Humanities Report Card 2013

Humanities Report Card 2013 cover image
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Cover image of the 2013 Humanities Report Card

(September 5, 2013)

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences released a mixed “report card’ yesterday for the humanities, presenting some largely unrecognized good news about their popularity as a college major and students' satisfaction with their choice.     

The same report, however, featured gloomy data from 12th graders:  The proportion proficient in history, civics and writing has fallen below 30 percent.     

The figures are laid out in the Humanities Indicators, a score sheet of both the health and the challenges facing the humanities.   The indicators are funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

For the Humanities Indicators, see http://www.humanitiesindicators.org/

Bar graph of humanities degrees awarded since mid-1980's
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Despite reports on the drop in the number of humanities majors since the 1960s, the number of bachelor’s degrees in the humanities has grown appreciably since its nadir in the mid-1980s, with more than 185,000 degrees reported in each year from 2009 to 2011

Source: Humanities Report Card 2013, AAAS