In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth

[XemaSab]

One idea that elite universities like Yale, sprawling public systems like Wisconsin and smaller private colleges like Lewis and Clark have shared for generations is that a traditional liberal arts education is, by definition, not intended to prepare students for a specific vocation. Rather, the critical thinking, civic and historical knowledge and ethical reasoning that the humanities develop have a different purpose: They are prerequisites for personal growth and participation in a free democracy, regardless of career choice.

But in this new era of lengthening unemployment lines and shrinking university endowments, questions about the importance of the humanities in a complex and technologically demanding world have taken on new urgency. Previous economic downturns have often led to decreased enrollment in the disciplines loosely grouped under the term “humanities” — which generally include languages, literature, the arts, history, cultural studies, philosophy and religion. Many in the field worry that in this current crisis those areas will be hit hardest.

Already scholars point to troubling signs. A December survey of 200 higher education institutions by The Chronicle of Higher Education and Moody’s Investors Services found that 5 percent have imposed a total hiring freeze, and an additional 43 percent have imposed a partial freeze.

In the last three months at least two dozen colleges have canceled or postponed faculty searches in religion and philosophy, according to a job postings page on Wikihost.org. The Modern Language Association’s end-of-the-year job listings in English, literature and foreign languages dropped 21 percent for 2008-09 from the previous year, the biggest decline in 34 years.

“Although people in humanities have always lamented the state of the field, they have never felt quite as much of a panic that their field is becoming irrelevant,” said Andrew Delbanco, the director of American studies at Columbia University.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/books/25human.html?pagewanted=1&em

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. Interesting article. Didn't students flee from humanities into business, law, etc..

last time the economy tanked?

[Posteritatis]

4. The Canadian government's trying to enforce that

They expanded humanities and social science funding for graduate students up here - but to qualify, humanities or social science students have to be pursuing business degrees.

Spot the flaw.

[omega minimo]

5. the mercenary run began with Reagan.....

[exboyfil]

9. Any degree without some idea of what you are going to do

in your life is just the actions of a dilettante. Only the rich used to be able to afford to take this action (how many students do you actually think where in Greek schools in the Classical era - most were digging around in the mud and dirt trying to scratch out a living). For a time, when public school higher education was a much lower percentage of income, society could afford more of these dilettantes. No longer. I am simply amazed at the number of people who rack up debt pursuing B.S., M.S. and in some cases second M.S. and even PhDs without a clear goal in life of what they are going to do with it after they are done.

Careers are available for Humanities majors. Many of them involve teaching, and a Humanities degree serves as a good foundation for other pursuits like Law (but I think we have enough lawyers already - thank you).

Colleges should teach you how to think and be skeptical, and, in my opinion the best majors accomplish this goal. My particular field, Engineering, did not have a particularly rigorous Humanities curriculum, but conversely, I did not see too many Art majors taking Differential Equations. When I went to school many classes posted grades by majors. This is how I found out that invariably the highest grades in Humanities (in one case a Junior level core Communications course) were dominated by Engineering and Science majors. I would put my Engineering Ethics course up against any other Junior-Senior level course for critical Humanities type thinking at my school.

Some how a balance needs to be struck between the vocational aspect of colleges (ie teaching Engineering, Business, Law, and Medicine for example) and the larger desire for society to have a workforce educated in at least basic classical thought (conversely many of the other majors need to have a basic understanding of science which is woefully lacking). I fail to see the difference in in Freshman English which is a requirement for Engineering majors and Freshman Calculus I which is rarely a requirement for Humanities majors. Both sets of courses are prereqs at the Freshman level. What actually ends up happening for many non-science/engineering types is the one Math course required in college is a rehash of High School topics (Algebra and basic Statistics with maybe a little Trig). In many cases the science requirement is also not that rigorous (ie a Physics for Everyday Life that does not even require a knowledge of Trig).

[XemaSab]

17. There are practical applications for every major

but sometimes those practical applications do not appear until after graduation.

My mom has a degree in English, but she spent a year or so picking up the phone and taking dictation before she became a technical editor.

[babylonsister]

2. Justify their worth? Humanit(y)ies save tough times. nt

[depakid]

3. Thanks for pointing us to the article

Seems to me that it says a lot about why so many people are stuck (stuffed) in wierd ways of thinking.

[XemaSab]

7. .

:thumbsup:

[omega minimo]

6. if more students were versed in "humanities" there would be fewer mercenaries trying to kill us all

and fewer saps letting them do it. :hi:

[krabigirl]

8. Didn't have a problem at all getting a good career with an English degree.

[bridgit]

10. Well you know you're making sense to me, the humanities do remain a tough sell...

to a nation that improperly values them http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4963296

[exboyfil]

14. Consider the choice my daughter has to make in High School

She wants to be a Vet. To accomplish this goal we are going to need all the cards to fall right. First up is the need to basically take three years of five academic subjects (Math, Science, English, Social Studies/History, and Spanish). In addition she really should double up at least once in Math (to get Statistics/Computer Science) and twice in Science (to get AP Biology and Chemistry - fortunately Physics is a dual level High School/College - good enough for Life Sciences but not Physical Sciences/Engineering). She has seven periods and an early bird for P.E. (making eight periods). There is also an Early Bird ALPHA (special project Honors class). You also have a Health requirement.

I am trying to get her 8th grade Science out of the way this summer (between 7th-8th grade) so she will only have to double up once in that area. If that works I am going to try to get her Geometry the following summer (between 8th-9th grade). After that she works every summer (assuming jobs are available) to help pay for college.

The choice she has to make is that she does both the Violin (she has only been doing it in the school system since 4th grade with summer lessons with a student) and Art (she is very talented in this area). I would like to see her keep both up, but, even with the advanced planning I am trying, she has little likelihood of being able to keep both going.

Without some form of merit scholarships and doing the three year undergraduate thing, we will not be able to afford Vet school. My 529s have taken a hit, and I only see continued tuition growth way beyond my ability to save for it. Every dollar I put away is probably only at 80% of par. I wish my state would go to a state guaranteed prepaid tuition, but that is not going to happen.

[bridgit]

18. I am able to relate; don't think I realized at the time, but I attended university...

on what developed from an esoteric theater arts scholarship keyed on Shakespearean study & performance and a SAG membership since my late teens. Within that degree template were consulting & business admin studies though keyed on theater bizz, that I've since applied to business beyond. An auto accident slowed me way down so I no longer 'trod the boards' anymore, but do still block & design lighting, consult, and work the backstage production side.

Most all our friends are creative people, we know two sisters here in town one - cello, a CPA, and the other - viola, a civil engineer. They're very sweet, highly creative, intelligent older women. They perform concerts for symphs and such, but when we're all in town and the time is right we meet them on their lunch break for concerts at the Methodist Church just round the corner for wonderful beautiful music then it's kiss-kiss hug-hug and off we meld back into the world...but I think my point this is;

With an education in the humanities you're able to position yourself more like a river and less like a rock, less like a sand dune and more like an living, breathing organism. Certainly less like a goose stepping CPAC'er...and more like a human being without being frivolous about it

Our friend plays English horn/oboe out of SF Conserv O'Music, it's still hard but he's the only one of us that is able to parley his degree into a living though he's invested very heavily into music camps, festivals i.e. Aspen, Wolf Trap, etc, and even he has a partner bring resources in. His sister is a large animal Vet and so...

We wish every continued joy, peace & creative kindness to you, yours, and your daughter

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Wouldn't a depression/recession be the right time for the humanities? n/t

[Frank Cannon]

12. There is more to life than being a slave working for some rich asshole

In my darkest hours, I am reminded of this, thanks to my "liberal arts" education.

I attribute whatever career success I've had (and right now, I consider career success as being securely in a job that pays the mortgage and the bills) to my abilities to "think outside the box" and understand and express complicated ideas. I thought that's what college was supposed to be about.

[timtom]

13. Similar thoughts about the Humanities flooded

my mind when Obama was talking about a renewed commitment to education. I thought about volunteering to be in any kind of think tank on that issue (even though I only have a bachelor's degree, and not in the humanities. I COULD'VE had one in Rhetoric/German from UC Berkeley, had I not been such a hedonistic punk.)

[Romulox]

15. My humanities degree put me in debt and without any marketable skills

I thoroughly enjoyed my liberal arts education, and I recommend against it to anyone who asks.

[Odin2005]

16. IMO the decline of traditional liberal education is part of the problem.

College should not be just for getting the skills necessary for your career, that is what tech schools are for. College should make you a well rounded citizen that can think critically and logically and has an understanding of the traditions of Western Civilization.

One thing that bothers me is the decline of Latin. My university only has Beginning Latin I and II. So I'm taking it upon myself to learn Latin on my own.

[depakid]

19. Interestingly, even public high schools offered latin in the 70's and early 80's

and two years of a foreign language was required in my JUNIOR high school.

Having gone back to grad school in the mid 00's, let me tell you that I was shocked at the lack of any breadth of knowledge among my fellow students (who incidentally, weren't just undergraduate degree holders- but also doctors, nurses and other health professionals).

Now one would expect, for example that a literary allusion to one of the classics would be recognized- rather than run right over educated people's heads- or that a physician would have some idea of the difference between a "bill" and a "law" -and how the bills became law- and why bits of pending health legislation (like the Enzi Bill) would have profound implications for their practices- but no.

Having spent considerable time in Britain and Australia- I can tell you that the same isn't true of my friends, colleagues (and ordinary people you meet) across the oceans. Which makes it seem redundant to say "dumb" "American," a phrase that I hear all too often.