Humanities Majors Becoming Rare

Parents Forum
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<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/opinion/brooks-the-humanist-vocation.html?ref=todayspaper[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/opinion/brooks-the-humanist-vocation.html?ref=todayspaper&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Today’s New York Times explores this crisis.</p>

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<p>When did we stop needing critical thinkers?</p>

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<p>the short answer is that we did not stop…according to the author, the humanities left us:</p>

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<p>Critical thinking is not limited to humanities.</p>

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<p>The author is a conservative and puts a conservative spin on the problem, as noted by several on line commenters on the original Times article; hence his position that the “humanities left us”, since he seems to object linking politics with morality. Academics don’t see it that way, but, rather, that vocational training and return-on-investment thinking infiltrated higher education.</p>

<p>Yes, critical thinking is certainly employed in math and science, but it takes reading and understanding the great works to truly make sense of our world.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I think that you can get a much better education in the humanities, these days, through reading and music and film and the theater and art museums and galleries, without the PC filter which is so incredibly oppressive right now it actually discourages creative and critical thought as much as any dogma does. And I’m a big supporter of the humanities and find this situation to be a really unfortunate loss.</p>

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<p>I agree with poetgrl. The humanities can be found everywhere and often for free or very little outlay if you live in a major metro area or college town. I got a great free film education in college just by going to the $1 movies on campus and staying for the discussions. </p>

<p><a href=“http://waa.uwalumni.com/onwisconsin/Spring03/goldenage.html[/url]”>http://waa.uwalumni.com/onwisconsin/Spring03/goldenage.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I want to riff on part of the quote that bluebayou provided–the part about beauty–I’m not really responding to anyone in particular here, just musing a bit about what I do.</p>

<p>To start–I am an unabashed lover of European culture: to my eyes (TO MY EYES–I do not demand that the world follow my own aesthetic preferences) the aesthetic achievements of that culture, in its time of vigor, are most beautiful. However I know that part of the reason I feel that way is because of my upbringing and education. Since I was young I have been absorbing the religious, historical, ontological, etc. foundations that allow the artistic products of that culture to quickly speak to me at a very deep level and allow me to MOST EASILY reflect on the larger questions in life. </p>

<p>Let us say that I was dropped at the gate of a Mughal Indian site without any education in their history or culture–of their understanding of the roles of women and men, of their class structure, of their perception of labor, of their ontology, of the development of their language, of their cosmology, of their relationship with other groups and how those groups defined them, of the times that they were conquerors or the conquered–it would be as though there was a semi-opaque pane of glass between me and my surroundings. I wouldn’t be able to see them clearly or fully understand them. (I see this look of confusion in the faces of visitors to the great churches of Europe all the time, and sometimes the urge to walk up to them and say, “You look lost. Please let me begin to explain this to you” is very hard to resist!) Even with my training, when I first encounter a building or an art object produced by a culture with an ontological orientation that is significantly different from my own I still feel an initial sense of fuzziness and then I have to consciously and firmly call upon my education to sharpen my focus, to understand the beauty of the space or the object, and then to connect with the space or the object so that I may think more deeply. </p>

<p>We can all have our preferences–not everyone has to agree that the ____________ is the most beautiful thing in the world. However, if we are true humanists, and want to begin to acquire an understanding of all the manifestations of beauty that we humans possess, then we have no choice but to study the role of history, of gender, of interaction between peoples, of interaction between economic classes, of religion, of philosophy, and of language creation (among other things). To be able to recognize the similarities and the differences in notions of beauty and in ourselves and to come together in honor of both–if that’s not uplifting, then I don’t know what is!</p>

<p>EDIT: As for educating oneself (vs. gaining appreciation–which I see as very different things), I’d say that, conservatively, 95% of the students who claimed to have “self-educated” in my field had to unlearn copious amounts of bad information upon taking classes with actual scholars. Go down that path with great care.</p>

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<p>Watching movies does not necessarily provide an education in film. For that you need a professor who is a scholar in that subject, a text or other reading supplement, and a class full of peers to exchange ideas with. Otherwise, your own reactions, background experiences, prejudices will be your sole guide for understanding that film (or art work, play, etc.) A student requires this object of study to be placed in a larger context. You can’t educate yourself in the humanities to any greater extent than you can educate yourself in the sciences.</p>

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<p>I guess reading comprehension was not your strongest area. </p>

<p>“and staying for the discussions”<br>
Many were led by people like Mike Wilmington who went on to become a top film critic and Prof Bordwell who held weekly open screenings.</p>

<p>[RELEASE:</a> International symposium to honor UW-Madison emeritus film professor](<a href=“http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/11047.html]RELEASE:”>http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/11047.html)</p>

<p><a href=“David Bordwell, Film Historian, Focuses on Movie Blog - The New York Times”>David Bordwell, Film Historian, Focuses on Movie Blog - The New York Times;

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<p>Actually, My3daughters, most of what is valuable in the humanities CAN be learned through reading what has been published. Professors can help, but they are, these days, very busy pushing a social agenda, which disincludes much of what is actually important critical writing and thought from the classroom as well as the syllabus, that they are more road blocks than the facilitators and directors they once were.</p>

<p>A library card to a significant university library, access to the cannon, to the original sources, these are all that a talented humanities student would really require. It’s not necessary to “understand” the humanities from the perspective of someone else to understand the humanities.</p>

<p>It’s an unfortunate development in the academy, but it has eaten itself alive like a cancer. I say this as someone with advanced degrees in the humanities from top 5 programs.</p>

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<p>poetgrl, what important works/authors/approaches do you believe are being systematically excluded from humanities education? </p>

<p>Also, I think that the number of people who have:

  1. Access to a significant university library
  2. The necessary foundation in history or religion/literature (in order to, among other things, be able to understand the numerous allusions in the great texts of the Western canon) and
  3. Leisure time to do this
    is fairly limited. Someone who has had your experiences is much more likely to be able to continue his/her own education independently: through your elite education and advanced degrees you picked up critical reading skills, the ability to track down sources, the ability to evaluate them, etc. Someone coming out of high school with mediocre preparation and who doesn’t have the advantages of elite education and advanced degrees or the privilege of access to a great library will have a much harder time successfully exposing and educating him/herself in these disciplines.</p>
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<p>@SLACFac: Very interesting post (#8). Thank you for sharing.</p>

<p>Regarding the link in the OP:
[Bachelor’s</a> degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2009-10](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_286.asp]Bachelor’s”>Bachelor's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2009-10)
There are far more degrees granted now and much of the growth has been in business. That accounts for much of the decreased %age in the humanities.</p>

<p>Two weeks ago we were talking about a similar topic. I posted a comment about the meaning of an academic major but it wasn’t discussed much before interest in the thread evaporated. This time I’ll try with a question, for anyone who wants to answer:</p>

<p>What does it mean to major in a subject, and how does formal education in a degree-seeking environment differ from other forms of learning?

Why is that the case?</p>

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<p>I hate getting involved in these types of discussions so I’ll just chime in and say I did my part and got a degree called “BA in Arts & Humanities” :smiley: lol</p>

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<p>I dunno, I think reading Newton’s Principia Mathematica is one of the worst ways to learn physics.</p>

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<p>You can put all the politico-social spin you want on the state of the Humanities in higher education, but the simple fact is that the (still) poor economy and skyrocketing tuition has led many students and their families to think more along the lines of Return on Investment (ROI). For better or for worse, today’s students are gravitating more toward the majors that appear to yield a greater ROI in terms of salaries and employment. The predictable result is a decrease in the proportion of students majoring in the social sciences and humanities.</p>

<p>I think that this trend has very little to do with PC or leftward-leaning faculty, if indeed there is even a demonstrable trend in THAT direction.</p>

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<p>noimagination, thank you for your kind words. </p>

<p>I’m going to try and provide a partial answer to your question. I am assuming that the knowledge-seeker in question is a high school senior with good, but not Boston Latin School-type, preparation and I’m assuming that class in question is a well-run seminar with good (but not exceptionally) prepared and engaged students. Furthermore, I freely acknowledge that there are autodidacts possessed of both native intellectual ability and leisure time and what I say here does not apply to those blessed souls. </p>

<p>Situation: You wish to learn more about the Gothic cathedral, beyond just knowing the who/what/when/where of things.</p>

<p>Problem: Much has been written on the Gothic cathedral. How do you know what is worth your time? Furthermore, how do you begin to organize your thoughts or select a point of intellectual emphasis?</p>

<p>How a Formal Class with Someone Like Me Can Help:

  1. My course syllabus will provide you with a formal reading list of books that will provide you with the necessary broad exposure/introduction to the topic. I will also recommend other important works during the course.
  2. The books, my lectures, and general structure of the course will expose you to the various interpretive perspectives for studying the broad topic of the Gothic cathedral. In other words, I will expose you to the major questions being asked by scholars and the most effective/rewarding perspectives that will allow you to begin to organize your answers to the questions that you find most interesting (whether they be old ones or new ones). Since most students aren’t aware of all the possible perspectives and questions, this is a very important function.
  3. You will interact with other individuals who are being pushed in the same way that you are, but who will probably adopt different perspectives or be interested in different questions about the Gothic cathedral. Through this interaction you will improve in broad ways: you will become better at cogently stating your position; you will become a better listener and be better able to dissect the arguments of others; you will become more adept at serious back-and-forth dialogue, etc. With respect to content, you will begin to gain an understanding of what makes a particular piece worth reading (what kind of argument and methods are indicative of quality work, etc.); you will improve your knowledge of interpretive perspectives and questions through discussion; and you may creatively decide to combine multiple perspectives to come up with a hybrid perspective that provides an inventive angle on the Gothic cathedral.
  4. You will have to write a significant paper or give a significant presentation that will improve your broad abilities in the realm of speaking and argumentation. This assignment will require you to use what you have learned about both the subject matter and what makes a good source or a bad source to find and synthesize the appropriate literature. You will create a paper or assignment that organizes and presents the content you have learned in a creative way.</p>

<p>Why This is Incredibly Hard to get Outside of a Formal Classroom:

  1. Well, this is not hard to get–syllabi are available online. However, you won’t get my assistance if you need to narrow down the books in your narrow area of interest.<br>
  2. Only a really exceptional critical reader with a fine mind would be able to sit down with a reading list and begin to suss out the major perspectives, controversies, etc. The majority of even these really talented people would be able to do so much more efficiently with the aid of a professor. The professor’s job is to be aware of as much of the “Gothic cathedral” universe as is humanly possible so that s/he may present an organized view of that universe to students and help students find the best original and secondary sources possible (and can alert students to bad ones). The professor will also be aware of the “peculiarities” of original sources–which ones come down to us more corrupted than others, which ones have particularly thorny translation controversies (I have had a 2 hour seminar discussion over the history of the translation of ONE WORD in one of the major primary sources in my field), etc.–and can help students without language training work around those issues.
  3. The chances of impromptu, productive seminar style discussion that accomplishes the things listed above is very rare.<br>
  4. The chances of most 18-22 year olds writing a paper or producing an assignment of this type without inducement is very rare, and most professors will not grade or evaluate work for charity, as it were.</p>
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<p>10 years after that class you will be lucky to remember a few key items unless you work in the field. You could duplicate or improve that knowledge easily in a week of leisure reading on the topic today. And you are more likely to have the money to actually visit some of the sites rather than just see pictures in books or slides.</p>

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<p>Let me put it a different way. It’s not so much the exclusion of the interesting and insightful, so much as the inclusion of irrelevant and insignificant thought</p>

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<p>poetgrl, would you mind giving me some specific examples of the phenomenon you’re describing?</p>

<p>barrons, if you’re happy knowing simply WHAT each sculpture on a facade is, then a little leisure reading is fine, but if you’re curious as to why people started to build Gothic cathedrals; why they stopped building them; how they were funded (and what wasn’t funded instead); why Italian Gothic looks different from French Gothic; why there was a revival of Gothic architecture; what purpose Gothic architecture served in America when Protestantism was culturally dominant in many parts of the country; how authors were affected by the Gothic; how and why the cathedrals that were damaged in WWI were restored in the way that they were; or any of a zillion other actual interesting questions, then the skills of developing lenses, being able to find/judge sources and their claims, and being able to break down arguments are all going to remain useful, even if you can’t remember the full details of the content that you read. Plus, you can do what my former students do, which is email me in advance of your trip–I’m happy to give them a couple of good, short refresher pieces or to discuss their itinerary or whatever.</p>

<p>And sure, if you want to travel over to Europe and be one of those confused people who clearly has nothing more than a surface understanding, if that, of what they’re looking at or, better yet, is one of the overflowing fountains of outdated information that my students, fellow colleagues, and I make fun of when we’re overseas, then bless.</p>