Humanities classes, which include classes in English and Social Studies, are more important than STEM classes for many reasons.  First of all, these classes encourage high level communication skills, which are important because they improve written and oral communication.  Furthermore, a STEM field can only have a meaningful impact if its purpose and function are communicated to others.

 “I believe that humanities classes are more important than STEM classes because a humanities class prepares you more with reading and writing skills,” said sophomore Leo Raber.

Humanities courses prepare students for leadership roles.  For example, many successful executive leaders have a liberal arts degree or a degree in a humanities field.  Moreover, these degrees give people the opportunity to think critically, understand human behavior, and communicate effectively, which is essential for leadership in a job, and in life. 

A class like English requires more presentations than your traditional science or math class, because in an English class, students have more variety in responses and explanations that they can explain to others.  In English class, there is never only one answer.  Students have more freedom about what to do.  Students can think creatively without worrying about their grade.  In addition, students are able to gain more useful skills in life with humanities classes instead of STEM.  More students will be asked to write papers or emails at their job and during their everyday life, than do things like algebra and chemistry.  

“Humanites classes allow people to build public speaking skills, that will be essential throughout their lifetime, and humanities classes allow people to gain skills that people will use all the time like reading.  Also, STEM classes do not take most people further than school, because they are not used as much in people’s everyday lives,” said freshman Chase Tam.

Next, social studies classes allow people to learn about the past and make sure that tragic events do not happen again. If we know what went wrong, we can prevent it from repeating.  Also, these types of classes allow people to learn to develop claims and be able to defend them by finding reputable evidence. If you can’t defend what you have to say, others will not trust your opinion.

Another reason why humanities classes are more important than STEM classes is that humanities classes improve empathy and ethical reasoning.  This is because in a humanities class you study history, literature, philosophy, and many cultures. This allows you to understand what others are going through and feel empathy for them and grateful you don’t have to go through the same thing

In addition, a humanity class allows people to come out of their shell, because they are able to talk in front of a class and are able to collaborate with people they do not always talk to when making presentations or discussing their own interpretations of the material.

Reading books and other texts allows a person to increase their vocabulary.  If someone does not know a word in a book, they can look up the word, and understand what is going on in that section.  If someone does not read a lot, then the person might have a bad vocabulary, a valuable asset not only in the workforce but in everyday life. 

Both public speaking skills and a well-developed vocabulary build confidence.

“Humanities classes are more important because humanities skills are used in all careers, while STEM classes aren’t used in all careers,” said sophomore Josh Packer.