Letter

In response to In the face of disinformation and democratic decay, humanities graduates are more important than ever

Graduates not 'job-ready' without the humanities

University graduates will never be ready for any jobs without a knowledge of history and the skills to analyse critically the social contexts in which they work.

Any deficits in these regards will seriously impact their performance, increasingly so as they assume leadership roles in later life.

Humanities-based contextual studies should be required subjects in every professional degree course in Australia. Taught well, they will enable graduates to contribute more effectively to the improvement of their organisations and the well-being of our democracy.

Certainly this has been my experience after four decades of teaching courses in the history and social impact of their professions to engineering, medical, and management students at Harvard, Edinburgh University, Imperial College, and the University of New South Wales.

Likewise, humanities students in Australia could also do with a more broad-based curriculum that increased their own understanding of the contributions of science, technology, and business to the shaping of culture and society.

— Gary Werskey from Blackheath