Imagine that there are no art, music, English, communication, language or history classes at ULM anymore. All the classes you can take are either physics, chemistry, math, computer or other STEM classes.

Humanities degrees are equally as important as STEM degrees. Humanities departments in universities around the world, are being axed, according to The Guardian. Also, according to The Atlantic, the size of the department and the number of subjects offered are seeing a sharp decline in the charts since 2008 due to the economic depression.

Also, they mention that the enrollment in various humanities degrees has decreased almost up to 50 percent.
You can see this present at ULM. Over the course of years, some of the programs like photography, printmaking, sculpture and music performance have been either removed or squeezed into minuscule departments.

This trend has been prevalent due to constant budget cuts on higher education and heavy demand for STEM workers in the corporate world.
This unfair job demand has heavily discouraged people to major in humanities. I am not saying majoring in STEM is wrong or majoring in humanities is right.
However, anyone curious about certain subject matters should have a chance to explore the subject and learn it. If we don’t allow this, we are simply limiting human expression, imagination and experience.

We study history and literature to remind us of human legacy and advancement. We study languages to help us understand each other better in this globally connected world. We study communication to understand the reasoning behind our actions.
All these subjects might not have “practical” value or may not let you have a high paying job. But they provide answers to questions in life one cannot use formulas to find.

The intrinsic reward one derives from these fields make up for the missed extrinsic reward. Not everyone in life will value a six-figure salary.
Some will prioritize expressing themselves via a medium they feel confident in such as painting, singing, dancing, writing, orating, photographing and teaching much more than making that lofty income.
There is nothing wrong with either path, but for those who want to choose the “road less taken”, they should have the freedom to do so.
Students at ULM cannot deny the enjoyment they receive from the performances at ULM. Why don’t we support each department equally?

Robin Williams said, “medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
We have to understand the beauty of human life other than solving problems and equations.