# Educator Grapples With Teaching Humanities as Pressures Mount

An educator and writer at EdSurge confronts a central tension in modern schooling: how to keep humanities instruction alive when economic and policy pressures systematically narrow curriculum toward STEM and career readiness.

The piece captures a authentic frustration many teachers experience. Schools across the country have shifted resources toward math, science, and coding in recent years, responding to labor market demands and standardized testing regimes that prioritize measurable skills. Meanwhile, literature, history, philosophy, and arts instruction face budget cuts and reduced classroom time.

The author voices what countless humanities teachers know: these subjects teach critical thinking, empathy, and the ability to understand human complexity. Yet districts increasingly frame them as luxuries rather than necessities. When state funding ties test scores to specific subjects, and when colleges emphasize technical skills, humanities classes shrink. Teachers face pressure to justify their work in economic terms.

This reflects a broader national pattern. The National Center for Education Statistics documents declining enrollments in foreign language and social studies courses at the high school level over the past decade. Meanwhile, computer science courses have expanded dramatically, particularly in well-funded districts.

The emotional core of the piece is real: educators genuinely fear that generations of students will graduate without sustained exposure to literature, history, or philosophical inquiry. They worry that teaching students to pass tests will not teach them to think deeply or understand themselves and others.

Yet the piece also hints at the complexity. Humanities teachers increasingly find creative ways to prove their value. Some integrate digital literacy into literature courses. Others connect history to current events and social justice. The challenge is sustaining these efforts when resources are limited and external pressure constant.

The title itself is urgent and poetic: humanities education is not just changing, it is disappearing from many schools. For educators committed to this work, the question is not whether to teach