The value-add to taxpayers is much less concrete in the humanities. My argument was that research in the humanities is essentially done for the sake of doing re

The value-add to taxpayers is much less concrete in the humanities. My argument was that research in the humanities is essentially done for the sake of doing research: to learn more about the world and the people in it. It is hard to see definite, monetary benefits, which is one of the reason arts/music/creative writing programs are being slashed cut in favor of match/science in primary education in the US. The benefit of studying the humanities is one of personal edification. Students who study art or music in school are likely to be more disciplined and score better on standardized tests than their non-musician/artist colleagues. Not to mention, young students who have a strong background in the humanities are often happier with their quality of life (I know that music was the highlight of my day/week when I was in school). A patronage program would be great for this type of degree...if any VCs out there want a personal music theorist I'd be happy to apply! My argument is that it is traditionally universities which have been the patrons of these degrees. This goes back at least to the earliest universities in Europe, where students learned the seven liberal arts: grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The idea of the university was not to churn out good economic workers (as it tends to be today) but to produce well-rounded human beings. We in the humanities still think this is a worthy goal (and consequently, tend to make much less than our STEM counterparts).