Hwaet! When I was a Yale undergraduate, I hated being asked what my major was. “Medieval studies? What will you do with that?”, was the inevitable question from non-students. When I went on to Oxford and studied Old and Middle English, the questioning continued. I usually answered, “I am opening a medieval shop,” to shut down further discussion.
Anyone who studies the humanities, or “soft” degrees, will have faced the same judgmental, bewildered queries. The implication is that these subjects have no value. Indeed, we’ve become so narrow and utilitarian that unless a degree leads specifically to a specialised career, it’s considered by many to be a waste of time, money and resources. Kemi Badenoch has pledged to end “rip-off” degrees such as English, anthropology and psychology because, in her view, they provide weak job prospects. (Let’s ignore for the moment the £125bn that the creative industries are worth annually to the UK, or the 2.4 million people employed.)
