This is from several years ago at this point and I’d like to bring up just how much worse our anti-intellectualist culture has gotten in the past few years.
When I graduated undergrad with a History degree (in 2016) I was kind of shocked at how little the average person knows about history or its usefulness beyond the boring whitewashed version we get in like the 8th grade.
“What are you gonna do with that?” was the rallying cry then. Cuz obviously “I know lots about how historical events connect to the now” isn’t a skill one can sell in the workplace very well, particularly given most people don’t even think that’s what studying history is. They think it’s about citing dates and airplane models from the top of our heads (I can’t remember dates for shit ya’ll)
Fast forward to 2020, that “history is useless” perception derailed even further into “well actually you learned fake history” even from people who had previously like… bought me graduate presents and shit. (that’s where this comment came from)
Now, in the year of our lord 2024, you basically have two options for perceived usefulness – STEM or Trades. (fun to noodle on how those industries connect to imperialism and patriarchy now innit) I have an MA in Critical and Creative Thinking now and even progressive folks sometimes kinda just sideeye that as another layer of useless education we millennials tend to have.
And I literally had people tell me on their doorsteps as I ran for local office this summer that they’d never consider voting for someone with a degree. That told them “everything they needed to know” – that I have ‘no skills’ because I don’t know a trade and just read books.
My education level that I not only worked incredibly hard to access and enjoyed very much and that was HAMMERED INTO MY HEAD AS THE ONLY USEFUL WAY TO SUCCEED is actually an **enormous detriment to me** in most contexts of my life.
And still it goes further. Dozens of men told me they’d never vote for a woman. That was it. They were comfortable telling me that. One man literally had a meltdown in his driveway because he voted for me accidentally thinking he’d voted for my husband that he’d seen in campaign photos.
All of this to say – Knowing the humanities is a SKILL people. And the fact that our current cultural trend is trying (and succeeding) to reduce their importance is an **intentional** effort within systems of power to minimize the voices of women and other marginalized groups that traditionally fill such roles and have the skills to build truly intersectional and interdisciplinary systems.