Science. Technology. Engineering. Math. In our growing and ever-changing world, it seems that schools are pushing these same topics further and further into the brains of students. The number of times I have heard teachers and administrators reiterate to students that STEM careers are on the rise is astounding; they tell us almost daily that many colleges are searching for students interested in pursuing the STEM field.

However, this push by schools diminishes the fact that humanities are just as important to a student as STEM. The humanities—including art, literature, philosophy, politics, history, music, religion, and language—are often seen as inferior to science, technology, engineering, and math, yet they are equally relevant to a young person’s intellectual development.

While I am not saying that one field is better or more successful than the other, I want to reiterate that students need to have more of an emphasis on the whole curriculum—including humanities along with STEM—in order to be able to build all the necessary skills for a professional field.

A report by the Committee on the Humanities and the Social Sciences states that the “humanities also better prepare students for the modern workforce. Employers demand workers who can communicate through writing and speech, and ‘think critically about a range of sources of information.”

Thus, even in a world where technology advances seemingly daily, students still need the skills that the humanities build to prosper in whatever future endeavor they choose. Creativity, critical thinking skills, proficiency in writing, the ability to connect and effectively communicate with others, among other things, fundamentally improve one’s chances to secure a job. If a student focuses solely on STEM classes because schools encourage it and do not fully develop the aforementioned skills, they could lose their edge against other candidates in their future competition for employment.

Additionally, humanities classes, particularly the arts and music, give students a much-needed mental break from rigorous academic studies. Recent education studies show that “students who cultivate their artistic talents are psychologically healthier and better able to cope with strenuous academic requirements than those who have no such opportunities”.

Even though some students lovingly consider the arts as “blow-off” classes, those classes inspire kids to use the creative side of their brains, which can allow them to soothe the mental sores that academic courses cause and relax. Often, students become engulfed in work from their required core classes, and some students feel the pressure to incorporate more STEM into their schedule and take additional science, technology, engineering, or math electives. With so many stress-inducing classes, a humanities course can lighten a workload and improve one’s mental health.

Without the humanities, we would not be able to perceive and appreciate the beauty in our world around us. Art, history, music, literature, philosophy, and language all display the important work of humans in the past, and it opens our eyes to the artistry they created. While STEM classes are extremely beneficial in the sense that they help us understand why things happen and how they happen, humanities allow us to view beauty. Paintings, recorded music, written works, and many other types of products of humanities studies breed creativity in the minds of the viewer and can inspire students to critically interpret the world around them. Awe-inspiring works can push students to strive to someday create their own work that may have a profound effect on the viewer.

Many dismiss the need for humanities courses for one reason: STEM careers dominate our world today, and the demand for them will only continue to grow. While this may be true, it should not force school administrators to completely gloss over the necessity of humanities for all students. Majors and jobs that fall under the category of humanities still exist and thrive, even in our STEM-driven world of advancement. Careers for writers, artists, historians, and musicians will always need to be filled, no matter how much state-of-the-art technology we might create in the future.

After all, the humanities teach us about how to understand ourselves, and there will always be a need for that.