CHAPTER 2

The Comprehension Disconnect

Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs.1

―Mike Rowe

Introduction

Employers understand the value of the humanities. They did decades ago and continue to do so. Unfortunately, many higher education leaders and faculty have failed to understand, communicate, and educate students on this view expressed by employers. When higher education institutions recognize the value employers place on the humanities, students and graduates will have a better sense of how to apply their liberal arts education to employment opportunities. Unfortunately, since the post–World War II era of the 1950s and continuing until the present day, college graduates have, often with little help from those inside higher education, learned how to apply their humanities major to the workplace. Learning how to apply their humanities education to real-world situations benefited those with an entrepreneurial mindset. One such example is Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. In his 1999 business memoir, Pour Your Heart Into It, Schultz recalled: “To my parents, I had attained the big prize: a diploma. But I had no direction. No one ever helped me see the value in the knowledge I was gaining.”2 And why do many administrators, faculty, and staff fail to help students understand how employers value the humanities? The research suggests that those inside higher education believe they are doing an excellent job; so why change? The research also indicates, however, that those outside of higher education, the employers hiring college graduates, believe otherwise. Therein lies the catalyst driving this understanding disconnect. If the humanities are to remain relevant to the 21st century workplace, the understanding disconnect must be understood and addressed.

Explaining the Understanding Disconnect

In 2012, the HBO launched a new series called The Newsroom. In the first episode, Jeff Daniels plays news anchor Will McAvoy who sits on a panel at a university campus discussion regarding the current state of American politics. In addition to Daniels’ character McAvoy, there are two other panelists and a moderator. The lecture hall is filled to capacity with college students. Toward the end of the conversation, a college student stands up and asks the panel to answer the question, “What makes the United States the greatest country in the world?” In his response, McAvoy leverages both logic and emotion to illustrate that the United States, despite the perception held by many, is not the greatest country in the world anymore. McAvoy goes on to state that “the first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.” Board, presidents, senior executives, and faculty at colleges and universities across the United States need to recognize the problem. A 2014 Gallup-Lumina Foundation study found that while 96 percent of chief academic officers of colleges and universities believe that their institutions are “very or somewhat effective” at preparing students for the workforce, only 11 percent of business leaders “strongly agree.”3

Leaders of higher education institutions have a huge disconnect between the results of their efforts and the end product via graduates as assessed by business leaders. In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) global marketplace, administrators, and faculty can ill afford to be out of touch with the needs of employers. Administrators and faculty need to recognize the needs of the business community and develop programs to address them. One specific program consist of helping undergraduates understand how to apply their humanities education to the 21ast century workplace. Doing so would demonstrate to students how they could purposefully create a return on their investment. Writing in Forbes, Ryan Craig noted,

Unless and until colleges and universities are able to document that liberal arts programs actually produce the outcomes we’ve taken on faith, this exodus will continue and liberal arts programs will be increasingly a plaything for rich kids (who’ll use connections to get good first jobs, so it doesn’t matter what they study).4

Craig went on to suggest that institutions need to be a far better job of providing assessments that point to the necessity of critical thinking, problem-solving and situational judgment to potential employers as a way to convince people of the value of the humanities to the 21st century workplace.

As Purdue president Mitch Daniels has said, “higher education has to get past the ‘take our word for it’ era. Increasingly, people aren’t.”5 Now, more than ever, college and university administrators need to talk with employers.6 For decades, employers have valued graduates from the humanities. In one industry after another, across all types of employment positions, and throughout the country, employers have proven time and again that they will hire humanities majors for a wide variety of jobs outside of the narrow scope often discussed on college campuses. Until greater discussions evolve, the understanding disconnect will continue. Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), stated “it’s critical for colleges to show they’re taking the public’s concern about their value seriously, and giving graduates the capacity to deal with a future that none of us can fully predict.”7 With such a competitive market for students, however, admission officers and marketing departments tend to give students what they want instead of what is necessary for them to success postgraduation.

Colleges and universities are pandering to the students and giving them what they want, instead of what the employers want. I don’t think you have to make a distinction between getting skills and getting an education. We need to do both.8

Unfortunately, evidence suggests that “there is a stark misalignment between the talents employers demand and the skills graduates have as they enter the U.S. workforce. And many higher education leaders fail to see it.”9 If higher education institutions are to demonstrate the relevance of the humanities to the 21st century workplace, they first have to recognize their problem. In a VUCA global marketplace marked by continual disruption, higher education institutions have failed to demonstrate the relevance of the humanities to the 21st century workplace. That is a problem and higher education boards, administrators, faculty, and other stake holders need to recognize that the disconnect exists.

Approximately 60 percent of executives and hiring managers think that most college graduates are prepared to succeed in entry-level positions.10 But only a third of executives, and a quarter of hiring managers, believe graduates have the skills and knowledge to advance or be promoted. The majority of business executives and hiring managers believe that colleges need to make improvements to ensure that graduates gain the skills and knowledge needed for success.11

Employers value a four-year college degree, many of them more than ever. Yet half of those surveyed by The Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media’s Marketplace said they had trouble finding recent graduates qualified to fill positions at their company or organization. Nearly one-third gave colleges just fair to poor marks for producing successful employees.12 And they dinged bachelor’s degree holders for lacking basic workplace proficiencies, like adaptability, communication skills, and the ability to solve complex problems. “Woefully unprepared” is how David E. Boyes characterized the newly minted B.A.’s who apply to his Northern Virginia technology consulting company.13 “The mismatch between what students are interested in and what employers are willing to pay for may be the biggest impediment to a rewarding career for the newest generation of American workers.”14

Liberal arts and humanities faculty, as well as presidents, boards, and other stakeholders have failed to help people outside of the academy comprehend the relevance of the humanities to the workplace. To address this comprehension disconnect, institutions can help individuals outside of higher education clearly understand the value of humanities majors to the workplace by implementing four strategies. First, schools need to tell the compelling stories of CEOs and other senior executives that graduate with a humanities major. Second, institutions must explain how there is no one specific business pedigree that individuals need to get to the corner office. Finally, colleges and universities must illustrate to students that employers value skills and credentials far more than they do one’s academic major.

CEOs Who Were Liberal Arts Majors

During the last 20 years, executives from different industries have either graduated with a humanities degree or publicly endorsed the value of one. Priceline CEO Jeff Boyd attributes much of his success to his liberal arts background. His humanities education allowed him to “have a broad understanding not just of how businesses work but how people work.”15 Like many executives Boyd maintained an interest in hiring people with the right skill set and personality who would fit into the organizational culture. When considering a recent college graduate as a new employee Boyd considers the candidate’s “intellect, energy and the ability to get things done” over college attended, grade point average, or major.16 Senior executives like Boyd have demonstrated a consistent capacity to hire job candidates with a humanities degree because many leaders have similar backgrounds themselves, know that there is no one path to the corner office, and have identified the essential skills to long-term career success. Higher education officials and faculty would serve themselves and the humanities well by leveraging these three strategies to address the understanding disconnect.

Faculty, staff, and administrators across colleges and universities need to help students understand the CEOs who graduated with a humanities degree. Students need to understand that humanities majors can have a successful career trajectory and obtain the corner office if that is indeed what they seek. Business majors do not have the monopoly on getting to the corner office. David M. Rubenstein, the cofounder of the Carlyle Group, believes the focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at the expense of literature, philosophy and other areas in the humanities has cost American students critical thinking and problem-solving skills that enable them to achieve success in the business world. Career-specific skills can be learned later, he said, noting that many of Wall Street’s top executives studied the humanities.17 The following list represents just a small sample size of the many CEOs and senior executives who graduated with a humanities degree. Since the mental model currently employed by so many college students focuses on declaring a major in business in order to find a job upon graduation, the list only contains those who achieved a senior position in business. The list excludes individuals who graduated with a humanities degree and who succeeded in fields outside of business such as musicians, actors, and athletes. The list is arranged by alphabetical order by last name.

• Jill Barad, an English major from Queens College, New York City: She began her career in cosmetics sales, while still attending Queens College in New York. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Psychology, she became brand manager for the full line of Coty products. This was followed by a move to Los Angeles and the position of account executive for the Max Factor brand at Wells, Rich, Greene/West advertising agency. In 1981, she started at Mattel, Inc. as a product manager. In 1997 she was named Mattel’s chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of the Board.
• Carol Browner, an English major from University of Florida: She is an American lawyer, environmentalist, and businesswoman, who served as director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. Browner previously served as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001. She currently works as a senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business strategy firm.
• Ely Callaway, History major from Emory University: He had three successful careers—first in textiles, next in wine and finally in golf. “Most people would settle for any one of Callaway’s careers,” Entrepreneur magazine wrote of Ely Callaway in a 1994 profile.
• Kenneth Chenault, History major from Bowdoin College: He is an American business executive. He was the CEO and chairman of American Express from 2001 until 2018. He is the third African American CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
• Tim Donahue, English major from John Carroll University: He would go on to hold a variety of executive positions in the telecommunications industry. Forbes Magazine rated Mr. Donahue as one of America’s leading chief executive officers with an approval rating of 87 percent.18
• Donna Dubinsky, History major from Yale University: She is an American business leader who played an integral role in the development of personal digital assistants (PDAs) serving as CEO of Palm, Inc. and cofounding Handspring with Jeff Hawkins in 1995.
• Michael Eisner, English major from Denison University: Eisner was the chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president and CEO of rival film studio Paramount Pictures from 1976 to 1984, and had brief stints at the major television networks: NBC, CBS, and ABC.
• Carly Fiorina, History major from Stanford University: Fiorina ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2010 and the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. As CEO of HP from 1999 to 2005, Fiorina was the first woman to lead a top-20 company as ranked by Fortune magazine. In 2002, Fiorina oversaw what was then the largest technology sector merger in history, in which HP acquired rival personal computer manufacturer, Compaq. The transaction made HP the world’s largest seller of personal computers.
• Kathryn Fuller, an English major from Brown University: She is the chair of the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution. She served as chair of the Ford Foundation from May 2004 until October 2010. She was the president and chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) from 1989 until July 2005.
• Jeffrey R. Immelt, a math major from Dartmouth College: He is an American business executive currently working as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates. He retired as chairman of the board of the U.S.-based conglomerate General Electric on October 2, 2017. He was selected as GE’s CEO by their board of directors in 2000 to replace Jack Welch upon Welch’s retirement from GE.
• Kimberly Kelleher, a history major from University of Wisconsin, Madison: She serves as the publisher and chief revenue officer of Wired Ventures, LLC. Ms. Kelleher’s career in media, marketing, and advertising spans over 20 years. Ms. Kelleher served as President of SAY Media, Inc. since 2012, where she oversaw the company’s business strategy, including global sales, marketing, production, communications, media solutions, and content operations. Ms. Kelleher was worldwide publisher of Time magazine. During her tenure, she was named Advertising Age’s Publisher of the Year in October 2011.
• Donald. R. Knauss, a history major from Indiana University: After college, Knauss enlisted in the Marines for four years and then worked with Procter & Gamble. Knauss worked for Frito-Lay and Tropicana, mainly in marketing, although he also was head of the southeast sales department for Frito-Lay. Knauss was head of the North American operations of The Coca-Cola Company. In 2006, Knauss became the CEO of Clorox.
• Michael Lynne, an English major from Brooklyn College: After a chance encounter with law-school acquaintance Bob Shaye, Lynne joined New Line Cinema as outside legal counsel in the early 1980s. In 1990, he was appointed president and chief operating officer of the studio. In 2001, he was named cochairman and co-CEO.
• John J. Mack, a history major from Duke University: Mack worked at several firms around Wall Street before starting his career at Morgan Stanley in 1972 as a salesman and worked for the company for nearly thirty years rising steadily to positions of increasing responsibility. In March 1992, he assumed responsibility for Morgan Stanley’s day-to-day operations as chairman of the operating committee. He was named president of Morgan Stanley in June 1993.
• Samuel J. Palmisano, History major from Johns Hopkins University: He was president and the eighth chief executive officer of IBM until January 2012. He also served as the chairman of the company until October 1, 2012. While in college he also played football (center, offensive tackle, team cocaptain) there, and turned down an opportunity to try out with the Oakland Raiders.
• Herb Scannell, an English major from Boston College: He is a Puerto Rican American media executive and businessman. He served as the president of Nickelodeon and TV Land from 1996 to 2006, was the founding CEO of Next New Networks, and the president of BBC Worldwide America. He served as the CEO of the Mitú Network until the summer of 2018. He became the president and CEO of KPCC-FM in January 2019.
• Florence Steinberg, a history major from University of Massachusetts, Amherst: She was an American publisher of one of the first independent comic books, the underground/alternative comics hybrid Big Apple Comix, in 1975. Additionally, as the secretary for Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee and the fledgling company’s receptionist and fan liaison during the 1960s Silver Age of Comic Books, she was a key participant of and witness to Marvel’s expansion from a two-person staff to a pop culture conglomerate.

CEOs and senior executives endorse the humanities as viable college majors because they understand firsthand how the liberal arts translate into the workplace. Slack’s CEO Stewart Butterfield, who has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Canada’s University of Victoria, said, “studying philosophy taught me how to write really clearly and how to follow an argument all the way down, which is invaluable in running meetings.”19 Steve Yi, CEO of web advertising platform MediaAlpha, earned an interdisciplinary degree in East Asian Studies at Harvard University and proclaimed that the liberal arts train students to thrive in subjectivity and ambiguity and how to see every issue from multiple perspectives, an invaluable skill to have in the technology sector. Danielle Sheer, a vice president at Carbonite, a cloud backup service, who studied existential philosophy at George Washington University, echoed similar sentiments and said her humanities education helps her to consider a plethora of different options and outcomes in every situation. Christopher Connor often relied on his sociology degree from Ohio State University to understand the needs of his employees and customers at Sherman-Williams and noted, “I found a liberal arts education and studying philosophy, sociology and psychology really energizing.”20 With this in mind, higher education administrators and faculty need to help students understand there is no one perfect business executive pedigree. Doing so would go a long way demonstrating how the humanities are relevant to the 21st century workplace.

No One Business Executive Pedigree

Contrary to public belief, the perfect business executive pedigree does not exist. The research conducted by Elena Botelho and Kim Powell published in The CEO Next Door: Based on a Breakthrough Study of over 2,600 Leaders found no perfect pedigree for the CEO position. Individuals who achieve the CEO position often do it by making bold career moves over the course of their career that catapult them to the top. Botelho and Powell discovered three common types of career catapults: the smaller role move, the big leap, and inherit the mess situation. First, many CEOs took a smaller role at some point in their career. They may have started something new like launching a product within their company or moved to a smaller company to take on a greater set of responsibilities. Individuals used this opportunity to build something from the ground up and make a substantial impact. Others who landed in the corner office took the big leap and said yes to opportunities even when the role was well beyond anything they’ve done previously. Even if they did not feel fully prepared for the challenges ahead, they still said yes. Finally, the third most common way people catapult themselves to the CEO position is to inherit a big mess. It could be an underperforming business unit, a failed product, or a bankruptcy—any major problem for the business that needs to be fixed fast. Messy situations cry out for strong leadership. When faced with a crisis, emerging leaders have an opportunity to showcase their ability to assess a situation calmly, make decisions under pressure, take calculated risks, rally others around them, and persevere in the face of adversity. Through these career catapults, executives build the specific behaviors that set successful CEOs apart—including decisiveness, reliability, adaptability, and the ability to engage for impact—and they get noticed for their accomplishments. The catapults are so powerful that even people who never aspired to become CEO ultimately landed the position by pursuing one or more of these strategies.

When education is factored into the equation of elements involved with landing in the CEO position, no one major is better than another. One study revealed that one-third of all Fortune 500 CEOs have a liberal arts degree21 and businesses are learning that grade point average (GPA) was an artificial measure of how successful the student could be on the job. In research published in The Wall Street Journal, Carol Hymowitz studied the career trajectories of senior executives and concluded: “getting to the corner office has more to do with leadership talent and a drive for success” than graduating with a specific degree from a prestigious university.22 CEOs who have worked with hundreds of other senior executives throughout their career understand the nominal role a college major has when moving up the corporate ladder.23 When considering the nuances involved with long-term earning potential, the research overwhelmingly illustrates that “perceptions of the variations in economic success among graduates in different majors are exaggerated. Given a student’s ability, achievement, and effort, his or her earnings do not vary all that greatly with the choice of undergraduate major.”24

Debra Humphreys and Patrick Kelly summarized research conducted for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and noted the evidence “demonstrates that while science, math, and engineering majors earn more on average than do those with other degrees upon graduation, (engineering) over time liberal arts graduates close the earnings gap with those who majored in professional or pre-professional fields.”25 Another study found that history majors who pursued careers in business ended up earning, on average, almost as much as business majors by mid-career.26 The humanities graduates who succeed in business understand their education has provided a set of essential skills from which to launch their career.

Essential Skills

To help alleviate the understanding disconnect, higher education officials should also communicate the value of skills over degrees. As City University of New York professor Ann Kirschner tweeted as a reaction to the speech Ginni Tometty gave at the 2019 World Economic Forum: “If there were a Dow Jones ticker for college degrees, we’d be seeing a market correction today, as the @IBM CEO says we need to hire for skills not diplomas.”27 The 2018 Bloomberg Next study “Building Tomorrow’s Talent: Collaboration Can Close Emerging Skills Gap” found that employers are now more focused on interpersonal skills rather than GPA. And although a small number of institutions are releasing extracurricular transcripts that demonstrate a student’s individual skills in addition to grades 28 this emphasis of skill over major will be a herculean challenge since colleges are organized into departments that often operate as independent silos. The mere mention of skills over degrees could send shockwaves through a campus. But the research remains very clear on the value of skills over majors and higher education institutions need to help students understand this. As the AAC&U noted, “93 percent of employers surveyed said that a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than a job candidate’s undergraduate major.” 29

Thus, humanities majors will continue to remain relevant for those employers looking to hire recent graduates who can think critically, communicate effectively, solve complex problems, and demonstrate other relevant skills as organizations look to achieve and sustain growth in dynamic, hypercompetitive, and ever-changing global marketplace. These are commonly referred to as soft skills, or noncognitive skills, but a more accurate term would be to label them essential skills. Research conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) illustrates how most hiring managers care more about a job candidate’s skills than they do about a college major.30 In fact, business executives will tell you “that they don’t care what a job candidate has majored in.”31 They want students who can think, communicate orally, write, and solve problems. One such business executive is billionaire Mark Cuban. During the February 2017 NBA All-Star Technology Summit in New Orleans, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban predicted that liberal arts majors will be needed as technology continues to disrupt today’s in-demand jobs like software development and engineering.32 As Cuban stated “when the data is being provided, you need a different perspective in order to get a different view so free thinkers can provide that skill.”33

Given the extremely rapid progress taking place in technologies causing disruption in almost every market, people in all lines of work should strive to be flexible about acquiring new skills and even about changing their occupations.34 Enter the humanities majors and graduates. History, English, philosophy, and other humanities majors will provide the flexibility of mind, the multiplicity of perspectives, and the capacity of collaboration and innovation organizations need as they look to remain relevant. Cuban’s observation falls in line with most surveys involving senior executives. Cuban is far from alone is his declaration that humanities majors will remain relevant to the 21st century workplace. In his editorial “A CEO’s Advice to a Millennial: A Liberal Arts Degree Matters,” retired CEO Edward Speed stressed just how valuable skills are for employers in evaluating humanities graduates when he wrote:

Successful CEO’s have little need for more graduates who tell senior management what the numbers say. What is desperately lacking are those who can tell management what the numbers mean. Data is cheap; gleaning information from data is rare; discerning meaning from information is priceless.35

Doing so requires the skill of critical thinking and not the degree of a specific major.

Graduates who can connect the dots are sorely lacking, yet are needed more than ever in a world awash in overwhelming data. Senior executives desperately need on their team those who can read and listen critically, think and analyze analogically, and then communicate metaphorically to diverse internal and external stakeholders.36

The Conference Board’s 2018 report “C-Suite Challenge” noted that the top two concerns of CEOs today are attracting and retaining talent and relying on that talent to create new business models because of disruptive technologies.37 The competition for talent is as fierce as ever, as the global population ages, the nature of work changes, and companies look for the skills they need to nurture—now and in the future. In another survey 77 percent of CEOs interviewed voiced concern that skills shortages could hinder their organization’s growth. Despite greater automation in the workforce, CEOs realize they can’t rely on digital skills alone. To innovate, they need good problem-solvers and people with creative skills and high emotional intelligence. These are also the hardest skills to find. As LRN’s chief executive Dov Seidman explains it, companies and leaders that recognize and put the human connection at the center of their strategy will be the enduring winners.38 Indeed, “machines can be programmed to do the next thing right. But only humans can do the next right thing.”39

When it comes to advising college students on how best to prepare for a future of work based on uncertainty, what do executives suggest? Research conducted on behalf of the AAC&U concluded that 80 percent of employers agree that, regardless of their major, every college student should acquire broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences through a liberal education. 40 The National Leadership Council echoed similar sentiment and concluded that “narrow preparation in a single area is exactly the opposite of what graduates need from college.”41 “When companies are assessing job candidates, they’re looking for the best of both worlds: someone who is not only proficient in a particular function, but also has the right personality,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.

With this in mind, it is important for colleges and university leaders to recognize the value of both academic and technical education. As Janet Bray, Executive Director of the Association for Career and Technical Education, noted, “We need to move away in this country from either academic or career and technical education. It’s not an either–or situation.”42 The basic academic skills include areas such as math and English, but schools shouldn’t stop at teaching them—they must show students how to use academic knowledge in authentic situations they might face. “Whether you’re going to be a doctor, a lawyer, a welder, a nurse, a cosmetologist, you name it, you’re going to need a core of academics that you can apply,” Bray said. They also need to communicate effectively, work with others, and be creative. Students might be able to land a job, but they may not keep the job without these skills, said Dave Bunting, executive director of the Iowa Association for Career and Technical Education and former executive director of programs at Kirkwood Community College. “While employers want outstanding technical and academic skills, they absolutely demand outstanding employability skills,” Bunting said.43

Conclusion

For the foreseeable future, executives will endorse the humanities and hiring managers will emphasize skills and internships over academic majors. Therefore, the humanities will remain relevant to the 21st century workforce. To support the humanities higher education institutions should address the comprehension disconnect. Such a process would involve helping those inside and outside of higher education understand the value of the humanities. Faculty can use resources such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s 2019 report that examined the economic payoff of a liberal arts education. The study disproves that a liberal arts degree isn’t worth its cost or will hurt a graduate’s career prospects.

Critics claim that a liberal arts education is worth less than the alternatives, and perhaps not even worth the investment at all. They argue that increasing costs and low future earnings limit the value of a liberal arts education. Existing evidence does not support these conclusions.44

Addressing the comprehension disconnect will involve a commitment to think differently by boards, presidents, and faculty. As the world grows ever more dynamic, hypercompetitive, and disruptive, thinking differently is perhaps the most critical skill to help the humanities remain relevant in the 21st century.

Technological advancements will present new forms of disruption, challenge old assumptions, and demand creative solutions. Innovations in artificial intelligence, drones, robotics, self-driving automobiles, and other technology will continue to disrupt many industries. To respond to such disruption, the humanities will be called upon to address new questions, issues, and problems associated with the 21st century workforce. As The New York Times editorialist Nicholas Kristof informed readers,

Our world is enriched when coders and marketers dazzle us with smartphones and tablets, but, by themselves, they are just slabs. It is the music, essays, entertainment and provocations that they access, spawned by the humanities that animate them—and us. So, yes, the humanities are still relevant in the 21st century.45

Researcher Vivek Wadhwa echoed similar sentiment and observed that “the key to good design is a combination of empathy and knowledge of the arts and humanities.”46 Teaching artists hard skills such as math remains far easier than teaching engineers how to be creative. “Tackling today’s biggest social and technological challenges requires the ability to think critically about their human context, which is something that humanities graduates happen to be best trained to do.”47 The research is overwhelmingly clear that

employers want college graduates with already developed professional skills, and they won’t necessarily take chances on candidates who cannot exhibit an aptitude for critical thinking, communication, and writing skills. Bridging the skill gap can occur long before students graduate and begin their job search. Institutions can invest in their graduates’ futures by encouraging them to learn and demonstrate these vital professional skills in an academic setting prior to graduation.48

If higher education institutions can address the comprehension disconnect, the humanities majors will indeed remain relevant to the 21st century. Once boards, presidents, faculty, and other stakeholders address the comprehension disconnect, they can turn their attention toward the translation disconnect.