but, the relevant career paths are countless. Instead of reducing education to just a checklist of job titles, these fields of study help students develop into critical thinkers and effective communicators, while being collaborative and curious problem-solvers, all characteristics employers value.
In moments when I question why I do what I do, my mind shifts to one of the most resented phrases of classical antiquity ‘γνῶθι σαυτόν’, ‘know yourself’, in Greek, inscribed above the temple of the oracle of Delphi. Repeating these words to myself is soothing, a key to interior peace.
Fragments of literature exist which transcend the cultural and temporal boundaries, embedded in each of us whether we are conscious of it or not. As Albus Silente states, ‘Words are, in my humble opinion, our best and inexhaustible source of magic, with the power both to inflict pain and relieve it’.
I was taught that empathy makes a good writer and, as my sixth-form English teacher would always say, this is reliant on the belief that literature reflects the human experience. We learn about ourselves through the texts we read; the beauty is that you read differently according to where you are in life, your surroundings and experience. Thus, I am a firm believer that within art and literature, we can seek answers.
Credit: Sarah Fehr.
By understanding that the present is not enough by itself, studying works of prose and poetry bridges gaps and creates deep ties with the past. In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, ‘we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past’. Beat on alludes to future, current, a synonym of present, and borne back ceaselessly into the past. Like Gatsby, we too live in a constant tug of war with time.
Despite innovations that characterise our lives, we are still the same creatures that pondered the meaning of life for centuries. ‘E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle’ (‘and then we emerged to see the stars again’), my father’s favourite quote from the conclusion of Inferno in The Divine Comedy; a reminder that through the study of literature, we recognise not only the depth of our struggles but the hope that lies beyond.
So, whether it’s by reading a new book, choosing a different module next semester, or even stopping to think about the elements of art and literature you are already familiar with, I urge you to seek connection, find wisdom, and nurture the spark that makes us all human.
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