This is largely due to the cultural shift toward ‘STEM supremacy and the suspicious disdain STEM students have for the humanities. One origin for this viewpoint may be the right-wing belief that the only purpose of education is to produce an employable workforce. While employability is a major part of choosing to study a degree, it should not be the be-all and end-all. Those who hold that view tend to forget the enormity of the contribution higher education brings to society other than the employability benefits.
STEM is vital for sustaining and improving our society and it is true to say that it offers a wealth of job opportunities. However, it is short-sighted to view the humanities as inferior to STEM subjects simply because they may not directly lead to a job. The humanities provide crucial skills and knowledge that are just as essential to our society's well-being as STEM subjects. Not only do humanities teach vital critical thinking and problem-solving skills (often deemed invaluable by employers), but they also provide a deeper understanding of human nature, culture, and society. This understanding is essential in shaping public policy, diplomacy, and creating a building a society worth fighting for. STEM students often need to be reminded that STEM is not separate from society but is deeply intertwined with it.
The workload for a humanities is equally as demanding and the concepts equally difficult to understand
From my experience as a Maths student, I have been surprised at the number of STEM students I know who are entirely convinced that their degree is more difficult, more stressful and more useful than any other. This is easily disproved by having a simple conversation with any humanities student and realising the workload is equally as demanding and the concepts equally difficult to understand. I have also experienced a large level of disgust from humanities students when I tell them I study Maths. This is understandable as Mathematics is misunderstood as impossible to understand and it requires some magic gift. In reality, Mathematics is elegant in its simplicity and remarkable in its applications.
This raises a larger point about the relationships between students across all degrees. The reality is that students are too focused on the confines of their own subject to look around and appreciate the vast range of knowledge accumulated across the University. University is about broadening your horizons and seeking to expand your circle of competence because the reality is that there are more commonalities between STEM and the humanities than there are differences. We all have the same fundamental purpose and that is to attempt to make sense of the world we live in. So let us quit the superiority and individuality complexes and embrace that every discipline has something to contribute to the ultimate quest of trying to make sense of it all.