If there is not enough consumers’ demand for particular good or service, producers who manufacture such products need to close down their business. It is this market principle of supply and demand that allows the free market to function properly. Consequently, while some survive until the very last, others vanish in this process. Similarly, the humanities are on the brink of an abyss, as more and more students head towards other fields of study–those that they believe will promise a bright future for their careers.

▲ Professor Cho Sungtaek expresses his thoughts on the humanities to a GT reporter. Photographed by Kim Hye RI.

Recently, Korea has been showing signs of contradiction. Craze for the humanities has never been greater: Bookstores are filled with people buying humanities books and lectures on humanities are gaining tremendous popularity. In reality, however, one in two students from the humanities struggles to find a job, and newly coined expressions like Munsonghamnida, meaning that one is sorry for having a liberal arts major, have emerged. This phenomenon reflects our society’s avoidance for the humanities, which is a stark contrast to previously mentioned fever towards the humanities.

The Humanities and Its Status Today

The humanities study human culture through subjects like ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, religion, and visual and performing arts, such as music and theatre. Unlike empirical approaches of the natural sciences, the humanities allow people to gain new insights into everything as they learn to think creatively and critically.

Moreover, research into the human experience assists people to obtain more knowledge about the world. Consequentially, humanities scholars’ efforts enable us to comprehend the world we live in, and provide us tools to envision the future. According to Cho Sungtaek (Department of Philosophy), the director of research institute of Korean studies, the humanities are the fundamentals of all academic fields. He went one step further to describe the humanities as a way to discover “the meaning of life.”

Nonetheless, students and parents have turned their backs on the humanities, despite the great advantages they hold. The primary reason for this disregard can be attributed to unemployment. According to the Ministry of Education, students majoring in liberal arts had the lowest employment rate of 57.3 percent in 2014, while students in social, education, engineering, natural science, medical, and art, music, and physical education departments were employed at a rate of 63.9 percent, 68.6 percent, 73.1 percent, 63.6 percent, 80.8 percent, 59.6 percent, respectively.

It is apparent that companies prefer engineering students with professional skills to students in the liberal arts department. Even though the humanities students have extensive knowledge, there is a limit to what they can offer in an office area. Once these students enter a firm, they need to be trained, such as gaining expertise in information technology (IT). As the cost of education is burdensome for many companies, the chance for them to select a student from the humanities field is low, unless he or she has a special qualification.

Catalyzing the Dying of the Humanities

To make the matter worse, the Ministry of Education has come up with a new project: PRIME business. The purpose behind this project is to foster a labor force in accordance with current industry demand. The ministry hopes to expand the fields in demand like engineering by two million students, while reducing the overall number in the liberal arts department. It has also promised to provide 600 billion won to 19 universities that actively put the ministry’s plan into action. This phenomenon is not new in Korea. In fact, similar actions are practiced in many other countries like the United States (U.S.) and Australia.

Unsurprisingly, there is concern among scholars that this new project may lead universities to function as steppingstones to employment, rather than institutions that focus primarily on offering valuable knowledge and lessons to students. The most troubling of all is that some universities have actually started to close down a few majors and merge some departments, and department of humanities is not an exception. As a result, wide arrays of students have been deprived access to basic learning disciplines.

Korea University (KU), on the other hand, has a special relationship with the humanities. In 2006, professors from the college of liberal arts accused the collapse of the humanities in the “Declaration of the humanities.” The declaration caused a great sensation, and 80 deans of the liberal arts college also participated in the act. Unfortunately, the humanities remain in danger, and the threat has become more severe today. Hopefully, KU will continue to show its affection towards the humanities and not be carried along by this new atmosphere, especially in times like this.

According to Cho, the program should not be executed in all schools equally. “Restructuring should not take place in KU since it is a prestigious university. It is not an ordinary university chasing after money,” said Cho. “KU should live up to its name and continue to offer the humanities to students. Even though the overall number of humanities students should be decreased, the policy should not be applied to smart and skillful students like those in KU.”

▲ College of Liberal Arts. Provided by news.samsung.com.

Behaviors Beyond Comprehension

It is apparent that the humanities no longer remain competitive in the market, yet the whole country seems to be in the grip of a humanities fever. According to the national library of Korea’s database, the books most in use in 2015 were mostly in the realm of the humanities. Universities and companies also look for individuals who have insights into the humanities. Steve Jobs, a late founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Apple, and Bill Gates, a founder and chairman of Microsoft, also emphasized the importance of the humanities in today’s society. How can this double-sidedness be explained?

Korea has been focusing solely on meeting basic humanitarian needs. Thus, Koreans had no time to look back and reflect on the path they have followed. Cho explained, “Now that Korea has achieved economic growth to some degree, Koreans depend on the humanities to seek meaning in life and take some time for introspection.”

People have been under a false impression that the humanities are dead. The truth is, the humanities are just changing in form. “If you limit the humanities to munsacheol, a combination of literature, history, and philosophy, then the humanities can be seen as decaying,” said Cho. The humanities have become greater. As various fields like engineering have newly risen, the range of humanities has become broader too, since the humanities are the basis of all studies.

Consequentially, the future of the humanities rests in the hands of anthropologists. It is essential for anthropologists to act in accordance with the demand of society. They should try not to make an impression that the humanities are discrete from other fields. Instead of being engrossed with the munsacheol sphere, anthropologists should make an effort to interact with other new, rising fields and figure out how the humanities are applied in these areas.