I'm sure they are viewed that way, but I've served on both curriculum and transfer equivalency boards pretty recently and can guarantee you that the out-of-discipline classes students are obliged to take are being trimmed to an absolute minimum acorss the board at most schools, with enormous pressure to explain how this or that requirement directly leads to a job.
I do not know what college or university you work at, but that does not contradict the point that there are in general more humanities classes required from an engineering or science major than science requirements for a humanities (say English) major.
This approach does not generally favor the humanities, which are poorly understood by the general public. Take a student who is currently enrolled at a community college in California but knows their end goal is a STEM program at one of the campuses of the University of California. The only humanities courses they'll ever be required to take on the way to their degree are 2 english composition courses, if you even count those as humanities, and one course specifically in a humanities discipline (which could easily be something on the more STEM side of the social sciences as well).
Why would you not want to count "English composition" as humanities? And why look at community colleges and not real universities? Generally STEM majors have to take more than this. I looked up
EE/CompE engineering BS requirements at my alma mater. In addition to 6 credits of English Comp, students also have to take 6 credit hours of humanities electives, 3 hours of economics, and 3 hours or history or government. In addition, there are 6 credits of social sciences required (which are not humanities but work toward well-roundedness of curriculum). That is a minimum of 24 credit hours (out of 132 required for the degree) in humanities and social sciences, and there is possibility of taking more under "approved electives".
How much math or science is your typical English or History BA required to take?
It's also much more likely that their degree program will require further science education - for instance, an anthropology, sociology, or psychology degree at my institution require quite a few science courses.
None of these are humanities majors though. We are talking about things like English.
And why focus on transfer requirements. Just look at degree requirements.
But it's rare for the reverse to be true, that a STEM field other than medicine will require non-STEM classes beyond what the general education pattern obliges.
[citation needed] that it is rare, esp. relative to requiring math and science classes for humanities majors.
I do agree that "number of classes taken" is not a very rigorous measure of roundedness, though.
What would you use?
The poverty of science education at the primary and secondary levels should be considered, for instance.
Which explains the lack of roundedness for most humanities majors.
The M in STEM is pounded to death before college begins, but S is increasingly neglected and T and E all but moribund.
I think the T and E depend largely on the school school in question.
In any case, you have to walk before you can run, and M and S provide the basis for especially the E portion of STEM. T can be introduced in elementary school easily though, but you need competent teachers and funding for the "toys" used in instruction.
