The Importance of Studying of History

Historical studies, degrees, and the liberal arts are declining from academia and prominent places in society. It’s more important now than ever to save them.

If we travel back to Ancient Greece, Herodotus, who many consider the father of history, stated “The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.” This applies to the current crisis in historical academia; the decline of majors, programs and support. For centuries the study of the liberal arts, history specifically, was looked at with the highest regard. Since 2008, there has been an alarming, downward trend that shows that once supported major is dwindling.

The American Historical Association stated that in 2019 Bachelor Degrees in history only accounted for 1.2 percent of graduates, the lowest it has been since 1949. The only growth many programs have seen since have been colleges and university robustly online programs such as Southern New Hampshire University and Liberty University.

The chart below is from the Department of Education and shows degree completions in history (absolute number and as a percentage of all bachelor’s degrees), 1997–2019. It displays a slight increase starting in 2007 and the a steady decrease beginning in 2013.

This decline has continued but did slow in 2018 to 2019 according to The American Historical Association. Smithsonian Magazine notes that the number of history majors has declined over 30% since the recession in 2008. The decline is the largest at private institutions and also includes English, foreign languages, philosophy and anthropology with large drops. But the new analysis shows that since the 2008 Recession, history has suffered the steepest decline.

Why is this massive decline occurring? Multiple reasons. The first is that parents and students are steering more towards practical degrees with multiple job options such as STEM, technology, and engineering. Many of the jobs in these disciplines also pay well. Another reason is the change in society’s view of history. The once proud discipline has been constantly berated in the mainstream media and news. The disturbing idea of “Holocaust Deniers” is a very real and terrifying reality. Many major figures such as United States politicians among other prominent figures have perpetuated antisemitism and denying the Holocaust despite decades of evidence. This can be attributed to their own individual, racist beliefs or the rise of antisemitism lately that has come from United States involvement with Israel since the 1950’s as one example. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC states that “violent antisemitism and hatred did not end with the Holocaust and is on the rise today…antisemitic violence and Holocaust denial are a threat to liberal society today.”

The societal idea of “fake news” has also challenged the concrete reputation of history. During President Donald Trump’s first race for the election in 2016, he popularized the term by saying it to deny any fact or idea that he wanted no involvement in. This would include physical, hard evidence such as recordings or video that was presented of him saying certain ideas in the past. By encouraging the behavior or fact denying, Trump perpetuated a massive blow to the study of history and supported historical deniers.

The issue is if we as a society continue to support such egregious ideas as history deniers and fake news, we will not continue to move forward. Those ideas are detrimental to a modern society and only look to the past or ideology that separates us instead of uniting us.

There is some hope for historical academia. Cross disciplinary programs such as African American studies, gender studies, and women’s studies are on the rise according to Emma Pettit at the Chronicle of Higher Education These majors are directly related to history and are usually paired with multiple disciplines. Also, history was reported as the top major at Yale University with the Class of 2019. Alan Mikhail, the chair of history at Yale University states the success of the program has come from “rethinking course offerings, hiring new faculty members in specific growth areas, organizing campus recruiting events and, crucially, rethinking the actual major. Students are no longer required to take one set of courses, but rather pursue thematic tracks as part of a cohort.” Departments need to continue to evolve to attract modern, prospective students to a historical curriculum that is fluid and customizable. Otherwise, they will be lost to the past of academia.

Academia and society need to come together to support the study of history both as a formal profession and an everyday practice. Questioning stories, facts, statements, and articles is detrimental to our advancement as a society. We should push back whenever we see instances of truth denying, fake news, or history deniers like the Holocaust for example. These ideas of hatred, antisemitism, and a world that doesn’t support fake checking is not a place we should support or just let happen. We need to come together and challenge those views to look toward the future. If society can do that on a daily basis, it will then move back into academia and support the study of history and the liberal arts. Or as Edmund Burke once said “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it.”

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Sources: The American Historical Association https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/has-the-decline-in-history-majors-hit-bottom-data-from-2018-19-show-lowest-number-since-1980-march-2021/, The Smithsonian Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-people-major-history-180970913/, The United States Holocaust Museum https://www.ushmm.org/antisemitism-today, and Inside Higher Ed https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/11/27/new-analysis-history-major-data-says-field-new-low-can-it-be-saved