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A Conversation on Education
Why do we need the humanities?
By Kevin Reilly, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Charles Steger, Virginia Tech; James Barker, Clemson University , and J Bernard Machen, University of Florida
Editor’s note: Search the word “humanities” online and up pops the phrase “humanities under attack.” The majority of undergraduates today are majoring in business, science and technology disciplines. Technology – and its promise of being able to fix all problems – is, it seems, king.
What does all this mean for higher education? Why have the humanities undergone a crisis of legitimacy? And why does this matter?
The pilot project, "The Conversation," asked four former university presidents – of Clemson University, University of Florida, University of Wisconsin and Virginia Tech – to give us their perspectives on these questions.
Bernie Machen, University of Florida
Critical thinking, appreciation of the arts and humanities and understanding how to relate to society and the natural world are essential characteristics of the educated person.
Historically, the liberal arts and humanities have contributed to developing such a person. But there is real concern over how this is occurring in today’s universities.
The decline in the number of students taking liberal arts majors (seven percent in 2013, according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences) has at least three causes.
First, academia — especially public institutions of higher education — has deferred responsibility for directing the college curriculum. In the last 30 years, professional disciplines like business and engineering have eliminated core curricula and tailored courses to specific competencies.
Second, administrators and even state legislators have emphasized that general education (the traditional humanities “cores” like English and history) can be accounted for with credits from high school and community colleges. The focus of higher education then becomes preparation for a job.
And, third, the humanities and social sciences have not done enough to stimulate interest in their disciplines.
It took legislation at the state level to allow us at the University of Florida (UF) to get the humanities back into the curriculum through requiring of all students 12 hour credits of UF only “core courses.”
Today every UF freshman has to take “What Is the Good Life?,” a course that introduces its syllabus to students with the following paragraph:
“The question is especially relevant for a detailed examination as you become more and more involved in making the decisions that will shape your future and the future of others. In order to make reasonable, ethical, well-informed life choices, it is useful to reflect upon how one might aspire to live both as an individual, and a member of local and global communities."
Whatever happened to the recognition that a university education has at least three purposes: helping one understand who they are and what excites and motivates them; helping understand one’s relationship to the greater world; and, also, becoming prepared for a job.
Jim Barker, Clemson University
Bernie Machen’s analysis is spot on. The core curriculum has shrunk at public universities and general education is increasingly provided by community colleges. To counter this, Clemson (like the University of Florida and others) has developed new programs, in our case multi-disciplinary undergraduate research teams through the Creative Inquiry initiative.
Consider this. Apple Inc has now reached a market valuation of $770 billion: it is the world’s most valuable company, worth more than Exxon and Berkshire Hathaway combined.
But as founder Steve Jobs himself said when launching the iPad in 2010: “It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.”
In my experience, business leaders and employers recognize the value of this marriage and look for it in our graduates. It is clear that to thrive in a society where they may have up to six different careers, business and STEM graduates need also to be curious and creative, to be critical thinkers and good communicators.
My exemplar here is Clemson architecture graduate Carl Sobocinski whose renovation of historic buildings into restaurants has led to a remarkable urban revitalization of Greenville, South Carolina and to a career, for him, as a “serial entrepreneur” in the hospitality industry.
