Anna Potoczny Having gone through the struggle of completing our university applications at some point in our lives, most of us have probably already gotten used to the fact that we’re often encouraged to think about our life choices in terms of investments. Those of us who have ever expressed an interest in an education or a career in the arts or humanities know it perhaps all too well: if you’re not planning to become a lawyer, you’d better be prepared for the awkward task of explaining to your family members what your literature degree will contribute to the society and, most importantly – to your future opportunities and finances. The latter question is by no means unfounded. It’s enough to live a few years as a high school student who’s not that much into STEM to learn about the quite unfavourable perception of arts and humanities, often expressed through some stale and tasteless unemployment jokes. And the world we enter afterwards only strengthens the anxieties that first appeared at some point during our (possibly) rather frail teenage years. I’ll take the liberty to guess that few of us are surprised to hear about the 50% funding cut awaiting British higher education art programmes, justified with the necessity to redirect the funds towards more pressing aims, such as the improvement of nursing or computing. The reasons behind this decision are undeniably solid. The last year or so has surely made us hyper-aware of the crucial role of a well-functioning, staffed public healthcare
system. The absolutely central role of the digital world nowadays makes IT specialists indispensable. As a person who’s always derived moderate to low satisfaction from performing professional tasks that an average person would deem
