There are two types of jobs in the world: jobs that assign algorithmic tasks and jobs that assign heuristic tasks. Algorithmic tasks require reading instructions or using fairly strict guidelines, which clearly lay out how to complete the task. Heuristic tasks, such as creating apps, do not have specific instructions, but rather require creativity along with trial and error. Both of these types of tasks require different kinds of training and development.
More and more frequently, observers of the U.S. education system are pushing for a down-to-earth, skills based approach to higher education. The trend is for the experts to recommend acquiring the “skills that will make you succeed in today’s global market.” What is implied in this statement is that the focus needs to shift toward the production of more algorithmic workers, albeit a different kind from what we used to consider algorithmic (cashiers, mechanics, etc.) This shift is reflected in the widely prevalent and condescending attitude people both at the University and elsewhere express about the humanities, which they see as the easy way through college.
I would argue, however, that the humanities are equally as important as — if not more important than — the pre-professional majors.
Many of the skills learned in pre-professional majors are technical in nature; they teach specific skills, strategies or facts. These skills can be considered algorithmic because the facts and processes that are being taught, while they do vary slightly, can be considered similar enough each time to be algorithmic.
By contrast, the humanities often focus on a style that involves critical thinking. These skills can be called heuristic because each piece of literature or each event in history is unique and has to be analyzed in a unique way. Different questions apply to different situations, and coming up with the right questions requires those same critical thinking skills that are called for in heuristic tasks.
With the development of technology, computers continue to take over algorithmic jobs. The same process, however, applies to heuristic jobs, in a process where they are first converted into algorithmic jobs and then subsequently taken over by technological advancements. Yesterday’s travel agents have become today’s Expedia.com; tollbooth operators are quickly being replaced by automated systems, like E-Z Pass; tomorrow it could be jobs previously thought safe that become susceptible to advances engineered by big data and computers that can perform increasingly sophisticated tasks.
For example, with regard to the medical profession, through the analysis of big data computers could take in the input of symptoms and then provide the best course of treatment, drastically reducing the number of physicians required to treat the same number of people. When people call pre-professional majors such as commerce, engineering and pre-medicine the practical majors, they fail to take these facts into account. Suddenly, their skills could be made obsolete, whereas students who focused on heuristic skills in college can rapidly change and adjust because of the nature of their education.
This is already happening in the realms of finance and accounting, where large teams of analysts and accountants that were hired to do financial analysis are being replaced by a few people who simply put in the raw data and use algorithms that do the analysis for them. While not all professions are at risk of being outsourced to technology — as there will always be a need for journalists, entrepreneurs, etc. — these factors need to be taken into account.
Additionally, it is much harder to self-teach heuristic skills than algorithmic ones, especially with the advent of online courses and online resources in general. The power of the individual to acquire pure information has never been greater, which means algorithmic skills are theoretically only a click away, while heuristic skills take longer periods of time to develop and master.
While I am not condemning those who do choose the pre-professional path, I urge them to consider other options available and to ask themselves the following question: do I want to learn about things, or do I want to learn how to think?
Sawan Patel is a Viewpoint Writer.
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