Why Pursue an Online Degree in Humanities?

You're interested in the broader realm of human experience. You're interested in everything that makes up the interaction of people from specific philosophical quandaries to political science and the complexities of art and history. You recognize the importance of the mathematicians and scientists, but you'd rather learn about the classic philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Sophocles or about the course of history. You strive for a greater understanding of the human struggle, and you want to help people learn from, process and document that experience.

If this sounds like you, an online degree in humanities may pique your interest. Professionals in humanities may fit into a broad range of career paths with a specialized education. However, all humanities professionals share common ground by dedicating their research, professional lives and time to solving the mysteries of society and the interaction of people.

A glimpse into the realm of humanities

Earning a certification in humanities could lead to a wide range of career paths that you can pursue. Studying this field may help prepare you to pursue a career as a historian, a sociologist, a political scientist, a school teacher and much more. Additionally, studying the expansive world of humanities provides you with the opportunity to learn about an incredible amount of subjects and choose a specialization you may want to focus on further down the line. Humanities students may come in contact with professional historians, philosophers, writers, poets, politicians, sociologists and much more.

While more focused learning pursuits may allow students to pursue a narrowed profession, humanities students could take learning from several different realms of study to focus on a bigger picture. Many humanities fields are innately connected. History is influenced by language, philosophy and culture. Culture is influenced by politics, art and societal constructs. Everything is interconnected. It's the job of a humanities professional to dissect this great merger of people's ideas to decipher the complex code behind human behavior.

Possible salaries for a career in fine arts

Potential pay wages for humanities students are as various as the professional pursuits they aim for. While a sociologist may potential earn a certain figure, a historian may earn something much different. Humanities professionals may have a broad range of choices and could pursue jobs based on likability, content, area and much more other than pay wage. Nonetheless, consider the following careers, with statistics compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2012.

  • Historian: 2012 Median annual salary of $52,480 (6 percent projected growth through 2022)[i]
  • Postsecondary teacher: 2012 Median annual salary of $68,970 (19 percent projected growth through 2022)[ii]
  • Sociologist: 2012 Median annual salary of $74,960 (15 percent projected growth through 2022)[iii]

Additional skills required for a career in humanities

While humanities professionals could pursue one of a number of career paths, the common thread is the focus on people. Those who study humanities center their academic careers on learning about people. As such, it can be a tremendously vague topic that requires an ability to think of concepts on a very large scale. Thinking outside the box about the relationships between language, art, philosophy sociology and others may help humanities students better understand the broad subject matter.


[i] bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/historians.htm | [ii] bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/postsecondary-teachers.htm | [iii] bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/sociologists.htm