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If we notice, we find that arts and humanities programs have been scrapped in most of the American universities. The spectre of the market has spurred the drastic cut on departments such as French, American, German and Russian studies as well as philosophy, theatre arts, European and Italian literature.

Our country is no exception as we find similar trends in other nations that are strong in higher education including Australia, Canada, France and New Zealand. In the UK, the recent education budget has raised concerns over the fate of humanities. Budget was announced in October by George Osborne, the chancellor.

He put forth a grim picture saying that though there will be essential focus on research in keeping with the country’s image of being the world leader in this field, there will be a forty percent decline in the spending on higher education over the next four years.

In America, as with other parts of the world, the fate of art and humanities hangs in balance. In order to ensure that these disciplines survive the economical downturn, it is necessary for those who work with sciences to stand up for humanities. Professional scientists must acknowledge and fight for the cause of humanities that plays a crucial role in education.

Crucial role is played by humanities in training people and educating them to write clearly after critical thinking and analysis. Humanities and art help broaden thinking, aids with fostering communication and making connections. In the past couple of decades, a pernicious trend has crept into universities forcing them to scrap humanities and arts.

Market forces were allowed to influence educational decisions as these forces are what determine our economy. Higher education is more a business today and any discipline or subject that does not add dollars to the kitty is unanimously scraped. A large number of institutions have mushroomed all over the country further driving this trend. This is no surprise as most of these institutions are headed by administrators chosen from the field of politics and business.

There is a strong, misguided notion that all parts of the university education must essentially make profit for the institution. However this is not entirely true. Recent studies conducted by various universities including the University of California, it is evident that humanities and arts can actually make profit. All said and done, it is criminal to base all academic judgments and decisions based on profit and loss.

Programs that are supported, expanded and offered are dictated essentially by the damaging student choice trend. Market forces dictate education trends. The past couple of years have shown that market forces are indeed fragile and fickle and cannot be relied upon. They can be driven by frenzy and can be manipulated to a great extent.

Choice of subjects should not always be left to students as most are not in a position to make the right judgment. They tend to base their choices on the current trends dictated by the job market. The need of the hour is therefore to focus on offering a well structured, prescribed curriculum that ensures overall development.