What did the arts student say after they graduated? Would you like fries with that? Jokes about the supposed uselessness of the arts and humanities are pervasive but they do not reflect reality.
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Humanities graduates find employment at similar levels to their science and mathematics counterparts, the latest Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching graduate outcome survey shows. Further, the "soft skills" developed by arts graduates, the ability to conduct independent research, to think critically and communicate effectively are increasingly in demand.
Despite this, the joke humanities provides a bachelor in unemployment persists and can have unintended consequences.
The perception remains an arts degree, majoring in something like 19th century Russian literature, is an undergraduate indulgence. It is too often seen as an interesting but pointless pursuit, leaving the graduate with few employment options beyond teaching. It rarely occurs to those who belittle the arts a science graduate with a similarly niche specialisation such as string theory, might also struggle to find employment outside the classroom.
The popular prejudice against the arts has real-world consequences beyond the hurt feelings of historians, philosophers and literature experts. There have been several cases where humanities scholars have had prestigious Australian Research Council grants taken away by a politician with no expertise in their field, simply because the abstract did not pass the supposed pub test.
As far as we know, this has never happened to a scientist whose proposal had also passed the rigorous and highly competitive selection process. And one can only speculate if a mathematician researching advanced calculus would fare any better with the local pub patrons than their humanities counterpart exploring material culture in Ming Dynasty.
The Jobs Ready Graduate Program (JRGP) introduced by the Morrison government in 2021 took cynical advantage of an existing bias and increased fees for humanities students by 113 per cent, despite the relatively low cost of teaching these subjects.
The JRGP has been an abject failure based on false assumptions. It has not directed students away from the humanities and has succeeded only in saddling them with higher debt that will follow them for years after they graduate.
Despite near universal criticism from experts and educators and the University Accord, the JRGP has survived the Albanese government's most recent budget. Until at least 2025, humanities students will be burdened with around $50,000 of debt, a level generally out of proportion to their earning potential.
The ideological roots of the JRGP insists the arts are a luxury. The pernicious consequence of this logic is the arts should be reserved for those who can afford it.
In the United Kingdom, there has been growing concern for over a decade that arts degrees are becoming gentrified. Disproportionately, it is students from the wealthiest families who pursue advanced studies in history, philosophy, English, or language studies.
As mythical as it may be, egalitarianism remains a cherished Australian value and the Jobs Ready Graduates Program runs directly counter to this national ideal. What does it say about us as a society if we tacitly accept Shakespeare or Plato belong to rich kids?
In an unequal world, education is the great leveller. Access to the full library of the humanities must be open to every curious mind in a country with any aspirations for social justice.
Universities do not simply provide training for future careers, they push the frontiers of knowledge and provide access to a vibrant learning community. For school leavers and younger students, especially, they are also a liminal space of self-discovery.
The arts, more than any other degree, allows young minds to grapple with the power structures in society, consider the world around them and the world the want to live in, and to contemplate what it means to be human.
In a post-truth world plagued with disinformation, growing inequality and populist politics, we need more graduates with high levels of literacy, the capacity for nuanced thought and the ability to communicate complex ideas. We also need them to come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds so the thought leaders of tomorrow represent the diversity of our society.
The Jobs Ready Graduate Program is not merely a flawed and ineffective policy steeped in ideology rather than research, it is a moral blemish on Australia's higher education landscape. If a progressive Labor government will not abolish it we might be forgiven for exclaiming, "who will rid me of this turbulent policy" while hoping it is not only rich kids who get the reference.
- Dr Benjamin T. Jones is a historian at Central Queensland University and the co-editor of History in a Post-Truth World (Routledge 2020).
