Usefulness of Graduate Degree in Humanities

Grad Degree

The Value Today of Pursuing a Graduate Degree in the Humanities

Even prospective college applicants to undergraduate institutions of learning are encouraged today, to market themselves on their applications as 'products' of value. They make it unabashedly clear that they are potential human dividends that will return the university's investment in their education, in the form of high ratings in U.S. News and World Report College rankings as well as in alumni contributions. The competitive nature of the job market has also caused many current college students to view the attainment of a degree as simply another bullet point on their resume, rather than a holistic learning experience. Those who do go onto graduate school increasingly chose to pursue professionally oriented or technically oriented, specialized degrees, such as an MBA, a JD, or even a MA in educational technology. In such an environment, what is the value and place of a M.A. degree in the humanities? Is it really possible that by not intentionally aiming at a particular target or job, like a Zen archer, one can actually gain more from a nonspecific M.A. degree?

There is a great deal of value that can be gained, in fact, even from a strictly professional standpoint. An M.A. In the humanities can give a job applicant further skills in reading, writing, and constructing a lengthy thesis with strong research to back it up -- skills that even a wonderful undergraduate education do not encourage to an individual's fullest extent and potential. The specificity of subject and purpose of a humanities M.A., even if the graduate student's concentration of choice is in a purely esoteric and academic subject, teachers a perseverance and a form of abstract thought that is necessary in many jobs on the market today. Simply because the subject matter of the M.A. is not commensurate with a specific job -- few academic subjects are -- does not mean that the degree fails to teach skills useful at many jobs. And, furthermore, it has been contended that even the subject matter of a J.D. Or an M.B.A. is not so practically applicable to the diversity of 'real life' experience, rather it is the process of learning to think like a lawyer, a manager, or simply, in the case of an M.A. In the humanities, like a more critical human being, that is truly of value in attaining the degree.

Beyond the view of strictly professional preparation, however, a generalized degree on the graduate level in the humanities gives an individual the ability to pursue an academic subject with an intensity and a specificity of purpose that teaches him or her a love of independent learning and the value of learning that can be a great source of professional and personal creativity, throughout his or her life. Often, great intellectual discoveries are made almost by accident -- and indeed, great economic and scientific discoveries, from Hard Candy nail polish to penicillin! Such accidents only occur when the human mind is allowed to become a playground and to explore areas that interest it, rather than pursuing a technical, crafted guide to preparation. The highly specific yet removed nature of most M.A, programs in the humanities, usually composed of an extended work of independent research under the close supervision of a faculty member allows one to undertake such personal creativity in a way that is temporarily and positively removed from the remunerative effects of the marketplace, so one can better return to the marketplace a more creative individual, as well as potentially enter academia on a long-term basis.