Band 6+: •Rising university fees and scarce employment prospects for graduates have led some people to say that universities should not teach arts subjects, like philosophy and history, and only offer practical degree courses that maximise chances of employment. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The increase of university tuition fees and limited employment prospects, particularly for arts subjects graduates have led to the notion that universities should focus more on practical subjects. While this idea might be compelling because the employment market for practical job is wider, I, personally believe students should still have to learn arts, including philosophy and history with some plausible reasons.

The major reason why arts subjects should still be taught in a higher education might be the subject itself having its distinctive purpose as a form of entertainment. The consideration of having an expert in art subjects may lead to the specialized job that would still need experts’ advice and views. If there are no longer degrees and courses focused on these areas, the art itself will lose its touch, creating the loss of beauty in life. Additionally, studying arts subjects is often correlated with work-life balance and less stress in the workforce. For instance, oftentimes artists have their own schedule, allowing them to work in the best state of themselves, ranging from curating ideas and executing it into piece of art. This way of life, would then contributing to more and more happier people not only for the artists itself but also for people who enjoy arts as their coping mechanism from real life.

On the other hand, more and more students are considering taking practical courses such as IT as the job market nowadays offers numerous positions to this area. In many cases, the courses taught in universities would also help students to get deeper and hands-on practice which will be needed in workforce. Moreover, some people would argue that practical courses require more research and practice for the courses are often associated with our day-to-day basic needs.

Taking everything into account, it is sensible to conclude that while practical degrees would offer higher chances of employment, it seems to me that arts courses ranging from philosophy and history would still be crucial to improve the beauty of life particularly as a form of entertainment and educational purposes. This is as long as students studying art master in their own field offer a specialized market to its own target.