To all of you science majors out there, to those of you who are majoring in STEM because you fear you won't get a job, consider the case for a minor in the liberal arts, or perhaps a double major.
A science major won't give you the knowledge that comes with the liberal arts. The liberal arts help make us more empathetic to those around us, and they help open up realms of human emotion that biology or chemistry cannot easily explain.
We learn what it means to be human and what it means to live the good life. We learn about human emotion and how our actions affect others for better or worse. We learn to appreciate the past, revel in the present, and look forward to the future.
We learn how to open a book, read it, internalize it, and apply its teachings to our everyday lives. We learn the meaning of meaning. Essentially, we grow our knowledge and compassion for not only ourselves but for others.
A science major doesn't quite apply the same teachings as the humanities. Sure, you'll be equipped with the skills necessary to secure a good job that'll afford you comfortable living (what kind of millennial doesn't want to live comfortably?), but will you be equipped with the knowledge of how to work your way through day-to-day interactions with coworkers, bosses, and yourself? Maybe you know how to separate two molecules from each other, but do you know how to live without worries?
The humanities make us citizens of the ever-changing times. In order to understand what it may mean to be human, to have an idea of what your life means in the greater scheme of things, to get a clue about how we can treat others like they also have a place in this universe, consider reading a book.
Science is concrete, but human comprehension is abstract; liberal arts attempts to explain that which can be considered concrete. The rest is up for interpretation--something not always available in science as it is in English or history or anthropology.
Of course, liberal arts isn't for everyone...but just think about the difference a minor can make. Think about how much more you'll be able to know--and what you don't currently know you can seek to know. I may be a Computer Science major, but I'm ready to include in my major what the humanities has to offer. Are you?