The recent elimination or drastically reducing of majors, minors, and courses in the Humanities is not only distressing. In an attempt to save money or to offer only what is deemed useful, much is lost. Not everything in life is cut-and-dried or black-and-white. Studying the Humanities leads to critical thinking,l the ability to see gray areas, and can actually lead to new ways of thinking and new solutions.
Full Disclosure: My doctorate is in Humanities from Drew University. (emphasis on History and Religion). I have Master's in German, Divinity, and History (From UC-Irvine, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and Binghamton University), and a Bachelor's in German (from Penn State). Since I was bi-vocational, I needed degrees; they have paid for themselves many times over.
A neighbor of mine near Philadelphia taught Business at a major university in the city. His house was next to a path to the woods where I often walked, and I saw him often during my high school and undergraduate years. He and his family were nice people.
Before I graduated from high school he would ask what I wanted to study. At that time I thought I would go into law school, so I imagined something like Political Science or History. When an undergraduate I was a German major. Each time he politely told me to study Business. We had polite and friendly discussions, but he was insistent.
I tried everything could to convince him Business was not for me. My math skills were not good, I had no interest, and doubted I could do well. He was having none of it.
My adviser at Penn State once said to us that we did not have to justify studying beautiful things. That stuck with me. I did well in what I studied and sought to pass on an appreciation for beautiful things, whatever they might be.
Certainly, academic departments and catalogs have to be adjusted, even changed. I wish there had been a German Business track, or one for governmental studies when I was at Penn State. I would even have cut my hair somewhat!
But to drastically cut or even eliminate things? If I were a high school graduate now, I would likely have to settle for a teacher certification curriculum. But even those are being cut at UConn! And some of my veteran teacher friends agree with me that the content component of teacher training programs is not what it used to be.
Anyway, I am glad I went through the system when I did, and only hope that things sort themselves out. In the next decade or two there will be a cry of "We need to train people to think critically!" May it happen soon!
Below are links to two situations that illustrate the concern addressed here:
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Honestly I couldn't agree more that this is a major problem. Education is under seige by very totalitarian ideologies atm. The difference between the humanities and others, is that it is about teaching people how to think and not what to think, which seems to the populist modus aparunda recently. Liberal Arts is a requirement of any flourishing nation.
ReplyDeleteYou make some good points. And what's worse is that there will be fewer courses or majors that require critical thinking. With respect to international business, an American knowing nothing about the other country/culture will not have success. Willy Brandt, former West German chancellor said, "If I'm selling to you, I will speak your language If I'm buying from you, you have to speak mine."
ReplyDeleteI spoke about this with my wife and wondered what I would have majored in. She said that I would have been a teacher; she's right, but it would have been the bare minimum of preparation.