By: Joshua M. Rojo

HUMSS stands for Humanities and Social Sciences. It is one of the strands offered to Senior High students. This strand is for learners who aim to take up journalism, communication arts, liberal arts, education, and other social science-related courses in college. The HUMSS strand revolves around improving a student’s reading, writing, and speaking skills because if you haven’t noticed yet, people who choose this strand are aspiring to become members of the society who will be be dealing with a lot of people.

What College Courses are Available to Me if I’m Taking HUMMS?

HUMSS or The Humanities and Social Sciences strand is one of the academic tracks of senior high school in the Philippines. This strand focuses on oral communication, media and information, and enhancing your reading and writing skills. There is a lot of research and presentation involved in this strand too. Careers that usually stem from HUMMS include journalists, teachers, lawyers, writers, psychologists and even priests! If you are in the HUMSS senior high strand, here are some of the courses that you can end up taking in college:

Communication Arts

Communication Arts students focus on all facets of communication from reading to writing and speaking as well as listening, from written works to conversations and projected media. If this is something that interests you, careers that result from finishing this course are widespread ranging from broadcasting to public relations, graphic design, writing, marketing, advertising and so on…

History, Philosophy or Literature

Like Communication Arts, these three courses fall under the Liberal Arts category. Whether you be interested in the study of historical events, philosophical viewpoints and arguments, or literature and humanities, these courses all focus on reading, schools of thought, analysis and interpretation. If these are topics you enjoy, you can easily excel in a Bachelor of Arts degree in any one of these courses.

Education

Whether it be for elementary or secondary education, if teaching is your passion and the career you aspire to have, then you have made a good move in choosing the HUMSS senior high strand. This college course allows you to learn strategies to help students learn more efficiently and effectively, while excelling in the classroom.

Journalism or Creative Writing

What’s the difference between the two? Journalism is grounded heavily on facts and current events. If you like reading, writing and watching the news and being the first person to report an event or piece of information to your friends and family, journalism might just be the right course for you. On the other hand, creative writing is less grounded on facts and leans more toward fiction and art, stemming from your imagination. If you have a wild and free imagination that can be easily translated onto paper, creative writing might be more on your alleyway.

Social Studies and Political Science

Social Studies is the study of human beings, be it in the form of anthropology, archaeology, law, psychology, politics or sociology. Political Science on the other hand (you guessed it) is the science of politics and understanding it. Careers you can get out of these course branches include being a politician, lawyer, legislative assistant, charity officer, social worker, psychologist, and the list goes on…

These are just a few examples of the doors that open for you when you take the Humanities and Social Sciences strand of the K12 track. It is best to start taking note of what you enjoy doing and what drives you, as well as keeping an open mind and researching your options to enable you to choose the right college degree that may one day lead you to the career of a lifetime.

**Possible Careers/ Jobs related to HUMSS**
The HUMSS strand offers more opportunities than other people think. Contrary to popular belief, not every HUMSS student dreams to become a politician. And if you’re sitting there thinking HUMSS students will get nowhere, this list of suggested and possible jobs will prove you so wrong.

**Teacher**
**Lawyer**
**Psychologist**
**Author / Editor**
**Politician**
**Criminologist**
**Journalist**
**Criminologist**
**Police**
**New Anchor**
**Archaeologist**
**College Professor**
**Consultant**
**Cultural Anthropologist**
**Editor/Writer**
**Geologist**
**Historian**
**Linguistic Anthropologist**
**Museum Curator**
**Park Interpreter**
**Physical Anthropologist**
**Oceanographer**
**Statistician**
**Travel agent/guide**
**Weather Forecaster**
**Economist**
**Political Scientist**
Sociologist

HUMSS =True Blue Millennial!

What are the benefits in being a HUMSS student?

There are some benefits if you will take the Humss strand such as;

1. You will be globally competent

*You will learn about ideas and beliefs that have guided human beings and shaped civilizations for thousands of years, and you will be able o r deal with different kinds of people in the 21st century- one of the in demand skills in the world.

2. You will be college ready

*It strengths your logical reasoning and critical thinking which are needed skills once you are directed towards the development of skills needed for college and for the real world.

3. You will learn to communicate effectively

*Your communication skills will be enhanced, which is needed in all areas of your life, this is one of the determinants of a person success.

4. It is people centered

*It deal with scientific study og human society and social relationship. It focuses on disciplines that study human culture.

5. You will be in demand

*HUMSS students are in demand for jobs as simple as taking minutes of corporate meetings and as complex as leading organization.

Struggles of a HUMSS Student with a Tips on how to Survive

u have to be confident. The key to survive this strand is to be confident. HUMSS students are expected to be good communicators and public speakers and so this strands has a lot of presentation activities to prepare students for their future jobs.
You have to be good at everything. A HUMSS student should be good in writing, public speaking, statistics, and all other subjects. In short, you have to know everything, from laws, culture, religion, science, language and everything in humanity.
You need to challenge your own beliefs. Being a HUMSS students will really challenge your beliefs. In this strand, you will have a lot of debates even in the middle of discussions. If you are the kind of person to be offended easily and is very close minded, then you have to open that mind of yours darling.
Lots of writing activities and presentations. This is pretty much expected in this strand. Since some of the people in this strand are aspiring writers, even if you’re taking psychology or criminology in college, you have no choice but to do this. You’ll also have a lot of presentations. From stage plays, short film, monologue, extemporaneous speech, impromptu speech, and speech choir, the list is endless.
Teachers expect so much when it comes to short films. Teachers have a lot of expectations to HUMSS students when it comes to film productions. Even though you’re still in Senior High School, they are still expecting a lot because HUMSS students are future writers, producers, directors, and video editors. Expectations are always there but its your choice if you will let this expectations be a part of your stress.
You are constantly being looked down by other people (and your family).

This is very common when it comes to HUMSS student. Other people think that we have no future in this strand and we wanted to be politicians when in reality majority of the jobs that have high salaries are HUMSS related and being a politician is not the only job for a HUMSS student.

We love what we are doing and studying liberal arts won’t make us poor and die lonely because our passion is what we live for.

WHAT ARE THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES?

Although definitions can vary across scholarly institutions and groups, generally the humanities are those disciplines that investigate the human condition, using primarily analytical, critical, or speculative methods. The humanities include (but are not limited to) ancient and modern languages, literature, history, philosophy, religion, and visual and performing arts such as music and theatre.

Closely related to the humanities, the social sciences are fields of study that may involve more empirical methods to consider society and human behaviour, including (but not limited to) anthropology, archaeology, criminology, economics, education, linguistics, political science and international relations, sociology, geography, law, and psychology.

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– HUMSS Strand –

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