From a young age, senior Shelby Hiter has been captivated by the humanities, especially English and history.

“I love humanities. I definitely have more of a gift for those than math and science subjects; that’s not entirely how my brain works,” Hiter said. “I think they are all important, but I’ve just always loved words and word structure, and I’ve always had a really strong interest in our nation’s history, particularly.”

In fact, Hiter said she is planning to major in secondary education at Lipscomb University next year and to become a social studies or English teacher in the near future.

But students like Hiter are becoming rare nowadays. Universities around the United States are seeing student interest for the humanities diminish. According to the New York Times, federal data shows that while 14 percent of college students majored in the humanities in 1970, only 7 percent of college students in 2013 followed that path.

Melanie Conroy, assistant professor of French at the University of Memphis who specializes in humanities education, said, “The percentage of Americans who pursue a liberal arts or humanities degree has remained about the same since the 1970s. What has changed is that a larger percentage of the American population is going to college. The humanities has not been able to attract more students to study. This has led to a decline in the proportion of humanities students.”

Conroy attributes this nationwide trend to the focus on job preparation in society. While colleges emphasize developing a well-rounded student body through the Core Curriculum, students are focused on preparing themselves for the competitive job market.

“Over the long term, it is because students are looking for practical skills that will lead to a job. Professors of the humanities have not done a very good job showing how important literacy and skills of analysis are to success in the work place,” Conroy said. “This was, in part, because humanities professors resisted the idea that university should prepare students for jobs as they exist right now, preferring to help students develop skills that would be useful in the long term. Over the past 10 years, students have been focused on getting degrees that they think will lead to a job immediately upon graduation.”

However, Conroy said she sees this as an ineffective approach as the job market undergoes transitions rapidly.

Conroy said, “Jobs change quickly. None of us has a good idea of what skills will be required in 10 years’ time. More general skills, like reasoning, literacy and scientific thinking, are more likely to be transferable than skills that are more narrow.”

Russell Berman, Walter A. Haas professor in the humanities at Stanford University, said he also does not see college for job preparation but as an opportunity for students to develop their minds.

Berman said, “College should not be primarily about job training. Most of the job-specific tasks one needs one learns, or can learn, on the job. College should be about developing deeper abilities and a general thoughtfulness, or good judgment.”

However, Hiter said it is realistic for students to realize that college is about career training.

“The idealistic part in me thinks that college should be about being an educated and well-learned person because education is so important to develop and cultivate your mind and who you are. But in the modern world, a lot of the times, it’s just about finding a job and finding a job that will help you support your family,” Hiter said. “So I think in some ways it’s essential for colleges to focus on things that are just based on learning to get to the test and pass and get a job, which is sad but in a lot of ways necessary.”

Additionally, Congress has recently embarked on many initiatives promoting the sciences. President Barack Obama said that science education is a “priority” at the 2013 annual White House Science Fair. However, the focus on science has led to a lack of government support for humanities education, according to Berman.

Hiter said while promoting science education is crucial, humanities programs should not be overlooked.

“I think it’s a very noble effort to increase math and science awareness and programs in the country because we are falling behind in some ways, and it’s nice to keep us in line with the rest of the industrialized nations,” Hiter said. “But in a lot of ways, it’s made people care less about other topics that are really important in learning and education, in general, and it makes people focus on getting the high-paid job, rather than (doing) something they love or that fascinates them.”

In order to increase student interest in humanities, both Conroy and Berman said they see a need for humanities programs in schools to adapt and be open to change.

Berman said, “Humanities departments are trying to reach out to students more effectively and to develop courses that address core humanities issues in ways that might appeal to today’s undergraduates. For example, many students are interested in questions of the environment, so there are new literature courses on environmental topics.”

At this school, the English department is facing change through the introduction of the AP Capstone program for the 2014-2015 school year. The program consists of a seminar class junior year and research project senior year.

Hiter said, “It’s refreshing to hear that they are adding a program that includes English-based concepts but in a different sense that might interest more kids because, in a way, the most important thing is to get people interested in this subject if it’s going to proliferate in any way.”

However, Hiter said it is imperative for the school to emphasize traditional English classes, such as AP English Literature and Composition and AP English Language and Composition, due to their importance from a literary and language standpoint.

Despite making these adaptations, Conroy said she is optimistic for the future of humanities programs across the nation.

Conroy said, “Humanities departments will change, but the need for the humanities will never go away.”