Why Haven't Humanities Ph.D. Programs Collapsed?

University used to be a place to further one's intellect and expand one's mind. Now they are a sausage factory where one is barcoded and hopes to be sold for a pretty penny.

When the ancient Greeks created the foundations of modern mathematics and philosophy by drawing with a stick in the sand, they weren't looking to "totally pwn the quant market with this new algo brocrates!"

This article asks the wrong question. Ask instead, "Why does modern Western society place no value on learning that cannot be instantly monetized?"

Because different people have different motivations.

People who are technically minded with a good grasp of logic and a desire to make and break things and who want a job study CS and get CS jobs (or just do CS and get CS jobs).

Those same people, with slightly better math and no inkling of the job market study physics. Some of them stay in physics - and some, like me, move into IT then security, and just keep moving, having a great life all the way through.

Those same people, with even better math and less make/break study math and some stay there and some become actuaries (what they intended all along) and some go into medicine (because math is one of the easiest science degrees to get, if you're good at math, no labs, so it's a pretty good pre-med).

Same group, less math, more make/break: Chemists.

And so and so on and so on.

I took physics. Because I loved it and because it was super tough. Job prospects? Whatever. Fell out of love, did a little philosophy and some CS, translated that into a 25 year IT Security career, last dozen as a consultant, work when I want, do some acting, have a psychology exam next week....

tl;dr? The author had it right in the first bullet: These people study what they love and the rest be damned. They are not thinking jobs and as long as analysts have only that material mindset they will never get it. They are thinking love. Some people survive on that love, some thrive on it, some crash into despair, and some of them move on. That's life.

I left this as a comment on The Atlantic but think it relevant here too:

First, arts and humanities students aren't necessarily the most career-minded or pragmatic individuals; they go to school to study what they love, then hope for the best.

This is an important point. I'm an ABD in English lit at the University of Arizona, and I noticed that most of my classmates, prior to enrolling, were either straight out of undergrad or another grad program, or had been working somewhat marginal jobs at bookstores, coffeeshops, and what not presumably for around $10 / hour. The U of A grad stipend pays about $20 / hour. That's still not a huge amount, given that it ranges from $14K – $ 17K or so, but supplemented with random work it's not insanely terrible.

My reading is that many humanities grad students view grad school as a lottery ticket.

I've written in more depth about "What you should know BEFORE you start grad school in English Literature: The economic, financial, and opportunity costs" (https://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/what-you-should-kn...), but innumerable essays and posts like mind appear to have had little impact on the numbers.