Overview
Many American colleges and universities believe in the notion of a broad "liberal arts education", which requires all college students to study the humanities in addition to their specific area of study. Such colleges as Saint Anselm College and Providence College have nationally recognized, required two-year programs for their students. Prominent proponents of liberal arts in the United States have included Mortimer J. Adler and E.D. Hirsch.
The 1980 United States Rockefeller Commission on the Humanities described the humanities in its report, The Humanities in American Life:
Through the humanities we reflect on the fundamental question: What does it mean to be human? The humanities offer clues but never a complete answer. They reveal how people have tried to make moral, spiritual, and intellectual sense of a world in which irrationality, despair, loneliness, and death are as conspicuous as birth, friendship, hope, and reason.
Criticism of the traditional humanities/liberal arts degree program has been leveled by critics who see them as both expensive and relatively "useless" in the modern American job market, where several years of specialized study is required in most job fields. This is in direct contrast to the early 20th century when approximately 3% to 6% of the public at large had a university degree, and having one was a direct path to a professional life.
After World War II, many millions of US veterans took advantage of the GI Bill. Further expansion of federal education grants and loans have expanded the number of adults in the United States who have attended a college. In 2003, around 53% of the population had some college education with 27.2% having graduated with a Bachelor degree or higher, including 8% who graduated with a graduate degree. As a result there is keen competition among those with degrees in the humanities as many may find themselves unable to find employment outside academia. Meanwhile, there are many changes and debates occurring today in the humanities:
Read more about this topic: Humanities In The United States