Why the Humanities Matter in this Age of Digital Transformation

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For years, the humanities have been portrayed as increasingly irrelevant in a culture focused on STEM education and narrow forms of career training. Yet recent headlines suggest a striking reversal. A 2026 Business Insider article, “Revenge of the English Majors,” argues that the rise of artificial intelligence has only increased demand for the very abilities cultivated in liberal arts classrooms. Likewise, in “The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed,” The Atlantic columnist Ian Bogost observes that small liberal arts colleges, once dismissed as impractical or outdated, are proving their resilience at a moment when rapid technological change is forcing students, employers, and educators to reconsider the value of deeply human skills.  As an English professor, I find these developments to offer an important reminder: A strong liberal arts education prepares students not only for their first job, but also for a lifetime of thoughtful engagement with a world defined by constant change and new challenges.  Rooted in a long intellectual tradition, disciplines such as literature, history, and philosophy teach students how to analyze complexity, communicate persuasively, and wrestle with difficult ethical questions—skills that remain essential in any profession or community.

As advances in artificial intelligence, automation, and data analytics continue to reshape the modern workplace, employers are placing increasing value on distinctly human skills that technology alone cannot replicate. Problem-solving, adaptability, collaboration, and clear communication are crucial workplace skills, particularly in environments defined by rapid change and constant innovation. While generative AI tools are capable of identifying patterns, synthesizing information, and generating plausible predictions, their usefulness very much depends on human judgment, creativity, ethical reasoning, and the ability to interpret context. A liberal arts education helps students cultivate these capacities by teaching them how to analyze complex problems, consider multiple perspectives, communicate effectively with diverse audiences, and adapt thoughtfully to new challenges. As technological advancement continues to transform the workplace, these human-centered skills become even more vital. They prepare graduates not only to use evolving technologies effectively, but also to bring discernment, ethical judgment, and critical engagement to the ways those technologies are understood, evaluated, and applied.

One of the defining challenges of today’s economy is that many of our students’ future careers may not yet exist, shaped as they will be by emerging technologies, shifting global conditions, and new forms of work we are only beginning to imagine. In this context, a liberal arts education offers a distinct advantage by preparing students not for a single fixed trajectory, but for adaptability across new and evolving areas of work. Because liberal arts learning is inherently interdisciplinary, students are encouraged to draw connections between domains—linking, for example, data with narrative, technology with ethics, or scientific inquiry with social impact. This kind of intellectual flexibility equips graduates to carry their skills across fields and professions and to approach unfamiliar problems with confidence and curiosity. Whether entering fields such as technology, healthcare, public policy, business, or education, liberal arts graduates are often well positioned for leadership roles precisely because they can synthesize diverse forms of knowledge, communicate across differences, and make thoughtful decisions in situations where there is rarely a single clear answer.  

Rockhurst University’s English curriculum is built around a central commitment to integration—often expressed as learning “how to live.” Grounded in the liberal arts and humanities, it invites students to connect intellectual inquiry, ethical reflection, imagination, and lived experience. This integrative approach is evident across courses such as The Literature of Medicine and Wellness, which emphasizes empathy; Shakespeare Seminar, which explores leadership and discernment; and Writing for the Environment and The Empire Writes Back: Postcolonialism and Literature, which engage questions of globalization and responsibility. Our emphasis on the practical use of the imagination reflects a sustained commitment to forming students who are prepared for thoughtful action in the world.

Reflection and discernment—core values of the Jesuit tradition—are embedded throughout our curriculum and advising practices, reflecting the distinctive learning environment of a small liberal arts university. Rather than listening passively in large lecture halls, our English majors engage closely with professors in classrooms where discussion, reflective writing, and sustained intellectual exchange are central to the learning experience. These practices are reinforced in courses such as Reading and Writing Fiction and The Teaching of Writing, where collaboration and iterative drafting allow students to develop their thinking in conversation with peers and professors. Across the curriculum, our approaches emphasize active learning and student-centered teaching. In advising, faculty introduce students to vocational narrative as a framework for reflecting on where they have been and where they are going, and for connecting their academic work to questions of purpose and calling beyond graduation. Even in professionally oriented courses such as Business Writing—where the course has been restructured to invite students to engage critically with artificial intelligence—this emphasis on reflection and discernment ensures that technical skill is paired with ethical awareness and judgment. In this way, the department supports students not only in academic success, but also in discerning meaningful and responsible paths beyond the university, enacting the Jesuit ideal of contemplation in action.
 

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In the current context, where pre-professional majors are often seen as the expected pathway for college students, English is especially well suited as a double major. Jesuit education is grounded in a complementary “both/and” approach rather than a dualistic “either/or” mentality. A Rockhurst education thus emphasizes the integration of different forms of learning rather than a choice between them, so that rather than treating practical training and humanistic study as competing alternatives, this approach highlights how studying English can accompany studies in a wide range of other fields. Students who combine an English major with majors in the sciences, business, or pre-professional programs often bring a distinct advantage: strong communication, interpretive, and analytical skills that enhance specialized knowledge. For example, English majors applying to medical school routinely score higher than 75 to 80 percent of all test-takers on the MCAT, due in part to their preparation for its critical reading and reasoning sections. More broadly, STEM students who can cultivate the skills of an English major will emerge particularly well prepared for their future endeavors. In this sense, a double major in English reflects the broader strength of a Jesuit liberal arts education: the ability to form students who are not only prepared for specific careers, but also equipped to think critically, communicate effectively, and adapt thoughtfully across a wide range of professional and civic contexts.

Finally, it is important to recognize that higher education itself is increasingly shaped by pressures that can undermine its aims. The prevalence of AI-enabled academic dishonesty, the expansion of online and automated instruction, and the anonymity and alienation that can accompany large-scale lecture environments all point toward a broader shift in which education risks becoming more transactional than formative. In such a context, students can find themselves distanced from the very practices—dialogue, reflection, sustained inquiry—that make learning transformative. At the same time, these developments remind us that technological innovation is never value-neutral, carrying social and environmental consequences that require careful ethical discernment. It is precisely here that the value of a robust liberal arts education becomes most clear. To study the humanities in a setting like Rockhurst is not only to choose a major, but to choose an educational environment committed to the values of sustained engagement over rapid consumption, formation over automation, and intellectual engagement over passivity. In a moment when higher education is itself under pressure to become more efficient and less personal, the study of English and the liberal arts stands as a deliberate affirmation that careful thinking, human connection, and ethical reflection remain essential to both professional and personal life.
 

John Kerrigan, Ph.D., professor and chair of English at Rockhurst University