In this STEM obsessed world, is it still okay to major in history? For many universities the answer is no.

As students become more concerned with paying off student loans and finding a high paying jobs after graduation, many no longer believe that studying history is a viable option. A couple of universities have even dropped their history programs entirely. But shockingly, the past might be more popular than ever.

From the musical Hamilton to numerous podcasts, history still continues to fascinate the public. The problem with history might not be that no one wants to study it, but that emphasis of the professors no longer matches the enthusiasm of the students.

In universities across the country, the study of history has moved from studying macro subjects to micro topics.Where once professors studied and taught about great wars and leaders, instead the discipline has moved to studying such minor niches as transgender people in history, which was the leading article on the American Historical Association website a couple of months ago.

There is nothing wrong with studying what you are passionate about as a historian, but it becomes a problem when professors passion takes over the class and students are no longer getting a well-rounded historical education. A recently released survey shows that only 19% of Americans under the age of 45 could pass a citizen test and 12% thought President Dwight D. Eisenhower served in the Civil War and not World War II.

There is also the problem of portraying American history in a negative light. From books like, Lies My Teacher Told Me to others, the history of the United States is mostly portrayed to young students as a source of shame. No longer are we “proud to be American,” but instead are cowed into believing that we owe the world an apology for grievances committed decades, or perhaps centuries ago.

While the United States is far from perfect, the purpose of history is to learn from the mistakes made by previous generations, but not to necessarily dwell on them. That is why a proper education in history is critical to the future of the country, but if more and more universities cut funding to these programs the more uneducated future generations will be about the world.