By Shaifali Agrawal:
The child within is being nurtured now and the artistic spirit is being given a serious thought. Colleges specific for Fashion Designing, Animation, Language Proficiency are increasingly becoming popular. Humanities courses like Journalism, English, History, Music, Philosophy, and Psychology are being included in the curriculum of the best universities across the world. Students today don’t shy away from accepting their love for painting and inquisitiveness to learn the details of art. Parents proudly convey the news of their sons and daughters getting admission in the courses of their choice (even if that choice is not B.Tech or MBBS)
Can you see a paradigm shift in the education system? And it must be noted that this is the case with India as well as the world. The boundaries of Humanities are porous and ever expanding, guaranteeing endless intellectual excitement. A number of career options, like Film-Making, Publishing, Teaching, Journalism, Advertising, Digital Animation and Design, available after pursuing a degree in Humanities makes the change a little easier to accept by the parents. Students are now proud of the fact that they are into the arts.
Why are so many students taking up Humanities? Most Engineering graduates in our country are reported to be unemployed even years after their graduation. IIM pass-outs accept their disgruntled state after a few months in the most sought-after jobs. The Humanities discipline talks about everyday issues in a systematic and rigorous way. History, Language, Culture, Philosophy and Literature are included in its purview. It’s a fact that you are more socially aware if you are a graduate in Humanities. The reason why St. Xavier’s College of Mumbai got three times the number of application forms for Humanities this time than the previous year is not that hard to understand. In addition to this, St. Stephens College asked Delhi University to increase the seats for Philosophy.
The best part is that the Government is in support of this. The talk of the town is the concept of a ‘meta college‘ designed by Delhi University’s ‘Cluster Innovation Centre’ (CIC) in which a student selected through an entrance test and interview can choose any of the five streams: Journalism, Art & Design, Historical Tourism, Counselling or Education. The IIM’s are considering making the CAT exam more inclusive to admit excellent students from the Humanities stream clearly depicts how the Arts is reaching a new level in educational system.
Arts and Humanities are undoubtedly soaring high, paving for the students a professional way to vent their creative abilities, resulting in them excelling at their jobs and leaving them happy and satisfied.