In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth

From The NY Times

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.........

Derek Bok, a former president of Harvard and the author of several books on higher education, argues, “The humanities has a lot to contribute to the preparation of students for their vocational lives.” He said he was referring not only to writing and analytical skills but also to the type of ethical issues raised by new technology like stem-cell research. But he added: “There’s a lot more to a liberal education than improving the economy. I think that is one of the worst mistakes that policy makers often make — not being able to see beyond that.”




There used to be a trend, still around, that we could "justify" arts in the public schools by saying "studying music will make you better at math", etc. I used it myself to get funding and promote "interdisciplinary education" and the like. I'm wary of doing that now, for the same reasons that Derek Bok implies. When do I get to say "study math - it'll make you a better musician?"

The arts will help us to improve the economy in the "adult" world just like the arts will improve the academic performance of kids. More importantly, long term, maybe the arts will just teach us how to be HUMAN - in the highest idealistic sense of the word. And maybe a little more of that will get us out of our current cultural messes. I certainly hope so!