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A new study shows that liberal arts college grads are doing fine and seeing economic mobility -- and that much of what is said about graduates of these programs is not backed by evidence.

Here's why the liberal arts will rule the digital world.

The changing economy has created a greater need for liberal arts skills, according to study.

"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."

"Becoming versed in the intricacies of a complex thing is itself a worthwhile skill."

"...students who want to commune with Kant and Keats shouldn’t be made to feel that they’re indulgent dilettantes throwing away all hope of a lucrative livelihood. They’re making a commitment to a major that has endured because its fruits are enduring."

"An emphasis on the humanities in medical school trains future doctors to become proficient in the social and cultural context of health care."

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study stresses the need for integrating STEM disciplines with arts and humanities.

"...the arts, sciences and humanities are all 'branches from the same tree.' They are mutually reinforcing. For that reason, we favor broad educational experiences that integrate the STEM disciplines with the arts and humanities, drawing on and fortifying the connections between them."

Check out blog posts written by Zoe Forest, a freshman from El Segundo, California, and the Townsend Center’s undergraduate humanities writer. She is spending Spring 2018 attending talks and panels, interviewing faculty and grad students, and generally soaking up the wealth of humanities programming at the Townsend Center and across campus. Throughout the process, she writes about what she has learned.

"All around the country, forward-leaning professors are breathing digital life into the ancient practice of interpreting art and culture."

"Bachelor’s-degree graduates in engineering and the sciences earn roughly $10,000 to $30,000 more, but humanities majors catch up over time — and humanities majors more effectively close the pay gap between younger and older workers."

"The future of our democracy depends on a citizenry that deeply understands its past; that communicates clearly and effectively; that is able to read texts with care and discernment so that fact can be sorted from fiction; that understands ethics and the underpinnings of logic and what is at stake in the leading of an ethical life; that understands how to frame a clear and compelling argument based in rigorously produced research; that embraces the rich mosaic of difference in all its forms and understands that our differences are what make us great; that is multilingual and values di

"Those who create the science and technology that’s flooding our lives are not necessarily the best people to decide how their creations should be used...Rare are the prizes that reward pioneers in the humanities. But we need such people as much as tech wizards, especially when the world we live in becomes so hi-tech that it’s practically incomprehensible to most people."

"Without a proper education in the humanities, where we learn how to understand people we may never meet, how to evaluate arguments and charged rhetoric, and imagine differing scenarios from those we see every day, we may be doomed to the fate of many a failed democracy before us."

Through studying the humanities, one has the opportunity to get to know oneself and others better, the opportunity to become better able to understand and grapple with complex moral issues, the complexities and intricacies of humanity.

"Humanities and, more generally, liberal arts majors often end up with higher lifetime earnings than specifically trained employees — according to field experts and recent research — thanks to their well-rounded background and academic foundation."

"Regardless of major — from those in the humanities, such as literature, art, music, philosophy and religion, to social sciences such as psychology — broadly educated students historically succeed in careers across the workforce spectrum"

"Of course, we need technical experts...but we also need people who grasp the whys and hows of human behavior."
"although many fields of study tell their practitioners to empathize, only literature offers practice in doing it."
"the deep cultural knowledge businesses need comes not from numbers-driven market research but from a humanities-driven study of texts, languages, and people.”