Is your child passionate about the arts and humanities? Strong in English, history, philosophy or a foreign language? Considering a humanities degree? As a parent, you may be wondering whether this sets them on “a road to nowhere”. Given the volatile times we live in, you might push them towards something more obviously “job-ready”.

Here’s why that’s a mistake.

The humanities directly confront many of today’s most urgent problems: climate-change denial, environmental degradation, vaccine scepticism.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Pitting STEM against the humanities makes little sense – they intersect and complement each other in many ways. Archaeologists answer historical questions using carbon dating. Environmental humanities scholars shape public policy around climate data. Many students recognise these links and combine arts and science in creative ways, building versatile skill sets. Pairing an arts discipline with law, medicine or science has long been an effective strategy for standing out in a competitive job market.

The humanities directly confront many of today’s most urgent problems: climate-change denial, environmental degradation, vaccine scepticism. Solutions to growing social polarisation won’t emerge from the hard sciences alone – these issues are fundamentally cultural. And culture is the domain of the humanities. The arts probe the essential........

© The Sydney Morning Herald