I taught an engineering course for one semester at a Big Ten university with a prestigious engineering school, many years ago. And I also work with young engineers who have recently graduated from college.

I'm not sure that all of my students and / or colleagues cared very much about the actual subject matter that they were studying, e.g., the math and theory. There was a conventional wisdom shared amongst students, that those topics were just a hoop to jump through, that they would never need in the "real world."

When they do arrive in the "real world," they get so busy with CAD, trial-and-error design, troubleshooting, and bureaucracy, that they forget most of their math and theory within a few months. I'm not sure if this is voluntary or not: Had they been given a work environment with more time to think and to continue learning, would they have retained their interest?

The few who keep those skills are the ones who are devious enough to guard their time, effectively giving themselves time to think. And they volunteer for the jobs that involve theory, which nobody else wants.

Another factor that may affect humanities students is the fact that some majors are harder to get into, and to stay in, than others. Nobody changes majors from <redacted> to chemical engineering because <redacted> is too hard. ;-) And it's a one way street too. Once you interrupt the train of prerequisites in most STEM majors, it's very hard to get back on your horse.