Editing Humanities (section)

====As a major====

In 1950, 1.2% of Americans aged 22 had earned a degree in the humanities. By 2010, this figure had risen to 2.6%. This represents a doubling of the number of Americans with degrees in the humanities over a 60-year period.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schmidt |first1=Ben |date=10 June 2013 |title=A Crisis in the Humanities? (10 June 2013) |url=http://www.chronicle.com/blognetwork/edgeofthewest/2013/06/10/the-humanities-crisis/ |access-date=4 February 2018 |website=The Chronicle}}</ref> The increase in the number of Americans with humanities degrees is in part due to the overall rise in college enrollment in the United States. In 1940, 4.6% of Americans had a four-year degree, but by 2016, this figure had risen to 33.4%. This means that the total number of Americans with college degrees has increased significantly, resulting in a greater number of people with degrees in the humanities as well.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Reid |date=4 March 2017 |title=Census: More Americans have college degrees than ever before |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/326995-census-more-americans-have-college-degrees-than-ever-before/ |access-date=4 February 2018 |newspaper=The Hill}}</ref> The proportion of degrees awarded in the humanities has declined in recent decades, even as the overall number of people with humanities degrees has increased. In 1954, 36% of Harvard undergraduates majored in the humanities, but in 2012, only 20% took that course of study.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schuessler |first1=Jennifer |date=18 June 2013 |title=Humanities Committee Sounds an Alarm |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/arts/humanities-committee-sounds-an-alarm.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=4 February 2018 |newspaper=New York Times}}</ref> As recently as 1993, the humanities accounted for 15% of the bachelor's degrees awarded by colleges and universities in the United States. As of 2022, they accounted for less than 9%.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 28, 2024 |title=Bachelor's Degrees in the Humanities |url=https://www.amacad.org/humanities-indicators/higher-education/bachelors-degrees-humanities |access-date=May 26, 2024 |website=Humanities Indicators |publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences}}</ref>