Nick, I agree with you on most things and think you and your principled stances are a true asset to the NYT, the people of the US and the world. However, a degree in the Humanities, is a luxury for the the wealthiest of our society. The high cost of a college education means that the first priority of people who need a huge slug of student loans to get through has to be that they can find a job that will allow them to support themselves and pay back those loans. I am less worried about the lack of people with a moral compass than I am with millions of unemployed 20 somethings with 6 figure student loan debt.
While for us to be a great country we need a firm foundation in the humanities, we also need to have a much higher emphasis on Science and Technology if we intend to maintain our position as a world leader.
I will also tell you that studying engineering teaches you more about critical thinking and analyzing problems and looking at priorities, than it does about numbers and formulae. (There I used some of my high school Latin.)
While for us to be a great country we need a firm foundation in the humanities, we also need to have a much higher emphasis on Science and Technology if we intend to maintain our position as a world leader.
I will also tell you that studying engineering teaches you more about critical thinking and analyzing problems and looking at priorities, than it does about numbers and formulae. (There I used some of my high school Latin.)
22
I'm sorry Mr. Kristof, a Liberal Arts Degree is not worth the paper it is on. Frank Bruni had a similar column a few months back where he was singing the praises of a Liberal Arts Education. I did not agree with him too. As you point out this education is extremely important for the soul, communication skills,critical thinking and policy making. To achieve all this one has to get a foot in the door. How do you do that? Bruni gave his own example of how a liberal arts education enriched his life.But you and he got through that door thanks to NYT. To have the luxury of enriching the soul, one has to take care of the body first. No amount of philosophy, literature, intellectual discussions will meet the body's needs like food and shelter. You may quote all the smug author who do not have to worry about their very existence. Math and Science answers those basic needs. I've had my own personal experience. I have a daughter, a Science and Math major. After graduation she landed a good-paying job in 3 months. I also have a son who majored in Political Science an d Public Policy. It has been 2 1/2 years, no job. He works part-time in a grocery store and waits tables over the week-ends. He is hopeless and getting more and more depressed. But there is no sign of a REAL JOB. Unfortunately I cannot afford to send him to Grad School because my job itself is on tenterhooks. Meanwhile, my daughter is thinking about her Ph.D and into Philosophy,Literature and Intellectual discussions!
31
Your quote from John Adams implies that the humanities are ends in themselves rather than means to some other end. But why should the pursuit of beauty, which seems to be what Adams was proposing, be an end. Why isn't that just self-indulgence?
6
My friend's daughter, who is now a wealthy stockbroker, once told her father, "Dad, knowing stuff just isn't trendy anymore."
15
Well said! I would add that my experience with Business as a major is that it is one of the easiest to pass and provides almost no useful preparation for business. Some accounting and a finance is useful, but most business majors can't write, critically think, or adjust to a changing world. It is much easier to teach accounting to liberal arts educated people than to teach breadth of knowledge, good judgment in making choices, and discernment when evaluating information to business majors.
I would also add that our politicians and troubled political system are largely the result of the narrowing of intellect in the US. We no longer have a common set of knowledge because Fox has convinced these narrow thinkers that there is no such thing as a fact and there are two reasonable sides to every position when some are clearly not reasonable. Hitler and Stalin might agree with such narrow views, but I doubt Jefferson or Franklin would.
I would also add that our politicians and troubled political system are largely the result of the narrowing of intellect in the US. We no longer have a common set of knowledge because Fox has convinced these narrow thinkers that there is no such thing as a fact and there are two reasonable sides to every position when some are clearly not reasonable. Hitler and Stalin might agree with such narrow views, but I doubt Jefferson or Franklin would.
56
It seems that we are entering a new Dark Ages with corporations as the lords of the manors and "We the people..." the serfs.
24
Uh . . . haven't you forgotten something here? Perhaps we are starving for wisdom because we are overlooking it. Education in the humanities teaches us about humanity - and that kind of understanding is actually valuable just as it is, intrinsically. (For one thing, it reminds us that there are things of value that don't actually have practical applications.)
31
Two of me three daughters received chemical engineering degrees from the Colorado School of Mines. I was very impressed at how much humanities were required alongside all the tech courses.
One can be very smart but have a very inadequate data base to access for good decision making. Like GW.................
One can be very smart but have a very inadequate data base to access for good decision making. Like GW.................
12
The wisdom gained from a nice dose of liberal arts experience at university, no matter your major, was a fine traditional idea back in my day - the '60s. In those days, they had 'distribution requirements' - you needed to take a certain number of courses in various departments in order to graduate. But that was then. Reading this article, I can only wonder just when Mr Kristof got his education.
Nowadays the picture is, to put it mildly, muddied. All too many schools, including my alma mater (Brown University) abandoned the distributions for a bunch of hazy choices ruled, all to often, by that great bugaboo - Political Correctness. (As in that ridiculous chant of "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western Civ has got to go!") When your grades are given by instructors who red-flag words such as 'individual' because they're inconsistent with 'communitarian values', you're not being exposed so much as being trained in how to think. (And not necessarily logically; some of these geniuses think logic is just some cold tool used by the West to justify wars. They'd rather work on a basis of 'feelings'. So did Adolf Hitler.)
If you think this is so absurd (it is) as to be impossible (it isn't), well, I had a friend who was tossed out of a course in Black American Culture because he was the wrong colour - white. (He figure that he really should be taking that course, in order to learn something. A quaint notion from the pre-PC past, that.) At Brown.
Starving for wisdom. Indeed.
Nowadays the picture is, to put it mildly, muddied. All too many schools, including my alma mater (Brown University) abandoned the distributions for a bunch of hazy choices ruled, all to often, by that great bugaboo - Political Correctness. (As in that ridiculous chant of "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western Civ has got to go!") When your grades are given by instructors who red-flag words such as 'individual' because they're inconsistent with 'communitarian values', you're not being exposed so much as being trained in how to think. (And not necessarily logically; some of these geniuses think logic is just some cold tool used by the West to justify wars. They'd rather work on a basis of 'feelings'. So did Adolf Hitler.)
If you think this is so absurd (it is) as to be impossible (it isn't), well, I had a friend who was tossed out of a course in Black American Culture because he was the wrong colour - white. (He figure that he really should be taking that course, in order to learn something. A quaint notion from the pre-PC past, that.) At Brown.
Starving for wisdom. Indeed.
16
I'll end my comments with giving my son's junior-senior high school's English teacher a shout out. HIs speech is based on the Shakespeare quote, "We know what we are, but not what we may be." One of the people he thinks exemplify this quote is Bill Gates because "... what a lot of people don't know, however, is that he dropped out of Harvard in order to pursue his dreams. He lived with little money for a couple years until people decided to back up his idea and put their faith in him."
My son likes the Shakespeare quote because it reminds him that if he decides not to attend college because he's not sure what he'd like to be, he has his whole future ahead of him.
I have a tremendous about of respect for my son however I think of how technologies aren't allowing the time for work exploration because of the work or college readiness, partnering with businesses.
I think it's a tremendous amount of pressure on students that are demonstrating academic capabilities where their future is concerned.
I don't know.
My son likes the Shakespeare quote because it reminds him that if he decides not to attend college because he's not sure what he'd like to be, he has his whole future ahead of him.
I have a tremendous about of respect for my son however I think of how technologies aren't allowing the time for work exploration because of the work or college readiness, partnering with businesses.
I think it's a tremendous amount of pressure on students that are demonstrating academic capabilities where their future is concerned.
I don't know.
4
we need to move away from the rote notion that attending college conveys knowledge -- much less, wisdom -- and that formal inquiry (in the classical definition of a "degreed" program of learning) trumps the experience of practical inquiry found in a regular and reasoned examination of the self in the world in pursuit of truth.
9
Yet another proponent of the humanities who completely misses the point. Young people aren't rejecting humanities majors over the sort of ideological arguments this author presents. They're making a pragmatic decision based on the poor and increasingly dire job market for humanities degrees. A typical graduate is going to amass anywhere from $60k - $100k in loan debt for their education, offered at an interest rate that's twice the national average for loans. Does it make sense for them to take on that much debt in order to work in $30/year job, and be enslaved to a bank for most of their adult life? What if they want a home, a family? Is a degree in Anthropology going to provide them with the security and long-term career advancement they need? In many cases, no - and even though the economy as a whole is getting stronger, the job market for humanities degrees is quite simply dire.
Acquiring knowledge for knowledge's sake is a great notion. But America's educational system and our job market have long made it clear that they have other priorities. Unless the entire culture of America changes, and we begin to collectively value (with livable wages, decent benefits) non-STEM fields, there will be no return to the humanities. In fact, even very progressive folks like Robert Reich are calling for a change in education, away from the 'liberal arts' model in favor of a vocational model focused on training skilled workers. The writing is on the wall.
Acquiring knowledge for knowledge's sake is a great notion. But America's educational system and our job market have long made it clear that they have other priorities. Unless the entire culture of America changes, and we begin to collectively value (with livable wages, decent benefits) non-STEM fields, there will be no return to the humanities. In fact, even very progressive folks like Robert Reich are calling for a change in education, away from the 'liberal arts' model in favor of a vocational model focused on training skilled workers. The writing is on the wall.
13
"In fact, even very progressive folks like Robert Reich are calling for a change in education, away from the 'liberal arts' model in favor of a vocational model focused on training skilled workers."
It's rather scary with the cutting of history courses in higher education.
It's rather scary with the cutting of history courses in higher education.
8
Your quote from John Adams implies that the value of the humanities is in the pleasure and beauty they bring us--not in their use as a means to some other end, as your three reasons suggest. I think many in the humanities would agree.
OK. As an earlier comment said, a primary purpose in studying the humanities involves learning how to lead a "good" life, which, presumably is an end in itself.
But then how does one distinguish self-indulgence from a life pursuing of truth and beauty for the pleasure they bring us rather than for some instrumental purpose? The pure pursuit of truth and beauty seems to conflict with productivity and contributions to society as one of our highest values. Even if one shares with others the truth and beauty ones finds doesn't that simply make our entire culture self-indulgent? Perhaps the humanities can help us figure that out also.
OK. As an earlier comment said, a primary purpose in studying the humanities involves learning how to lead a "good" life, which, presumably is an end in itself.
But then how does one distinguish self-indulgence from a life pursuing of truth and beauty for the pleasure they bring us rather than for some instrumental purpose? The pure pursuit of truth and beauty seems to conflict with productivity and contributions to society as one of our highest values. Even if one shares with others the truth and beauty ones finds doesn't that simply make our entire culture self-indulgent? Perhaps the humanities can help us figure that out also.
3
Indeed, Mr. Kristof, thank you. Our culture and our future as civilized nations are in jeopardy when Silicon Valley college dropouts, corporate leaders, politicians, and anyone else who wields enormous power or creates policy lacks the rich foundation of education in the humanities. I wish that scientists who pursue genetic enhancement, and those in a position to fund their research, take a course on the history of eugenics, for example. I wish medical schools required a humanities course on death and dying. Native Americans knew that we cannot successfully move forward into the future without understanding and honoring our past. It's time we heed this ageless wisdom.
20
I'm just going to put this out there. I think psychology needs a serious revamp because of the use of technology with the industries you've mentioned - narcissism, bi-polar, schizophrenia, etc. etc.
I mean as much as I like Daniel Kahnemann's work, "Thinking Fast and Slow" and understand that Google utilizes it. I think the economist Richard Wolff's work on scapegoat economics can be utilized to help us rethink the profession.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/04/richard-wolff-scapegoat-economics...
I mean as much as I like Daniel Kahnemann's work, "Thinking Fast and Slow" and understand that Google utilizes it. I think the economist Richard Wolff's work on scapegoat economics can be utilized to help us rethink the profession.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/04/richard-wolff-scapegoat-economics...
Wisdom is best taught by example and the example that needs to be set is from on high: in politics and business, where those examples would ideally "trickle down." Wisdom tricking from the top, down, although sadly I think we can look around the global landscape and see how that experiment is playing out... Well for the top 1%. To think that wisdom and policy on high can be influenced and changed from wisdom originating from the bottom, from say, academia, is wishful at best and at worst foolish and dangerous, as it places the onus of change, on folks who have the most to lose and risk by making the sacrifices required to embrace and implement wisdom, folks at any rate whom it probably seems much wiser to go hunting for a piece of the ever shrinking pie, as opposed to the plentiful but apparently useless pie in the sky.
wisdom is best achieved by a combination of quiet contemplation and reason-informed conversation.
wisdom is neither vertically pinned nor the purview of a position or the privilege of a class of individuals.
leaving the pursuit of wisdom to others, especially others who place themselves into positions of authority is foolishness defined.
educing wisdom in your fellows is the first -- and perhaps only -- responsibility of a citizen.
wisdom is neither vertically pinned nor the purview of a position or the privilege of a class of individuals.
leaving the pursuit of wisdom to others, especially others who place themselves into positions of authority is foolishness defined.
educing wisdom in your fellows is the first -- and perhaps only -- responsibility of a citizen.
5
I would add another benefit of liberal arts study, derived from the fact that many of the most important questions encountered in the study of literature or history do not have a simple "correct" answer. In the liberal arts, we learn to appreciate nuance, point of view, context and situation. We develop the ability to hold contradictory ideas in our mind while we struggle to make sense of the apparent conflict (and, perhaps, we know to thank Hegel for giving us the terminology of "dialectic" to explain what we are doing). We learn how to form an opinion based on reason and evidence, and defend that opinion, while also allowing for others to reach a different opinion from the same evidence. How much better would our nation be, if our leaders and voters practiced these skills?
26
I like what you have to say, yet, I think your comment is more narrowly understood as philosophical relativism more than a broad based pragmatic way of thinking that ultimately comes down to some ideals are better than others. So, yes, there's room for nuances and shades of grey. But, there are also better solutions after weeding through the nuances to a problem.
1
For the roots of Western civilisation, study Classical Greek, Classical Latin and Anglo-Saxon, so that you can read the Iliad, Metamorphoses and Beowulf in the original. Add Old Irish. Then study mathematics, mathematics and more mathematics. Use your mathematical training to tackle mathematical physics, statistics, and econometrics. Use your training in physics to tackle physical chemistry and astronomy. Use your training in physical chemistry to study inorganic and organic chemistry. Use all that to study biochemistry, geology, geophysics, meteorology and oceanography. From there study human and non-human anatomy, human and non-human physiology. Keep building up from the foundations. That's what I've been trying to do for the last half a century. I just wish I learned more quickly than I do.
5
the classic education focused on Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, in order to read the bible in its original guises.
1
Interesting comments. I see great value in two and three year degrees without liberal arts. People need jobs, the young are among the highest unemployed and college is much more expensive than when I got my liberal arts laden degree. Having argued for two and three year liberal arts free degree I could also argue that a masters degree should be heavily liberal arts.
I think it is more important to get a job and reduce student debt then get the liberal arts to round out the degree and make a person a better more enriched employee.
I think it is more important to get a job and reduce student debt then get the liberal arts to round out the degree and make a person a better more enriched employee.
2
Mr. Kristof, when I studied the humanities I was taught that the plural of "millennium" is "millennia." But that was 55 years ago. Maybe the form has changed.
Otherwise, good column.
Otherwise, good column.
5
Unfortunately, the Latin plurals have gone out of style, and that particular modernization sticks in my craw. Millenniums just doesn't sound right, but Millennia could even be the name of a pretty girl.
At the same time, the commonly-used word "data" has lost its plural nature entirely and has become something else.
At the same time, the commonly-used word "data" has lost its plural nature entirely and has become something else.
4
"Even science depends upon the humanities to shape judgments about ethics, limits and values."
In fact, I'd argue that while science can discover our conception of the ethical, science cannot tell us how we ought to to think ethically.
In fact, I'd argue that while science can discover our conception of the ethical, science cannot tell us how we ought to to think ethically.
13
I agree with your analysis Mr. Kristof. Liberal education is a fundamental basis for whatever professional today and in the future.
9
Way back, some fifty years ago, I majored in English Lit. The books I read, think of the Elizabethan and Victorian eras have stayed with me and enriched my life greatly. Nowadays my reading includes modern literature, and 20th century literature which may still be considered modern. By the way I highly recommend Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove," and Flaubert's "Madame Bovary." Watch out great reading ahead
7
The past provides wisdom for the future.
4
U.S. universities have gone from nourishing their students' spirits and minds to facilitating their careers – especially if that career is in finance or consulting.
And perhaps worse – schools have relegated the task of instructing undergraduates to meagerly compensated adjuncts and teaching-assistants while simultaneously entering bidding wars over academic superstars who have little to no contact with students at all – but whom contribute a great deal to enhancing the prestige and thus the desireability of that same institution in attracting students.
Further, a major university's research facility and these highly-paid superstars will bring in huge sums to the university in the form or patents and tech licensing fees – reflecting the reality that a university winning a "Teacher of the Year" award is the kiss of death. And why would it be otherwise when undergraduate teaching, but not tuition, has become of secondary importance.
And perhaps worse – schools have relegated the task of instructing undergraduates to meagerly compensated adjuncts and teaching-assistants while simultaneously entering bidding wars over academic superstars who have little to no contact with students at all – but whom contribute a great deal to enhancing the prestige and thus the desireability of that same institution in attracting students.
Further, a major university's research facility and these highly-paid superstars will bring in huge sums to the university in the form or patents and tech licensing fees – reflecting the reality that a university winning a "Teacher of the Year" award is the kiss of death. And why would it be otherwise when undergraduate teaching, but not tuition, has become of secondary importance.
9
concur. degreed programs emphasize what to think at the expense of how to think and pervert what it means to live a good life.
4
In my review of college curricula, I see an almost universal effort to require a solid baseline in the humanities and social sciences, regardless of a student's major.
A reasonable empirical question, then, is how much better someone is prepared to make wise judgments or have rich emotional intelligence who actually majors in the humanities relative to someone who might study, say, biology but has experienced also the core requirements that form the basis for liberal education at the college level in an American university.
A reasonable empirical question, then, is how much better someone is prepared to make wise judgments or have rich emotional intelligence who actually majors in the humanities relative to someone who might study, say, biology but has experienced also the core requirements that form the basis for liberal education at the college level in an American university.
4
The real issue is not the Humanities in college life, but the Humanities in high school, teen life. The Humanities of the teen world is not in English class or History class or some ethics class. Those opportunities to teach values have been numbed by a robot-like, capitalists-like test world and points system. One could read Dickens in high school, but the value taken away is not a concern for economic inequity--the take away, for many, concerns itself with the grade given, the points earned, and, ironically, the status achieved by graduation.
So where are the values coming from? Where are the stories? The messages? Weekend binges of Breaking Bad on Netflix? all-nighters playing some shooter on Xbox? Free range on an increasingly violent and hyper-sexual internet? Messages from music that glorify "bling" and easy sex? a mixed message about alcohol and drugs?
Then at school, even after reading Twain or Dickens or Harper Lee, the message becomes: what is your grade? What is your status? How will you profit? What points have you earned?
How can we expect a teens to navigate college in a fruitful way when high school teen culture is such a wasteland?
Let's focus on the way Humanities are taught in high school, the school culture adults promote. Let's focus on the unbridled, unfiltered content many teens consume, the real "Humanities" of teen culture. Adults need to be more involved in shaping the message, and, yes, censoring content--even in the late teens.
So where are the values coming from? Where are the stories? The messages? Weekend binges of Breaking Bad on Netflix? all-nighters playing some shooter on Xbox? Free range on an increasingly violent and hyper-sexual internet? Messages from music that glorify "bling" and easy sex? a mixed message about alcohol and drugs?
Then at school, even after reading Twain or Dickens or Harper Lee, the message becomes: what is your grade? What is your status? How will you profit? What points have you earned?
How can we expect a teens to navigate college in a fruitful way when high school teen culture is such a wasteland?
Let's focus on the way Humanities are taught in high school, the school culture adults promote. Let's focus on the unbridled, unfiltered content many teens consume, the real "Humanities" of teen culture. Adults need to be more involved in shaping the message, and, yes, censoring content--even in the late teens.
8
I agree with Mr Kristof's views but liberal education (and a few other subjects) will wither and all but die unless the college fee bubble bursts one way or another. When college becomes a daunting financial proposition while many people even with PhDs struggle unless they are doctors, financial engineers, or Google division chiefs, most people will make the rational choice and choose subjects that will offer the largest potential to a high salary - and fast.
9
If you look up definitions of wisdom in dictionaries you find words and phrases like "insight", "sagacity" or the capacity to understand what most people cannot (I would suggest "do not" instead of "cannot" as I think this capacity can be learned)
There really is nothing about a liberal arts education that guarantees this result, although a some breadth of interests may be helpful in that they may provide different perspectives to reflect upon. The ability to look more deeply into matters requires a willingness to spend some time reflecting on one's own experience and a willingness to look below the surface of events.
A certain confidence that what everyone knows may not be what is true is helpful. As Lao Tzu noted quite rightly 2500 years ago in his master work the Tao Te Ching: Why is it important to know what other people know? What is common knowledge may not reflect common sense.
At one time, it was clear to almost everyone that the earth was the center of the universe, that disease was caused by evil spirits, that burning witches protected communities from evil. We can all list numerous examples of things that were known to be true that were proved false. At some point, a few individuals start seeing things in a new light. Some may even have a broad liberal arts education. Others? Obviously there are many reasons that some people look more deeply than what is known.
There really is nothing about a liberal arts education that guarantees this result, although a some breadth of interests may be helpful in that they may provide different perspectives to reflect upon. The ability to look more deeply into matters requires a willingness to spend some time reflecting on one's own experience and a willingness to look below the surface of events.
A certain confidence that what everyone knows may not be what is true is helpful. As Lao Tzu noted quite rightly 2500 years ago in his master work the Tao Te Ching: Why is it important to know what other people know? What is common knowledge may not reflect common sense.
At one time, it was clear to almost everyone that the earth was the center of the universe, that disease was caused by evil spirits, that burning witches protected communities from evil. We can all list numerous examples of things that were known to be true that were proved false. At some point, a few individuals start seeing things in a new light. Some may even have a broad liberal arts education. Others? Obviously there are many reasons that some people look more deeply than what is known.
5
But I thought the ipad was supposed to fix all this by putting everything there is at our fingertips.
Of course that assuming anyone will read it or be able to understand any of it all living in their virtual vacuums.
Of course that assuming anyone will read it or be able to understand any of it all living in their virtual vacuums.
3
from the fingertips to the mind is a great distance. The point of a college education is to learn how to educate yourself for life, not just for the five years of college.
4
If I had my druthers, I would encourage every student to attain a STEM college degree; but make it mandatory to take a class in World History, Economics, Literature/Writing and the Classics to graduate.
5
People need to be aware constantly of what they are thinking and have accepted as their beliefs, in order to choose their own path in life - as opposed to reliving the one their parents chose. They need to ask "why" and then decide if their choices really serve them and their community well and make it a better world.
Humans subconsciously pick up the fears and opinions of others from the day they are born and act on them without realizing it, and without putting much critical thought into it themselves.
We can always choose the same path anyway, but we need to do it consciously. The more we teach people to think on their own, the happier they will be, and the better off we'll all be. And yes, please, let's teach them the beautiful and inspiring things in life that make life beautiful and inspiring.
One of the best periods in my life was when I realized I didn't have to accept what society was telling me was my role as a woman. And I became a better woman because of it.
Humans subconsciously pick up the fears and opinions of others from the day they are born and act on them without realizing it, and without putting much critical thought into it themselves.
We can always choose the same path anyway, but we need to do it consciously. The more we teach people to think on their own, the happier they will be, and the better off we'll all be. And yes, please, let's teach them the beautiful and inspiring things in life that make life beautiful and inspiring.
One of the best periods in my life was when I realized I didn't have to accept what society was telling me was my role as a woman. And I became a better woman because of it.
3
Here is what one noted liberal arts graduate (political science), with initials NK who works in the print media, wrote leading up to the Iraq War on August 27, 2002.
"Iraq may well be different. President Bush has convinced me that there is no philosophical reason we should not overthrow the Iraqi government, given that Iraqis themselves would be better off, along with the rest of the world. But Mr. Bush has not overcome some practical concerns about an invasion."
"No philosophical reason"? How about Iraq had done little to harm US interests.
Perhaps the liberal arts education leading to critical thinking is a false hope?
"Iraq may well be different. President Bush has convinced me that there is no philosophical reason we should not overthrow the Iraqi government, given that Iraqis themselves would be better off, along with the rest of the world. But Mr. Bush has not overcome some practical concerns about an invasion."
"No philosophical reason"? How about Iraq had done little to harm US interests.
Perhaps the liberal arts education leading to critical thinking is a false hope?
2
"I can make you feel, but I can't make you think". Jethro Tull
3
Business has a tendency to equate smartness with wisdom; this article makes similar error conflating wisdom with knowledge.
Wisdom is what you gain *after* your education had been tempered with life experiences. Although considered most cunning (businesspeople would say “smart”) among the Greeks, Odysseus returns to Ithaca wiser than he left for the war. And he does not spend 20 years studying liberal arts abroad. He fights, he wanders, he confronts his and other people’s demons and passions; he learns from his accomplishments and from his mistakes – and thus he becomes wiser.
School teaches knowledge, life teaches wisdom…
Wisdom is what you gain *after* your education had been tempered with life experiences. Although considered most cunning (businesspeople would say “smart”) among the Greeks, Odysseus returns to Ithaca wiser than he left for the war. And he does not spend 20 years studying liberal arts abroad. He fights, he wanders, he confronts his and other people’s demons and passions; he learns from his accomplishments and from his mistakes – and thus he becomes wiser.
School teaches knowledge, life teaches wisdom…
9
This is not hard and the below says it all.
"But you need both, in my view, to maximize your potential. And an economics major or computer science major or biology or engineering or physics major who takes serious courses in the humanities and history also will be a much more valuable scientist, financial professional, economist, or entrepreneur.”"
this is what I look for when I hire new people...
"But you need both, in my view, to maximize your potential. And an economics major or computer science major or biology or engineering or physics major who takes serious courses in the humanities and history also will be a much more valuable scientist, financial professional, economist, or entrepreneur.”"
this is what I look for when I hire new people...
2
My advice to college students is to read Moby Dick on your own time or watch the movie.
In the meantime you should major in a STEM field or in business so your are employable upon graduation. That way you wont have to move back in with your parents and you can get married and have your own family.
College should not be a four year joy ride.
In the meantime you should major in a STEM field or in business so your are employable upon graduation. That way you wont have to move back in with your parents and you can get married and have your own family.
College should not be a four year joy ride.
4
Given the state of capitalism in America, a college education is what people do to get a job. But once you have the job, if you can't discuss music, literature, history, politics, geography, architecture, religion... and do it with a degree of rhetorical flair, you won't advance.
4
Having graduated from St. John's College, the Great Books school, decades ago, I am in full agreement with Nick and others. But let's be clear: merely reading some Homer and Plato is NOT a "liberal arts education." It's about dialectic - the constant arguing back and forth across time and in classes about great ideas.
I think it actually more useful to consider Nick's other question: what might all of us do differently in our college years in light of what we know now? I'm pretty confident in my answer: courses in statistics and macro-economics - maybe even an MBA. The modern world is not intelligible without those two non-liberal arts areas.
I think it actually more useful to consider Nick's other question: what might all of us do differently in our college years in light of what we know now? I'm pretty confident in my answer: courses in statistics and macro-economics - maybe even an MBA. The modern world is not intelligible without those two non-liberal arts areas.
5
I note that what Kristof identifies as wisdom, he explains in terms of its commercial usefulness.
2
Dear Mr. Kristof,
Knowledge can only take one so far; wisdom is essential.
Or, put in another way:
Knowledge is knowing the Tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to use it in a fruit salad.
What makes us human is wisdom; everything else could be done by a computer.
Knowledge can only take one so far; wisdom is essential.
Or, put in another way:
Knowledge is knowing the Tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to use it in a fruit salad.
What makes us human is wisdom; everything else could be done by a computer.
4
As we are dumbed down by technology and benumbed by the current cascade of media mediocrity, we risk becoming shadows of ourselves.
3
Claiming education is mainly-- or only-- for job training reveals a pitiful lack of education.
It gets worse when "jobs" means being an employee--subject to the authority of an employer.
It gets even worse when that employer/authority is not regulated by labor law.
And even worse when the only basis of that authority is money--as in plutocracy. The natural basis of authority/deference relations is relative knowledge-competence-wisdom.
One on life's most terrible things is being in a (Kafkaesque) system--subject to some fools "authority"--whether that be judge-accused, male-female, husband-wife, teacher-student--or any variation on "ruler-ruled" including employer-employee.
Education should be nothing less than passing the accumulated wisdom of one generation on to the next. No one ever knows where re-search for better ideas--all sorts--will take us. Only fools claim they do.
It gets worse when "jobs" means being an employee--subject to the authority of an employer.
It gets even worse when that employer/authority is not regulated by labor law.
And even worse when the only basis of that authority is money--as in plutocracy. The natural basis of authority/deference relations is relative knowledge-competence-wisdom.
One on life's most terrible things is being in a (Kafkaesque) system--subject to some fools "authority"--whether that be judge-accused, male-female, husband-wife, teacher-student--or any variation on "ruler-ruled" including employer-employee.
Education should be nothing less than passing the accumulated wisdom of one generation on to the next. No one ever knows where re-search for better ideas--all sorts--will take us. Only fools claim they do.
5
Indeed in this world of hyper connectivity, technological savvy, glorification of celebrity status, selfies & a seemingly endless need for self promotion, the most precious commodity are moments of silent reverie. While many seek crowdsourcing opportunities from wealth investors in order to tap into what will be an instant best seller, the fact remains that what is popular is not necessarily that which is nutritious for the hungry soul.
What does it say about our culture when kids are passive spectators to a gang rape on a beach in Florida? What does it say about journalism when unsubstantiated stories are allowed to be published in magazines in order to sensationalize real societal problems? What does it say about society when funds for Education are allowed to wither while the military budget is considered sacrosanct by politicians? What does it say about our collective conscience when residents of poor neighborhoods live in fear of the very police force entrusted with protecting them?
Absolutely, we are a nation starving for morality, justice & wisdom, although the very institutions tasked with providing education are no longer respected by society. Universities are under threat of becoming mere factories to produce technology & business workers in order to fit into a scarcity of employment opportunities due to the lack of investment in infrastructure in our own nation. Literature is a salve to heal the lack of wisdom in the common marketplace of American life.
What does it say about our culture when kids are passive spectators to a gang rape on a beach in Florida? What does it say about journalism when unsubstantiated stories are allowed to be published in magazines in order to sensationalize real societal problems? What does it say about society when funds for Education are allowed to wither while the military budget is considered sacrosanct by politicians? What does it say about our collective conscience when residents of poor neighborhoods live in fear of the very police force entrusted with protecting them?
Absolutely, we are a nation starving for morality, justice & wisdom, although the very institutions tasked with providing education are no longer respected by society. Universities are under threat of becoming mere factories to produce technology & business workers in order to fit into a scarcity of employment opportunities due to the lack of investment in infrastructure in our own nation. Literature is a salve to heal the lack of wisdom in the common marketplace of American life.
45
In graduate school, I taught a drawing class required of dental students, so they could understand dental images in dimension and proportion. The knowledge of liberal arts majors touches many other lives than those of the artists themselves.
2
It is impossible to be informed and knowledgeable about all the important matters of the time. Therefore, much in life depends on "common sense." That is not taught in schools today.
Common sense is not common.
Common sense is not common.
Instead of claiming that The Odyssey or late Beethoven teach life lessons, increase personal income or make young people more attractive to the Fortune 500, it ought to be enough to point to current Americans political and business elites as a model of how destructive human beings can be when they care about nothing but money and power.
If our betters had a reason to live beyond piling up more gold, cutting their own taxes and pontificating on Sunday talk shows, human civilization might have a better chance of surviving.
If our betters had a reason to live beyond piling up more gold, cutting their own taxes and pontificating on Sunday talk shows, human civilization might have a better chance of surviving.
3
Who was it who said:
"When I examine myself, I am concerned. When I compare myself, I am reassured."
"When I examine myself, I am concerned. When I compare myself, I am reassured."
And humanities could help religious people to take a second look at religion as the answer to every question.
1
look no farther than the national debate for evidence of the harm that comes from a lack of grasp, limited debate marked by ideology, (bumperstickers fired at point blank range), immune to the reason and rhetoric of philosophy, (in its widest, most literal sense relevant to mr kristof's column today, 4/16, "love of wisdom"), and its embrace of inquiry into the hows and whys of all the sciences and arts.
as sad, and painfully ironic, is the plight of education itself, rather foundering in a sea of educationese than moored to the realities of learning and cognition and the disciplines that offer "the lessons in human nature that help us decode the world around us."
there is a commercial running these days, extolling the tough-guy appeal of a particular brand of automobile, a police officer, having pulled one of the cars over for (wink, wink, speeding) is appalled by what he hears on the driver's radio: "is that classical music!" he mocks...what a way to behave at the wheel of a gas guzzling bomb.
as sad, and painfully ironic, is the plight of education itself, rather foundering in a sea of educationese than moored to the realities of learning and cognition and the disciplines that offer "the lessons in human nature that help us decode the world around us."
there is a commercial running these days, extolling the tough-guy appeal of a particular brand of automobile, a police officer, having pulled one of the cars over for (wink, wink, speeding) is appalled by what he hears on the driver's radio: "is that classical music!" he mocks...what a way to behave at the wheel of a gas guzzling bomb.
1
If anyone doubts the benefits of studying literature, just read The Better Angels of Our Nature by Stephen Pinker. He concludes that development of the novel correlates (or even, perhaps, caused) development of empathy, which led to a decrease in societal violence as humans' identification with fictional protagonists improved their ability to understand the impacts of their actions on others. If our educational system eliminates literature from its curriculum, it will send a message that fiction is not valuable, and the important lessons that can be gained from exposure to other perspectives will be lost. No one seems to be considering the potential negative impact on our society as a whole after we raise generations who are led to believe that only facts matter.
3
Can wisdom be taught? Or is it attained through experience? "We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us."
Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
2
One of the most memorable and useful learnings from a course in philosophy is the question of how do you know what you know. Later business school work pinned down many ways in which to know things and when hard knowledge was lacking Bayesian Statistics added a good way to aggregate judgement. Law school honed verbal and writing skills to use ones arguments. But it was Public Health that reminded me of Qui Bono, who benefits, and there it was to be the people, not a person, a state, a party but the people.
So anything that broadens ones perspective on life is welcomed. If one works in a state system it is good to visit other states. Like our health care system, study Germany or Japan or Canada for ideas to see how others view it.
Comparative systems yield insights. Humanities yes! And, best to get this broad overview of life and thinking early.
Sound like a lot? It is but remember, learning is a life long endeavor. And if you haven't fit all in at retirement begin the study and practice of ......something.
So anything that broadens ones perspective on life is welcomed. If one works in a state system it is good to visit other states. Like our health care system, study Germany or Japan or Canada for ideas to see how others view it.
Comparative systems yield insights. Humanities yes! And, best to get this broad overview of life and thinking early.
Sound like a lot? It is but remember, learning is a life long endeavor. And if you haven't fit all in at retirement begin the study and practice of ......something.
Never have I seen the quality of living less appreciated than it is now. Even as higher education becomes less financially accessible, having the latest tech device is glorified. I rail against the attitude that a college education is a luxury to be grudgingly given, yet have accepted that the humanities has been been marginalized by academic subjects directly preparing a student for a job. To that extent, study in the humanities has, in fact, been a luxury. Finding a way to bring more of it into public high schools would help foster curiosity about philosophy and how it affects the way we see many things.
2
We are losing the concept of a Cultural Well where each generation can go to the sources of our culture and use those materials to re-invent for the challenges of new times. We also need to re-connect to Land.
To get out on a limb where you imagine new ideas will only emerge from a business degree is short-sighted- we need creative thinkers who can draw from lots of sources, not people who follow formulas, at this point.
To get out on a limb where you imagine new ideas will only emerge from a business degree is short-sighted- we need creative thinkers who can draw from lots of sources, not people who follow formulas, at this point.
1
Well worth reading. At least one problem is well illustrated by the article. Nicholas Kristof turns to several "studies" to prove that the humanities are worth teaching. Today, everything must be justified by quantitative studies to prove its worth to those who provide funding. "Show me the numbers" that support teaching Shakespeare. "Show me the numbers" that support art and music education in elementary school. We want proven measurable value for the dollars we spend, whether it is our charitable giving dollars or our tax dollars. And seemly everything is measurable now.
2
Considering the absolute ignorance most Americans have of other cultures I suggest mandatory cultural anthropology should be a part of any university program. We face a situation where those with the most power, economic and military, seem to have the least appreciation of the complexity of human affairs. After my many years of academic pursuits I find myself, at the age of 80, seated in the privacy of my one man "conference room" studying Karl Polanyi's "The Great Transformation" in order to address the mythology which dominates our economic ideology (or religion). I thank my many years of liberal education for encouraging me to continually explore the world about me. I suspect that had I pursued an occupationally oriented education I would, instead, be sitting there focusing on the Sports and Stock Market sections of the Times. What a boring existence that would be.
3
There is one college in America where the liberal arts are truly ALIVE and well:
St. John's College in Annapolis, MD and in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We studied philosophy, mathematics, great works of literature, the sciences, Greek, French, and music. To my mind, the most inspiring, invigorating features of the Program at St. John's are the daily exchange of ideas, and the respect for teaching and learning. And what on earth can you do with a four year degree like that? Anything - and your life will never be the same. You will always be searching for those great conversations.
St. John's College in Annapolis, MD and in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We studied philosophy, mathematics, great works of literature, the sciences, Greek, French, and music. To my mind, the most inspiring, invigorating features of the Program at St. John's are the daily exchange of ideas, and the respect for teaching and learning. And what on earth can you do with a four year degree like that? Anything - and your life will never be the same. You will always be searching for those great conversations.
5
One vital source of wisdom that's often overlooked is "Know Thyself." Even with broad wisdom gained by way of the Humanities, "An Unexamined life is not worth living." Instead, we humans tend to focus on how to achieve and get but ignore a part of the human experience that's even more important and vital. Simply how to be.
4
The fact that we are having this "conversation" indicates that our culture has already made its decision. The debate is over, and we're just fighting a rearguard action for time.
3
No. Engineers should take a few more liberal arts classes and humanities majors need to conquer their fear of math and take a lot more STEM courses and learn how the physical world works.
Someone should apply some "critical thinking" to the MBA degree.
Someone should apply some "critical thinking" to the MBA degree.
3
“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.” --- E.O. Wilson, as quoted by Kristof.
There's a belief among many today that facts are all that you need, and that context is unimportant. Perhaps that attitude comes from our internet age, where we can look up almost anything. But having a brain full of unconnected facts does not make one wise, or even well-informed necessarily. Context is very important if one is to be able to use all those facts to personal advantage. For that, background knowledge is needed, including even (or perhaps especially) in the humanities, as Kristof says. We can exist, but we won't have a concept of what constitutes a better, more rewarding life unless our horizons extend beyond the merely factual.
Unfortunately, the schools, with their "teach to the test" philosophy, are neglecting the humanities and the "softer sciences" like social studies in their single-minded drive to achieve high scores in math and basic English. An appreciation of the arts and of social relations should start in grade school if they are to become frameworks for us to understand others and to enjoy the finer things in life.
There's a belief among many today that facts are all that you need, and that context is unimportant. Perhaps that attitude comes from our internet age, where we can look up almost anything. But having a brain full of unconnected facts does not make one wise, or even well-informed necessarily. Context is very important if one is to be able to use all those facts to personal advantage. For that, background knowledge is needed, including even (or perhaps especially) in the humanities, as Kristof says. We can exist, but we won't have a concept of what constitutes a better, more rewarding life unless our horizons extend beyond the merely factual.
Unfortunately, the schools, with their "teach to the test" philosophy, are neglecting the humanities and the "softer sciences" like social studies in their single-minded drive to achieve high scores in math and basic English. An appreciation of the arts and of social relations should start in grade school if they are to become frameworks for us to understand others and to enjoy the finer things in life.
3
Perhaps starving for relevance is also apt. Having taught at three types of college (public 4-year, 2-year technical, and proprietary), I have witnessed how colleges focus on topical skills yet often miss the opportunity to teach some of the softer skills. Skills such as motivation, time management, organization, focus, and the oft-cited critical thinking are viewed as implied, but seldom actually covered. This is troubling because too often I see intelligent students struggle, fail classes, and ultimately drop out of school—not because of aptitude, but because of approach. Many of today’s students are trying to balance work, family, and college yet they lack the skills needed to navigate their full plate of responsibilities.
Second, another Anthropology degree is not the point Mr. Christ, it is about an educated student able to view a problem in an alternative framework—a framework that can see beyond the myopia of how it affects the bottom line. A well-rounded education is meant to help discern how a decision affects the long-term health of the company, the environment, the larger economy, and even the nation. In the end, an education that includes a variety of courses should help students ethically interact in the public domain and fulfill their responsibility as part of the citizenry—not just make a few more dollars.
Second, another Anthropology degree is not the point Mr. Christ, it is about an educated student able to view a problem in an alternative framework—a framework that can see beyond the myopia of how it affects the bottom line. A well-rounded education is meant to help discern how a decision affects the long-term health of the company, the environment, the larger economy, and even the nation. In the end, an education that includes a variety of courses should help students ethically interact in the public domain and fulfill their responsibility as part of the citizenry—not just make a few more dollars.
2
I was an English major, who intended to be a professor. After realizing how hard it is to get tenure at a university, I ended up in e-commerce and other tech-related fields. I learned on the job, and as someone who works with developers every day, I know communication skills are neglected in tech education. The best developer I've ever worked with wanted to thoroughly understand the project and the customer before building anything.
1
I cannot argue with any of your positions ( Though I was taught how to argue when i studied the liberal arts! ) , i even encouraged my children to study philosophy like their parents did ( our daughter listened to her wise elders). But in all fairness, we could afford to do this.
My wife and I attended the CUNY system in the early 1970's. My cost was merely student fee's ( York College classes of 74' and 76')
My total cost ? Roughly $400 for four years. My daughters expense while at Bard ( class of 08') approximately 250 .....THOUSAND DOLLARS!
I was fortunate that I could afford to send my daughter there and allow her to study what she pleased. But I can truly understand the fear in students and parents today taking on such a burden of debt without the knowledge of how it will be repaid.
When society again values education ( e.g.low cost state universities, funded by society) we will see more students studying the liberal arts.
But for now the war of knowledge which is battling commerce is losing. The privatization of public schools is the logical step after the defunding of the universities.
You fear for the Humanities? Wait a few years, you will be crying for the loss of basic education for our youth as corporations and ( yes REPUBLICANS) control grades 1-12. Teach to the test ! Not to the mind!
My wife and I attended the CUNY system in the early 1970's. My cost was merely student fee's ( York College classes of 74' and 76')
My total cost ? Roughly $400 for four years. My daughters expense while at Bard ( class of 08') approximately 250 .....THOUSAND DOLLARS!
I was fortunate that I could afford to send my daughter there and allow her to study what she pleased. But I can truly understand the fear in students and parents today taking on such a burden of debt without the knowledge of how it will be repaid.
When society again values education ( e.g.low cost state universities, funded by society) we will see more students studying the liberal arts.
But for now the war of knowledge which is battling commerce is losing. The privatization of public schools is the logical step after the defunding of the universities.
You fear for the Humanities? Wait a few years, you will be crying for the loss of basic education for our youth as corporations and ( yes REPUBLICANS) control grades 1-12. Teach to the test ! Not to the mind!
1
America will be a great country only when we reach a stage that the US president doesn’t matter at all.
The president should be just a clerk that implements the principles that the entire country wholeheartedly supports.
We are the great country only if there are a million people capable of serving as the leader. It means we have the national consensus what fundamental principles we follow and believe in.
If the president matters, we are divided as a country, have two opposing worldviews and the president gets to choose what principles we will implement over the next four years. After a term or two, we replace the president and the guiding principles, thus taking the country in opposite direction and effectively paralyzing America.
The president isn’t more important than any other fellow American. Mr. Obama yesterday visited Charlotte. He left it during the usual traffic jam. His security paralyzed the city to protect him personally.
The president volunteered to serve us, not otherwise.
We as the country cannot spend more on electing a president or securing them personally than what their yearly salary is.
We should never paralyze a city to protect a single individual.
A country is as strong as the number of individuals capable of serving as leader. That number should be in the millions and not one or two.
Let’s stop idolizing the individuals and replace them with a team spirit and logic...
The president should be just a clerk that implements the principles that the entire country wholeheartedly supports.
We are the great country only if there are a million people capable of serving as the leader. It means we have the national consensus what fundamental principles we follow and believe in.
If the president matters, we are divided as a country, have two opposing worldviews and the president gets to choose what principles we will implement over the next four years. After a term or two, we replace the president and the guiding principles, thus taking the country in opposite direction and effectively paralyzing America.
The president isn’t more important than any other fellow American. Mr. Obama yesterday visited Charlotte. He left it during the usual traffic jam. His security paralyzed the city to protect him personally.
The president volunteered to serve us, not otherwise.
We as the country cannot spend more on electing a president or securing them personally than what their yearly salary is.
We should never paralyze a city to protect a single individual.
A country is as strong as the number of individuals capable of serving as leader. That number should be in the millions and not one or two.
Let’s stop idolizing the individuals and replace them with a team spirit and logic...
All other things being equal, I'll hire an MBA with a lib arts degree ahead of an MBA with a BBA. The former has probably learned more to read deeply, write cogently, analyze critically and communicate effectively.
Let's make MBA programs five year stints. The first three years are mostly liberal arts (with a minor in a chosen discipline) with some business courses. The final two years are the MBA program itself. You lop off a year of college, saving thousands of dollars for the student (and his/her family), and the country and the employer have a well educated young adult ready to go.
Let's make MBA programs five year stints. The first three years are mostly liberal arts (with a minor in a chosen discipline) with some business courses. The final two years are the MBA program itself. You lop off a year of college, saving thousands of dollars for the student (and his/her family), and the country and the employer have a well educated young adult ready to go.
1
I think it was Elizabeth Hardwick who said, "I don't know what I think until I write." Writing challenges our thinking in ways that merely talking never can and by doing it regularly and well it can not only improve the way we think but show us a level of thinking we didn't know we possessed, helping us through the hazards of clear and honest communication with others. Combine writing with reading literature and we begin to develop an imagination for what is truly 'other' than ourselves (which often comes to us as a world-changing revelation) and our thinking takes on new dimensions and grows richer, more mature. Add in the fact-based disciplines and our writing, no matter how imaginative, develops 'ground', and with it our thinking, granting us standing and usefulness in our world and with ourselves and our neighbors. With grounded thinking, philosophy, theology and psychology might have a chance of awakening the seeds of wisdom within us, providing a quiet and satisfying resonance of mind and body and world and giving us, mercifully, the best our hearts can attain in this lifetime. But learn to write first, seriously and in a disciplined way. You can tweet in your sleep.
I learned a new word today. In doing so, I took a heuristic approach. Thanks Nicholas.
The liberal arts are currently doomed because the word "liberal" has been demonized. And critical thinking has just become the ability and desire to criticize.
3
Liberal arts education are for the children of the rich. The rest of us neeed an education to get a job or in most cases jobs.
1
As a retired college professor, I witnessed a massive shift from college as a place to receive a well-rounded education to prepare students for a life of thinking & learning, to college as a place to become trained in a profession or enterprise that provides financial security and puts students on the road to career success. The adoration of business, money, and materialism coupled with the skyrocketing costs of a college education, student debt, and a tightening job market had a lot to do with the shift away from the humanities & toward business or computer technology as a major.
When I went to undergraduate school at a large state university, all students took core arts and science courses the first two years and then declared a major, but still were required to take electives junior and senior years in course outside one's major. I took a fabulous art history elective that changed my life & gave me a love of art & travel. In those days, business majors were considered not too bright, limited, and remarkably incurious & uninteresting.
Now that I am retired, which courses and professors from my undergrad days had the greatest lasting impact on my love of learning? 3 history professors, 2 English professors, an instructor in the philosophy of science, and a learning theory professor in human development.
A college degree without the humanities is a bland diet that leaves one malnourished years later. The humanities help us make sense of our experiences. We need help!
When I went to undergraduate school at a large state university, all students took core arts and science courses the first two years and then declared a major, but still were required to take electives junior and senior years in course outside one's major. I took a fabulous art history elective that changed my life & gave me a love of art & travel. In those days, business majors were considered not too bright, limited, and remarkably incurious & uninteresting.
Now that I am retired, which courses and professors from my undergrad days had the greatest lasting impact on my love of learning? 3 history professors, 2 English professors, an instructor in the philosophy of science, and a learning theory professor in human development.
A college degree without the humanities is a bland diet that leaves one malnourished years later. The humanities help us make sense of our experiences. We need help!
8
"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" TS Eliot, 1934, in "The Rock"
“..true education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values... Our aims assure us of our material life, our values make possible our spiritual life.”
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 1938
These are just a few of the quotes that could be used in this context. What Governors Walker, Scott et al do not understand is that the tech industry understands - and has long understood - the crucial role of the humanities for their business. Xerox, when it founded PARC, hired anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists and others along with scientists and engineers. Not only did PARC invent technical solutions such as the GUI or the Ethernet, it also invented corporate ethnography. One of the hottest debates in technology is around empathy; companies understand that big data may be able to describe the landscape, but thick data (deep understanding) is needed to understand the traveler. Some of the most significant breakthroughs in computing have come at the interface with the humanities (e.g. linguistics). The Olin College of Engineering was explicitly founded to address "soft skills" in engineers. These governors show their profound ignorance and mediocrity of thinking by these actions, and are living proof for better humanities education. Alas, as Goethe said" Against ignorance, even the gods are powerless."
“..true education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values... Our aims assure us of our material life, our values make possible our spiritual life.”
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 1938
These are just a few of the quotes that could be used in this context. What Governors Walker, Scott et al do not understand is that the tech industry understands - and has long understood - the crucial role of the humanities for their business. Xerox, when it founded PARC, hired anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists and others along with scientists and engineers. Not only did PARC invent technical solutions such as the GUI or the Ethernet, it also invented corporate ethnography. One of the hottest debates in technology is around empathy; companies understand that big data may be able to describe the landscape, but thick data (deep understanding) is needed to understand the traveler. Some of the most significant breakthroughs in computing have come at the interface with the humanities (e.g. linguistics). The Olin College of Engineering was explicitly founded to address "soft skills" in engineers. These governors show their profound ignorance and mediocrity of thinking by these actions, and are living proof for better humanities education. Alas, as Goethe said" Against ignorance, even the gods are powerless."
3
"(I was a political science major; if I were doing it over, I’d be an economics major with a foot in the humanities.)" Sadly in the state I reside occupations requiring economics is a measly 18%. Even sadder it beats philosophy and theology by 8%. Still the downgrade of occupations requiring the skills sets utilized in the three occupation I've mentioned (economist, theologian, philosopher) is confusing.
Why?
The world is more connected than ever. Thus I would think the knowledge acquired in theses occupations would be applicable cross-culturally in many occupations.
Why?
The world is more connected than ever. Thus I would think the knowledge acquired in theses occupations would be applicable cross-culturally in many occupations.
1
Why do Americans believe that how to make a living needs to be carefully taught while how to live a life, wisdom, will simply take care of itself without any effort or consideration?
93
I don't think all Americans believe what you've stated. I do think many young Americans have witnessed their parents doing both (imperfectly at times) and the investment in education not paying enough to support a family modestly.
'tis, indeed true that Humanities and a Liberal education cultivates and develops critical thinking skills. But how do today's students, products of color-by-number cookbook curriculum, standardized testing K-12 courses gain exposure to such vital and stimulating disciplines ? And why , having endured such an assault on their fundamental right to think, would they have any interest in such things upon arrival at university?
This is precisely the reason that so many educators, including myself, have long decried this hijacking of curriculum by the corporatist "education reform" for-profit business models that are so very au courant in "serious" education circles these days. Circles that most often do not include actual classroom teachers.
The fundamental goal of neoliberal standardized curriculums is to produce docile, non-critical thinking employees fit for life on the cubicle farm; the very antithesis of everything for which liberal education exists.
This is precisely the reason that so many educators, including myself, have long decried this hijacking of curriculum by the corporatist "education reform" for-profit business models that are so very au courant in "serious" education circles these days. Circles that most often do not include actual classroom teachers.
The fundamental goal of neoliberal standardized curriculums is to produce docile, non-critical thinking employees fit for life on the cubicle farm; the very antithesis of everything for which liberal education exists.
6
Knowledge leads to productivity. Productivity leads to wealth. Wealth leads to leisure. Leisure leads to more knowledge. Somewhere, we went off track.
1
The problem with Mr. Kristof's defense of the Humanities is that they don't pay. It's great to get a liberal arts education, but you can't charge the same price. $200,000 for engineering makes sense, but not $200,000 for literature. The colleges offering liberal education need to make it so students don't graduate with huge debts and no job prospects. To those who say "but it's not about money" I say "then don't make it cost $50,000 a year."
4
Comparing apples and oranges in this way (seems out of touch with reality.
Of course, my reality is probably skewed by my experience (I teach in a high-risk, juvenile detention home, which houses a large number of kids with real issues, often circumstances not of their own making, in what a friend of mine calls their "accidents of birth") The deficits of my students, and their educational needs, are shaped by social and emotional experiences and what they have already learned, when they land in jail. That's why it is impossible for me to teach a distinct discipline, like biology without talking about ethics and civic-mindedness, and also why our curriculum imbeds lessons in addressing bullying behavior, and many other applied mental and physical health strategies. This is largely a result of the failures of our community models to address poverty and the rationing of mental health and special education services for the children that need them most. A huge number of my students have been in foster care and/or have been homeless. My point is that our society undervalues the "soft" disciplines and that is the HUGE error for our society: continuing to priviledge the sciences over other disciplines (paying them so much more that others) perpetuates this. The business sector owes this country: payback to the people of this country is overdue. They should and must realign their priorities and pay up. It feels to me like another form of violence, to ignore this reality.
Of course, my reality is probably skewed by my experience (I teach in a high-risk, juvenile detention home, which houses a large number of kids with real issues, often circumstances not of their own making, in what a friend of mine calls their "accidents of birth") The deficits of my students, and their educational needs, are shaped by social and emotional experiences and what they have already learned, when they land in jail. That's why it is impossible for me to teach a distinct discipline, like biology without talking about ethics and civic-mindedness, and also why our curriculum imbeds lessons in addressing bullying behavior, and many other applied mental and physical health strategies. This is largely a result of the failures of our community models to address poverty and the rationing of mental health and special education services for the children that need them most. A huge number of my students have been in foster care and/or have been homeless. My point is that our society undervalues the "soft" disciplines and that is the HUGE error for our society: continuing to priviledge the sciences over other disciplines (paying them so much more that others) perpetuates this. The business sector owes this country: payback to the people of this country is overdue. They should and must realign their priorities and pay up. It feels to me like another form of violence, to ignore this reality.
The point is that if you are liberally educated, the skills you learn are transferable skills! You can pick up technical skills along the way and be a well-educated technical person, instead of one who merely went right for the technical education. You get two skills for the price of one. Many people who were liberally educated pick up computer software development easily. A liberal education trains you to be a broad thinker. A career oriented one only trains you for that one field. Also- those who don't have liberal educations are missing out. They can't appreciate many great human achievements.
2
I agree. I think it's the competition for the few jobs left in the humanities that discourage many talented employable young men and women. I know my tenth grader who excels in the STEM field and the humanities see my experience as a mark against higher education.
What is most interesting though, is that he thinks the mental aptitude needed for the humanities is greater than the STEM fields. It just doesn't pay, although he thinks it's more rewarding. He knows even with programming one needs a working knowledge of story, plot, imagination, etc...
What is most interesting though, is that he thinks the mental aptitude needed for the humanities is greater than the STEM fields. It just doesn't pay, although he thinks it's more rewarding. He knows even with programming one needs a working knowledge of story, plot, imagination, etc...
I think that the biggest problem in this debate is that most people polarize to either the science or humanities sides. The answer is that we need BOTH.
Sadly educational institutions and the whole "majors" concept tend to reinforce this as each academic department strives for resources and to make itself seem the most important to attract resources and students willing to major in their field.
An extreme example was at my college, where the art and architecture building was at the extreme opposite end of the campus from science hill, about 1/2 mile away or more. I majored in Biology and Chemistry, and focused on Art as a "minor". I still recall the science folks declaiming my art interests as a waste of time, and the artists saying that my science discipline was making it impossible to be an artist!
Ironically during that time, I spent several years making pioneering maps of the ocean floor, where my art training and scientific training made me invaluable! So much for either or! My work is still on exhibit in the library of congress, and my fondest memory was working with National Geographic to create scientifically accurate images for an article on the continental shelves.
What we really need is a unified wholistic approach that creates disciplined scientific thinkers with communications skills and humanistic sensitivities. No one is creating a major or a curriculum to serve those needs, but
iIn the rapidly changing world this will let folks adapt and thrive.
Sadly educational institutions and the whole "majors" concept tend to reinforce this as each academic department strives for resources and to make itself seem the most important to attract resources and students willing to major in their field.
An extreme example was at my college, where the art and architecture building was at the extreme opposite end of the campus from science hill, about 1/2 mile away or more. I majored in Biology and Chemistry, and focused on Art as a "minor". I still recall the science folks declaiming my art interests as a waste of time, and the artists saying that my science discipline was making it impossible to be an artist!
Ironically during that time, I spent several years making pioneering maps of the ocean floor, where my art training and scientific training made me invaluable! So much for either or! My work is still on exhibit in the library of congress, and my fondest memory was working with National Geographic to create scientifically accurate images for an article on the continental shelves.
What we really need is a unified wholistic approach that creates disciplined scientific thinkers with communications skills and humanistic sensitivities. No one is creating a major or a curriculum to serve those needs, but
iIn the rapidly changing world this will let folks adapt and thrive.
6
We seem to have the most difficulty when we have to bridge the gap between these ways of thinking.
There are things that are held true to scientists that people of the humanities cannot accept, largely because they don't believe in absolute truth. They're right to question absolute truth, but their ideas about the certainty of science are out of whack.
We need a better confluence of fields in the world, a global conversation between disparate lines of thought. This, to me, is the defining problem of our time.
There are things that are held true to scientists that people of the humanities cannot accept, largely because they don't believe in absolute truth. They're right to question absolute truth, but their ideas about the certainty of science are out of whack.
We need a better confluence of fields in the world, a global conversation between disparate lines of thought. This, to me, is the defining problem of our time.
1
No one can can claim to understand what's happening in the Middle East without at least a course or two on the Crusades.
No one is qualified to discuss the EPA or the FDA without having read Rachel Carson and Upton Sinclair.
Without the humanities,we see every problem as newly hatched, and we search for solutions, pressed by time, based only on the information we have before us at that moment. All the technology in the world can't compensate for a failure to see what's come before.
No one is qualified to discuss the EPA or the FDA without having read Rachel Carson and Upton Sinclair.
Without the humanities,we see every problem as newly hatched, and we search for solutions, pressed by time, based only on the information we have before us at that moment. All the technology in the world can't compensate for a failure to see what's come before.
13
A wise education begins with learning to recognize the borders between your ignorance and knowledge without being stupid. Ignorance is an absence of knowledge. Stupidity is a fictional and mythological belief in things that are simply, naturally and objectively not true.
Wisdom begins with the ability to say "I don't know" when asked a question where you have no education, experience nor information. While I was an undergrad STEM major I greatly valued my liberal arts education and faith. All of which taught me how to ask pertinent questions, to think and appreciate the diversity of the natural and human world. I learned the wise moral virtues of empathy and humility.
When 70% of physical reality is hidden behind the whimsy of dark energy and another 25% of reality is magical dark energy, the boundaries between STEM, liberal arts and faith fade and morph into a shifting, evolving and changing base of wisdom.
Wisdom begins with the ability to say "I don't know" when asked a question where you have no education, experience nor information. While I was an undergrad STEM major I greatly valued my liberal arts education and faith. All of which taught me how to ask pertinent questions, to think and appreciate the diversity of the natural and human world. I learned the wise moral virtues of empathy and humility.
When 70% of physical reality is hidden behind the whimsy of dark energy and another 25% of reality is magical dark energy, the boundaries between STEM, liberal arts and faith fade and morph into a shifting, evolving and changing base of wisdom.
6
I majored in biology and minored in chemistry when I was in college. Because I was constantly reading I decided to take lit courses for credit. I read books that I would not have picked up otherwise. One course, Scandinavian Literature, introduced me to a completely new style of writing that I continue to love today. The translations were quite good and captured the essence of the world those authors wrote about. Another course involved re-reading "Catch-22" but this professor brought up some novel ideas about the book. On my own I read "Le Morte D'Arthur" and learned an immense amount about the myths and legends of Britain.
Majoring in science assisted me in learning to do critical reading and to understand that there are certain universal principles at work in the world. Taking lit courses led to my having a more eclectic taste in reading, to be willing to read "foreign" authors, to travel (when it was affordable), and to understanding that my point of view is not the only point of view. It enabled me to listen to music and "see" another world, to understand the associations between culture and people. By reading tragedies, comedies, about history, science, politics, etc., I feel that I've enriched my life and that I can attempt to put myself into another's shoes. I also know that I still have much to learn and want to learn.
Majoring in science assisted me in learning to do critical reading and to understand that there are certain universal principles at work in the world. Taking lit courses led to my having a more eclectic taste in reading, to be willing to read "foreign" authors, to travel (when it was affordable), and to understanding that my point of view is not the only point of view. It enabled me to listen to music and "see" another world, to understand the associations between culture and people. By reading tragedies, comedies, about history, science, politics, etc., I feel that I've enriched my life and that I can attempt to put myself into another's shoes. I also know that I still have much to learn and want to learn.
6
Sunday's paper included an essay by David Brooks about the kinds of people he seemed to wish he could emulate. The people he lauded were all humanists of one persuasion or another.
Our modern world seems to begrudge people the opportunity to look inward, to find peace with their true natures. We seem to insist that the "Purfuit of Happiness" we put off unto the next life. This life is all about the "Purfuit of Profit."
The is an old saying something like this: "A life lived without introspection is a life lived incompletely."
Our modern world seems to begrudge people the opportunity to look inward, to find peace with their true natures. We seem to insist that the "Purfuit of Happiness" we put off unto the next life. This life is all about the "Purfuit of Profit."
The is an old saying something like this: "A life lived without introspection is a life lived incompletely."
10
Even "pure" scientists need Philosophy and Humanities, especially in times of transformational change (sometimes referred to as "paradigm shifts"). Philosophy helped physicists understand or at least mentally accept the strangeness of quantum mechanics. Biology and Medical Sciences have been for long in the throws of similar transformational changes brought on by the technological developments that brought on "Systems Biology", "Personalized Medicine", "21st Century Toxicology" and so on. But there has not yet really been a corresponding philosophical investigation about what this "Big Data Biology" means in terms of standards of evidence and explanatory models. There are some attempts, sure ("Toward a Philosophy of Systems Biology" or "Systems Biology: Philosophical Foundations" and books/articles by Dennis Noble). However, these are not widely appreciated or digested, unlike the philosophy of quantum mechanics was in its heyday. Maybe biologists should have read more philosophy, but I suppose they were too busy trying to learn statistics and R programming. Or maybe standards of humanistic education were much higher, especially for scientists and mathematicians, in the 1920's than they are today.
2
It is possible that what are commonly called miracles are actually acts done by people with profound knowledge of quantum physics and string theory. Or, more likely, some force of nature we have yet to contemplate.
I hazard to guess that a quantum physicist would reply: "That is very unlikely" :-). To my understanding phenomena where laws of quantum physics dominate occur in very small dimensions and most "everyday" phenomena can be explained by classical laws of electromagnetism and gravity. String theory phenomena occur, if they do at all, at such small scales that even the LHC particle accelerator has no hope of reaching the relevant energies. Maybe human miracles are instead attributable to the "everyday" miraculous nature of humans themselves, which makes their achievements all the more noteworthy.
As an undergad chem major, ultimately a biologist, who was immersed in an Ivy-league core humanities/western-civ curriculum, I was able to quite seamlessly transit from an academic career to that of a science writer. The critical assessment of ideas and theories, the understanding about how people learn, and audience-appropriate writing were all "skills" that began their development in that humanities-centric curriculum. Most of all, it prepared us to be lifetime self-learners --- I was ultimately able to teach myself science areas that were pretty far removed from my core biological expertise. Those who argue against the humanities as technologically irrelevant are truly shortsighted.
7
I'm the product of a small liberal arts college and my son is a computer engineering major at Cornell. I keep asking when he's going to take a Shakespeare course. The answer: never, if he can help it. But I think those who decry the rise of "technical" education have it wrong. At Cornell, even a computer science major must take a good dose of liberal arts courses. My son spent a semester writing about the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and studying 20th Century Japanese history. Even in the engineering courses students learn to think and communicate. They write papers, work in teams, analyze, persuade.... All this hand wringing over the rise of subjects that actually have some practical use is off target.
1
I am an economist by profession but a teacher by vocation, and I have always maintained youngsters should focus on 3 areas in their education: First. mathematics, because it teaches them to think logically; second. english and literature, because no matter what their profession is they are going to have to communicate with others; third, psychology and sociology so they can understand the motivations of people they interact with. These 3 areas to me should be the lowest common denominator in our educational systems.
5
I'm not sure that I buy the premise, vis., that an education based in humanities will generate more wisdom. Can you honestly cite any studies that provide a causal connection between an education in the humanities (as opposed to 4-5 years traveling abroad, internship, sciences, trade school, etc. and wisdom (measured along with any metric you prefer) while correcting for preselection, etc.? I was a student of the humanities, and it seems, it does a fine job of building knowledge and esteem in its pupils, however it also seems more given to confirmation bias than any other given area. I'm sure there is a value in the humanities, I just don't think it's wisdom.
3
I'm an example of liberal arts in action... I have a Bachelors of FINE Arts, I went to art school. My particular set of skills are incredibly valuable in technology. My main focus professionally is making software applications easy to use. This is really important! To do this I use only "soft" skills like... talking to end users, and listening. And then I use my hard skills - design - to visually solve problems.
When you use some software that's difficult to use, that means somebody like me was not involved in the process, and corners were cut. Imagine EHR systems or the rollout of Affordable Care Act websites.
It's amazing how many people have zero visual literacy and are emotionally detached as a result. I see this as a real hinderance to progress actually because the leadership behind a lot of the software we end up with thinks more like a calculator than like a human being.
When you use some software that's difficult to use, that means somebody like me was not involved in the process, and corners were cut. Imagine EHR systems or the rollout of Affordable Care Act websites.
It's amazing how many people have zero visual literacy and are emotionally detached as a result. I see this as a real hinderance to progress actually because the leadership behind a lot of the software we end up with thinks more like a calculator than like a human being.
9
When reading good prose, illuminating poetry coming straight from the heart and soul of experience, then missing that input, that ray of literary sunshine is like missing the radiance of a Maui rainbow! Those who rely only on information as a the true journey into wisdom are mere readers of mechanical functions, interchanges, remedies to repair something, somewhere. But, for the wonderful and necessary MBZ mechanic to know the origin of the car, the developer of the car, who drove the car, and the history of the country that developed the care and that country's
association in the world of human beings, well now that's knowledge. The car is a material thing, while wisdom comes from analysis and comparisons and then choosing the most humane behavior possible at any given time.
Solving a plumbing issue, providing fresh water, and food grown from a parched earth in order to feed those who have escaped from such barbaric places as Somalia, where information is only valuable if it contributes to death and misery, are the issues of a liberal arts major, hopefully working side by side with a informational guide.
association in the world of human beings, well now that's knowledge. The car is a material thing, while wisdom comes from analysis and comparisons and then choosing the most humane behavior possible at any given time.
Solving a plumbing issue, providing fresh water, and food grown from a parched earth in order to feed those who have escaped from such barbaric places as Somalia, where information is only valuable if it contributes to death and misery, are the issues of a liberal arts major, hopefully working side by side with a informational guide.
1
If all that matters is how much you earn in a lifetime of work then training in an STEM or Business skill should be balanced by an equal amount of education in the more esoteric knowledge of humankind.
If what really matters is living a good life then education in the humanities should be balanced by an equal amount of education in STEM or Business.
There was once a time when virtually every man had to spend nearly all his life working to make ends meet. Virtually every woman had to spend nearly all her life bearing and raising kids and working, most often domestically, in every remaining moment. Those days have long since past away. Where only the affluent among our founding fathers had time to study the classics and learn gently discourse we now all have that opportunity.
As to the particulars of work itself, even the most insular and technical of tasks ultimately call for the ability to understand how your work interacts with the work of others. And to be fully honest the highest rewards are nearly always given to those who can manage the work of others or integrate the work of a local group with the needs of the economy at large.
In truth I received far higher rewards from my BA in History and Economics then my Engineering education would ever have afforded by itself. Both in earnings and in professional gratification. But it also informed and enriched my life away from work as well.
If what really matters is living a good life then education in the humanities should be balanced by an equal amount of education in STEM or Business.
There was once a time when virtually every man had to spend nearly all his life working to make ends meet. Virtually every woman had to spend nearly all her life bearing and raising kids and working, most often domestically, in every remaining moment. Those days have long since past away. Where only the affluent among our founding fathers had time to study the classics and learn gently discourse we now all have that opportunity.
As to the particulars of work itself, even the most insular and technical of tasks ultimately call for the ability to understand how your work interacts with the work of others. And to be fully honest the highest rewards are nearly always given to those who can manage the work of others or integrate the work of a local group with the needs of the economy at large.
In truth I received far higher rewards from my BA in History and Economics then my Engineering education would ever have afforded by itself. Both in earnings and in professional gratification. But it also informed and enriched my life away from work as well.
4
Nicholas Kristoff's defence of the liberal arts is the standard one-- market-based and functionalist. This is a bit like saying that art is important because it is good for tourism, which is true up to a point. Art is what civilizations leave behind. The self-important, literal-minded CEOs and all the plastic junk they produce will be buried in the great midden-heap of history. I take some consolation in the fact that 24 hours a day someone on the planet will always be playing the music of a provincial German choirmaster and composer of the 18th century. Future generations may well look closely at the remains of a Stealth bomber, but they will probably be mostly impressed by its sinister aesthetics. I would also make the point that the liberal arts flourish outside academia. A house full of books and music and actual human conversation is a good start. Oh, and heuristic is an adjective , not a noun.
8
Nice comment. However, heuristic can be a noun as well as an adjective: "The study or practice of heuristic procedure." - merriam-webster.com.
1
A word's part of speech is defined by its usage in an utterace, not what it inherently is somehow.
One may "house," people, or "blue," metal, or "chill until you catch a chill."
And one may use "heuristic," as a noun; it's done all the time.
Guess how I know this stuff? it wasn't engineering or math.
One may "house," people, or "blue," metal, or "chill until you catch a chill."
And one may use "heuristic," as a noun; it's done all the time.
Guess how I know this stuff? it wasn't engineering or math.
1
The words of Gov. Scott are similar to the actions of another Scott, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Gov. Walker's planned budget guts 300 million dollars from the University of Wisconsin, a renowned university of higher learning. Contained in the wording of his budget was also a change to the long celebrated mission statement of the university known as the Wisconsin Way. Gov. Walker tried to pull a fast one by changing the words " to benefit the entire state by promoting PUBLIC SERVICE and a search for truth." The governor slipped in the words, "to meet the state's work force needs" instead. When an uproar ensued, he claimed it was a drafting error. It was obviously no drafting error, rather a subtle message to push the notion that citizens are but cogs in the system, too much critical thinking can jam up the power structure. I believe that the leaders and backers (money men) of the modern Republican Party are working overtime to discourage critical thinking in the population. The march to dumb down the citizenry consists of a media that creates an alternate reality of ""facts" bolstered by mass emails, statements by elected officials and the obsfucation of truth, in part, by the availability of consumer goods to pacify. The participation rate in elections shows that it is working just fine. Many states, including mine, add voter restrictions as well, to prevent non existent voter fraud.
13
Another pretty fantasy! Something like the American one that every dumb joe benefits from college and requires a degree to survive. I'll bet John Adams would have choked over that one, even though the acquisition and implementation of (hitherto) forbidden technology was a critical need in his time.
The plain truth has always been that only a tiny fraction of us has capability for very wide understanding; a larger fraction has specific ability in limited areas, and the rest of us are doing well to get dressed in the morning. Like the family genealogies that always used to find a king or equivalent in one's line, we love the idea that everyone's pound or so of neurons contains some dormant apparatus for wisdom or talent that can only be activated in a lecture hall. A pretty idea, but hogwash.
The plain truth has always been that only a tiny fraction of us has capability for very wide understanding; a larger fraction has specific ability in limited areas, and the rest of us are doing well to get dressed in the morning. Like the family genealogies that always used to find a king or equivalent in one's line, we love the idea that everyone's pound or so of neurons contains some dormant apparatus for wisdom or talent that can only be activated in a lecture hall. A pretty idea, but hogwash.
1
Wow! So much for an optimistic view of humanity. So, since most of us are stupid louts, therefore why bother with a humanities education. If we can keep from killing ourselves and becoming extinct, I do hold out hope for a day when humanity will evolve and become more enlightened. If that day comes, I suspect it will come due to a balance of both STEM and the Humanities. Unlike you, I will not surrender to the nihilistic theory that humanity is terminally stupid. But, to each his own.
1
I don't believe Kristof is saying everyone should go to college and get a degree in the humanities. He is saying that those who do go to college should devote some of that time to studying ideas and the thoughts and inspirations of our great thinkers and artists, not just in pursuit of a career.
I believe that a welder who has read Shakespeare is probably a better welder, as well. Being a better, more rounded person is not just for liberals.
I believe that a welder who has read Shakespeare is probably a better welder, as well. Being a better, more rounded person is not just for liberals.
1
Wow, R Stein. Surely you do not mean to write that "dumb joes" do not deserve to, at the very least, be introduced to music, literature, art, history, philosophy, political science, theology, etc. just because they aren't part of some small minority of really intelligent people? Do you not think that an auto mechanic has the right to learn to think and write independently and choose a life with multiple interests other than fixing cars? Or are you just selling that urban legend that some Liberal somewhere said all people SHOULD go to college in order to have fulfilling lives?
2
The humanities should already be taught all the way from 5th grade until graduation as other advanced countries do. Only then can anyone wanting to proceed with higher education be able to find out the best field that matches whatever raised their passion and curiosity the most.
The crux is that the average high school graduate in the US is quite ignorant about philosophy, world history, the arts, fluency in any other language, knowledge of other cultures, and far too often even needs additional courses in writing and reading in their own language by the time they reach college.
The old joke about the US is:
A physics student asks why does it work.
An engineering student asks how does it work.
A liberal arts student asks do you want fries with it?
It takes a curious mind to achieve success through education, no matter the subject.
The crux is that the average high school graduate in the US is quite ignorant about philosophy, world history, the arts, fluency in any other language, knowledge of other cultures, and far too often even needs additional courses in writing and reading in their own language by the time they reach college.
The old joke about the US is:
A physics student asks why does it work.
An engineering student asks how does it work.
A liberal arts student asks do you want fries with it?
It takes a curious mind to achieve success through education, no matter the subject.
5
And, Sarah, the 'average' high school graduate is also deficient in math, all of the sciences, and even what is strangely called technology. Compared with either our own past, or current results in other countries, high school graduates, 'on average' don't know much, which might be ok, but they also can't do much, which is fatal.
The difference in grade school humanities is that, at the end of the process, we have no good way to measure the benefits. A few years of college isn't likely to generate intellectual awakenings if grade school has already failed the task.
The difference in grade school humanities is that, at the end of the process, we have no good way to measure the benefits. A few years of college isn't likely to generate intellectual awakenings if grade school has already failed the task.
1
@ R.Stein: You are absolutely correct. I left math and science out, though, because of Kristof basing his op-ed on the book of Zakaria stressing liberal arts education as being necessary to develop critical thinking. When I moved to the US my daughter was already starting 11th grade. She loved music, art and literature, but her favourite subjects were math and physics. Thus she took advanced placement classes in her public high school in these subjects, only to come home and complain that she was falling asleep because those classes were taught at the 9th grade level of her former schools. I had no choice but to pay a little fortune to send her immediately to one of the best private schools in our area.
1
A physics student asks, 'why did my job move to India?'
An engineering student asks, 'why did my job move to China?'
A liberal arts student asks, 'you want me to copy edit these documents written by engineers and physicists with an imperfect grasp of English? No sweat! And btw, STEM grads, I'll skip the fries.'
:}
An engineering student asks, 'why did my job move to China?'
A liberal arts student asks, 'you want me to copy edit these documents written by engineers and physicists with an imperfect grasp of English? No sweat! And btw, STEM grads, I'll skip the fries.'
:}
3
I have read Zakaria's book and this column and agree completely. However it seems to me the best reason for a liberal arts education and courses in the humanities is that they make us more human - more understanding of how civilization has progressed to this point, and how we can be aware of and have
empathy for others. The world is full of "differences" and we become more human and thus more humane by understanding these differences.
empathy for others. The world is full of "differences" and we become more human and thus more humane by understanding these differences.
11
I agree with the quote from E.O Wilson regarding drowning in information. Indeed, as far as schools and testing go, I think this rush to quantify information is a fools attempt to control the vast amount of words and opinions that come at us everyday through electronic media. It seems like we are looking for ways to direct a wild river with the hubris of controlling the flow. Frankly, the opposite action should be taken. Rather than focus on singular areas of information to glean some sort of sense of knowledge, I think a sense and knowledge of the arts and humanities allow individuals to create their own conclusions. Now some of these conclusions may be absurd, however, many will make sense, and give direction within this barrage of information. Controlling how people process information - and I'm speaking specifically about students - through standardized tests and right or wrong questions shuts down the imagination. Only through an understanding of the humanities and the arts can a person really know how to think and understand what is going on in their own life, community, and the world.
4
I'm old enough to recall a time when some universities required the passing of undergraduate comps to graduate, and did not allow double-majoring. The goal was to assure a sufficient breadth of knowledge of the liberal arts, and a sufficient depth of knowledge in one subject area.
Not a bad goal, and not a bad strategy for achieving this.
Not a bad goal, and not a bad strategy for achieving this.
7
As an Eng Lit - Philo double major from the '70s, I fully buy the argument Fareed Zakaria is making -- that a background in liberal arts equips a person for the inevitable twists and turns his or her career path will take over the following 40 or 50 years.
Having said that, however, I also know that smart phones and watches and search engines, etc. are here to stay and that they will inexorably prioritize speedy acquisition of facts, at the cost of the deliberate formulation of ideas. Students of this century will be able to tell you (very quickly) that Hamlet is a play about a troubled and ambivalent Danish prince -- the wikipedia info. But, as to what it means when Hamlet asks himself "whether 'tis nobler....." -- the number of liberal arts students who can figure that out - or who care to -- is dropping quickly.
Having said that, however, I also know that smart phones and watches and search engines, etc. are here to stay and that they will inexorably prioritize speedy acquisition of facts, at the cost of the deliberate formulation of ideas. Students of this century will be able to tell you (very quickly) that Hamlet is a play about a troubled and ambivalent Danish prince -- the wikipedia info. But, as to what it means when Hamlet asks himself "whether 'tis nobler....." -- the number of liberal arts students who can figure that out - or who care to -- is dropping quickly.
12
" But, as to what it means when Hamlet asks himself "whether 'tis nobler....." -- the number of liberal arts students who can figure that out - or who care to -- is dropping quickly."
I studied it and contemplated its meaning but still couldn't care less. When the choice is being able to explain a concept or earning a living earning a living wins out.
I studied it and contemplated its meaning but still couldn't care less. When the choice is being able to explain a concept or earning a living earning a living wins out.
reading Hamlet good, seeing the play better.Great actors playing Hamlet best. we need more great actors. hint, they're not coming with an MBA.
Just to be clear, it is the unskeptical "skeptics" I'm complaining about, not the ones who have done the homework and take all the uncertainties into account. It's so easy to seize on a little bit of knowledge-y stuff and claim it represents the whole. It's dangerous and distracting, all this sniping from the sidelines.
1
I do wish we would recover the ability to know what we don't know. The sophomoric assumption of authority without wisdom is harming us all in incalculable ways, particularly in climate science.
I remember it being painful when I had to actually stop faking and begin to really learn, but it was one of the best days of my life.
Knowledge is a great purveyor of humility.
I remember it being painful when I had to actually stop faking and begin to really learn, but it was one of the best days of my life.
Knowledge is a great purveyor of humility.
10
The Humanities are as essential as the applied sciences and business/computing education that heralds our modernizing society. It is a matter of balance. The study of humanities takes us outside the box of "facts and figures", teaches us the lessons of history -- both those that have succeeded and those that have failed -- in order to chart our path to the future, and establishes the worth and scope of our lives. It allows us to conceive ideas that are outside the boundaries of the known and proved to be innovative, inventive and creative. I applauded the Harry Potter series because it put the brakes on MTV-like entertainment for youth and re-released the joy of reading. Untold lessons lie within even the most humble of tomes.
Without the Humanities, we forget to stop and smell the roses (or even the coffee, for that matter) and lose sight of why we want to expand the boundaries of scientific knowledge and aspire to gain untold wealth. Especially in our warp-speed acceleration into the electronic universe, we need to hold on to the HUMAN-ity for our lives to have meaning and worth.
Without the Humanities, we forget to stop and smell the roses (or even the coffee, for that matter) and lose sight of why we want to expand the boundaries of scientific knowledge and aspire to gain untold wealth. Especially in our warp-speed acceleration into the electronic universe, we need to hold on to the HUMAN-ity for our lives to have meaning and worth.
8
I strongly suspect that some are born with a variety of talents, such as empathy, curiosity, and an urge to become daily, rigorously self honest. Those who have those traits are driven to read philosophy to physics, to the labels on foodstuff.
Such folks, regardless of university, or lack of university, daily consider many pro and con notions, without absolutely falling in love with any. They tend to think in degrees of possibilities, and, somewhat like Socrates, the only thing they know is they know there may not be any absolutes, and may never be any absolutes. I suspect that Mr. Kristof is one of those people.
Such folks, regardless of university, or lack of university, daily consider many pro and con notions, without absolutely falling in love with any. They tend to think in degrees of possibilities, and, somewhat like Socrates, the only thing they know is they know there may not be any absolutes, and may never be any absolutes. I suspect that Mr. Kristof is one of those people.
3
There is no one size fits all in education. Everyone finds his or her own way. Rather than try and figure out the best disciplines for each generation, it would be far better to provide a higher standard of education in middle and high schools. That would provide a good template from which students could make decisions about what to study next. The fact that we fill so many seats in our best universities with students from other nations (a good thing - don't get me wrong!) clearly reflects the lower standard of our school education.
There will always be a diversity of paths by which our youth develop their thinking skills and sensibilities. The best we can do is aim for a high standard of teaching and curriculum development. And try and evolve out of the medieval mindset that still allows for ridicule of those who would rather read than go out and play football.
There will always be a diversity of paths by which our youth develop their thinking skills and sensibilities. The best we can do is aim for a high standard of teaching and curriculum development. And try and evolve out of the medieval mindset that still allows for ridicule of those who would rather read than go out and play football.
7
It has been my observation that many young people today have a rather poor knowledge of history and literature, particularly of world history and literature in other languages than English. High School education simply does not cover those subjects in any depth and most young people are not sufficiently self-motivated to address that deficiency. College is one place that can impress upon them that acquiring such knowledge is an important part of becoming a well informed citizen, capable of judging the society they live in. Well motivated students will continue learning well after they graduated from college.
5
And unfortunately, that's the problem. Our so-called leaders keep underfunding higher education and, are trying to turn our universities into a place to turn out very narrow students. I myself could not because of family duties finish my B.A. I have however, been an almost obsessive reader since a very young age. Two of our 3 sons graduated with humanities degrees which has done them so much good in their lives. They are actually questioning good citizens. Not cogs in a machine. My one son who did not attend college except briefly has more knowledge about our political system and history than may college graduates (he reads, read, reads). I don't think this new emphasis on narrow majors will work in the long run.
1
To the extent that my style of thinking owes something to my education, I would say there were 3 big influences: learning Ancient Greek and Latin grammar, learning "to think like a lawyer" in law school, and learning something about how anthropologists see the world. Those disciplines trained my cognitive apparatus, I think, but to the extent I became able to achieve insight into a problem, that training may have been necessary but it was not sufficient. And the added ingredients did not come from studying science or math (I got as far as completing high school calculus, honors biology, chemistry and physics, which in my day was something), although I probably make use of some of the conceptualizations in my cognitive apparatus. On the other hand, I suspect that most people have little interest in learning to think the way I do, nor would many, I think, want to undergo the experiences I've had that were the other contributing factors to how I process the world. So I don't think of myself as a template, but I thought I'd describe my profile nonetheless.
7
The humanities within the university have committed suicide. Today, there is nearly no one within the university who is willing to encounter great literature on its own terms.
Perhaps this is just as well. For centuries, there was no academic study of literature, and great books were created and read anyway. We may well go back to that state of affairs, only now we can order any book online and have a copy in a couple of days.
Perhaps this is just as well. For centuries, there was no academic study of literature, and great books were created and read anyway. We may well go back to that state of affairs, only now we can order any book online and have a copy in a couple of days.
5
I don't think you're right. But there is a downwards spiral (or adverse selection) in the way the humanities are treated. The press promotes humanists who say provocative things. Reasonable people criticize the humanities, but far too broadly. The most eloquently (and happily) aggrieved of the humanists say more provocative things. And so forth.
The modern academic study of literature began with Renaissance humanism, and caused an unbelievable outpouring of great books after the semi-arid period (in the west) from around the 2nd century through Dante.
The modern academic study of literature began with Renaissance humanism, and caused an unbelievable outpouring of great books after the semi-arid period (in the west) from around the 2nd century through Dante.
1
you can also visit a library and have the book right away. Unless you live in the sticks, of course. Many great books have been digitized and are most available.
Part of the problem is the dogmatism of the liberal arts teaching faculty in colleges. If you are not interested to view the classics, history or philosophy through the lens of "gender", "colonialism" or "deconstruction/reconstruction" there is very little that is offered. Not to mention that political correctness does not allow meaningful discussion of ideas starting at middle school.
13
That is precisely the point of a liberal arts education. You need to examine the world through all viewpoints to truly understand it, including via ideas you disagree with. There are women and minorities who must endure the traditional view of history which often marginalizes their story, the same must be true for the other side as well.
The goal of a liberal arts education is not to mimic the point of view that makes you comfortable, its to examine things from all points of view so that you may come to the truth on your own. Its not dogmatic, it is a fully rounded exploration.
The goal of a liberal arts education is not to mimic the point of view that makes you comfortable, its to examine things from all points of view so that you may come to the truth on your own. Its not dogmatic, it is a fully rounded exploration.
I agree that dogmatism is a problem. Of course when I was a liberal arts major, "political correctness" required not questioning the western white male perspective. I was an English major who attended the U of Michigan and was assigned no black authors, no foreign authors from anywhere but western Europe, no women authors. I discovered them later on my own and through younger friends whose college coursework was broader than mine. We may need balance but we don't need to go back to the way things were.
For businesses that value independent thought and critical thinking, a liberal arts education makes good (business) sense. However, in so many businesses I've consulted to or worked for, the thinking is confined to (some) of the corner offices.
I heard one (now CEO of a major financial organization) tell me "Strategy is cheap. It's execution that matters." Of course, he majored in political science at Dartmouth.
Most "business leaders," despite what they say, want educated drones for workers. Workers who will execute and follow orders made by a handful of senior managers. Leave the thinking to us.
Liberal arts majors are doomed in these sorts of organizations.
I heard one (now CEO of a major financial organization) tell me "Strategy is cheap. It's execution that matters." Of course, he majored in political science at Dartmouth.
Most "business leaders," despite what they say, want educated drones for workers. Workers who will execute and follow orders made by a handful of senior managers. Leave the thinking to us.
Liberal arts majors are doomed in these sorts of organizations.
27
"Don't think. It can only hurt the team." -- Crash Davis to Nuke LaLoosh in the film "Bull Durham"
2
Not always doomed, but mostly. Employers want relevant skills, not any difficult or impossible to measure intellectual capabilities. The 'big picture' is not in anyone's job description, but if it were, it's the boss' responsibility.
1
You'll never hear me complain about having been a liberal arts major. A relic from the 60s, what I learned from literature, theater, and foreign languages shaped my entire career, long before I even knew what that was. If you'd told me I'd end up a medical writer (with no scientific training), I'd have said, "impossible."
But as Mr. Kristof shows, a solid liberal arts education teaches you how to research, think, interpret, intuit, and explain a range of topics that a purely lab-based education can't. In the course of my career, I developed career seminars for bench scientists who needed help in positioning their skills, seeing the big picture, arguing a point, and expressing point of view. In essence, the lab folks were unable to write, to communicate.
But even more important, liberal studies instills an appreciation and thirst for life-long learning. There are days I yearn to be back at school in the company of peers and professors, picking apart a great novel or play. My soul has been nourished by so much great music, literature, and art that I have a context for finding beauty where I can find it these days.
I hope today's youth come to appreciate this, since they can't possibly know what they're missing if they focus exclusively on the cold, dry, abstract world of business or computer science.
But as Mr. Kristof shows, a solid liberal arts education teaches you how to research, think, interpret, intuit, and explain a range of topics that a purely lab-based education can't. In the course of my career, I developed career seminars for bench scientists who needed help in positioning their skills, seeing the big picture, arguing a point, and expressing point of view. In essence, the lab folks were unable to write, to communicate.
But even more important, liberal studies instills an appreciation and thirst for life-long learning. There are days I yearn to be back at school in the company of peers and professors, picking apart a great novel or play. My soul has been nourished by so much great music, literature, and art that I have a context for finding beauty where I can find it these days.
I hope today's youth come to appreciate this, since they can't possibly know what they're missing if they focus exclusively on the cold, dry, abstract world of business or computer science.
117
I love languages. Each language has it's own way of thinking, coming from the culture that speaks it.
A country that graduates more lawyers than engineers will end up suing each other for the last crust of bread.
11
most of the Founding Fathers were lawyers.
I'm in a classroom every day. My students can tell me who the best quarterback in the NFL is, and probably in college football, too. But they can't tell me what the presidential cabinet is, and they can't name their local representatives on the federal or state level. They don't know the speed of light or how much money goes into making a billion dollars. Our society has well trained them to be drones who will work, maybe even be moderately successful, get drunk on the weekends, reproduce a next generation of drones, and do so for the next forty or fifty years before they die. We need an education in humanities, not to make them better workers, but to facilitate their ability to be better human beings, individuals who know their place in the universe, in the society in which they live, and with the capacity to better understand the former and better change the latter.
183
Most Americans throughout our history have been, more or less, like your students -- only they weren't going to college. They finished high school (maybe) and went to work on the fields and in factories.
For a time, lecturers in science and history would visit town halls and granges and give talks to large crowds. That was before radio and television and way before the lowest common denominator lowered the standards of even those media. Such talks were a happening -- and educational, when they were.
When our millions of citizen-soldiers were in Europe during and after WWII, they experienced not just war but foreign cultures and antique cities. They read books (called, obviously, pocketbooks) and went to museums. When they were demobilized, they attended college on the GI Bill. They'd already experienced much more than today's population.
They might not have been perfect, but they were the best educated generation in American history.
Today? It's right back to the Know Nothings. And worse -- because the Internet makes every crackpot moronic idea instant and ubiquitous.
For a time, lecturers in science and history would visit town halls and granges and give talks to large crowds. That was before radio and television and way before the lowest common denominator lowered the standards of even those media. Such talks were a happening -- and educational, when they were.
When our millions of citizen-soldiers were in Europe during and after WWII, they experienced not just war but foreign cultures and antique cities. They read books (called, obviously, pocketbooks) and went to museums. When they were demobilized, they attended college on the GI Bill. They'd already experienced much more than today's population.
They might not have been perfect, but they were the best educated generation in American history.
Today? It's right back to the Know Nothings. And worse -- because the Internet makes every crackpot moronic idea instant and ubiquitous.
1
Or to put it in more poetic terms. The humanities are how the past tries to communicate its wisdom with the present.
Facts are fine and good. Data is useful only by the hand of someone who understands the greater picture behind it, who know that for each problem or dilemma someone in the past has confronted the emotional trauma of it, to understand that their should be a moralistic dilemma.
To be well versed in the humanities offers the chance to avoid the problems and mistakes that seem so often to repeat themselves. But only if we take a pause to reflect on it can it extend beyond simple "knowledge" and become "wisdom." Just as there is a difference between "knowing" and "understanding."
I do love the irony though of how you turn to science/studies as the basis for your argument for the value of the humanities.
Facts are fine and good. Data is useful only by the hand of someone who understands the greater picture behind it, who know that for each problem or dilemma someone in the past has confronted the emotional trauma of it, to understand that their should be a moralistic dilemma.
To be well versed in the humanities offers the chance to avoid the problems and mistakes that seem so often to repeat themselves. But only if we take a pause to reflect on it can it extend beyond simple "knowledge" and become "wisdom." Just as there is a difference between "knowing" and "understanding."
I do love the irony though of how you turn to science/studies as the basis for your argument for the value of the humanities.
10
Paul J: It's ironic, though, only in this fragmented world. Time was we science students prided ourselves on being better poets than the Arts gang,
I teach law school at a state university, and I uniformly find that my better students are the ones who have had a "liberal" education. Without it students can respond but not really think. One said to me, "tell me what to write and I'll write it." Without a critical attitude--something most NYT readers probably take for granted--you can never get beyond an intermediate level. If that.
30
The STEM courses can tell us how we should do something, but the humanities tell us why and, more importantly, whether.
104
Mostly we are unable - as a society - to refrain from doing what we can by examining whether we should. We need more thinkers.
Lars, It is now referred to as STEAM which includes the Arts. The scientists and mathematicians now realize the necessity of the ARTS in any teaching program.
Mr Kristof defends the humanities with such statements as, "Even science depends upon the humanities to shape judgments about ethics, limits and values. . . . literature nurtures a richer emotional intelligence." I have total agreement with this and with most of the comments.
The problem is that the richness, beauty, substance, and nuance of history, literature, religion, etc. are lost when presented in such brief and pedestrian a manner. It is like asking people why they should love their mothers, and hearing responses like "she fed me, she's nice." And yet there is so much more. How to reach the depth required to express this is something that only the best writers can attain. Kristoff, good enough as an op-ed writer, can point to that depth. Others are needed to provide the material.
Those who appreciate and understand the humanities can use the brief pithy statements to trigger in their minds all that is pointed to. And Kristoff clearly triggers that in many. However, those who do not have anything in their minds to be triggered just don't get it.
This is the reason that a healthy dose of humanities need to be required (and taught well) in K through 12, when children's brains are developing. It will provide them with a rich corpus to be triggered, a powerful source for deep thinking and for wise understanding. But how to convince policy makers, especially all the narrowly trained who find their way to Congress, to do this for the next generation remains a problem.
The problem is that the richness, beauty, substance, and nuance of history, literature, religion, etc. are lost when presented in such brief and pedestrian a manner. It is like asking people why they should love their mothers, and hearing responses like "she fed me, she's nice." And yet there is so much more. How to reach the depth required to express this is something that only the best writers can attain. Kristoff, good enough as an op-ed writer, can point to that depth. Others are needed to provide the material.
Those who appreciate and understand the humanities can use the brief pithy statements to trigger in their minds all that is pointed to. And Kristoff clearly triggers that in many. However, those who do not have anything in their minds to be triggered just don't get it.
This is the reason that a healthy dose of humanities need to be required (and taught well) in K through 12, when children's brains are developing. It will provide them with a rich corpus to be triggered, a powerful source for deep thinking and for wise understanding. But how to convince policy makers, especially all the narrowly trained who find their way to Congress, to do this for the next generation remains a problem.
31
We live in a superficial country geared at maximizing profits and greed. The masses provide useful low wage labor to enrich the powerful. The Arts are dying while war flourishes. Those who go furthest in their careers maximize the profits and greed of the rich. If you are an engineer, international relations, political science or economics major, you will more likely be involved with a business aimed at death and destruction (aka defense/security) than one involving peace.
Independent thinking in America is a liability. Thinking too hard about America's place and actions in the World will drive you nuts. Best to just buy into the constant bombardment of propaganda that passes for morality.
As we enter the marathon Presidential election, wisdom will be considered a liability.
Independent thinking in America is a liability. Thinking too hard about America's place and actions in the World will drive you nuts. Best to just buy into the constant bombardment of propaganda that passes for morality.
As we enter the marathon Presidential election, wisdom will be considered a liability.
44
As a retired scientist, the article's sentence "who takes serious courses in the humanities and history" was a requirement at the schools where I did my undergraduate and graduate degrees and for most good schools, still is a requirement along with history, art, psychology and all the soft skills. Those classes are taken alongside liberal arts majors. I freely admit that many scientists are horrible communicators. On the other side, however, there is math for non science majors, biology for non science majors, and a host of other watered down science and math classes for non science majors. What you get is liberal arts majors (or worse yet, political science majors) without a sufficient background or understanding of science or mathematics. Add to that the ever increasing scientific and mathematical illiteracy of the k-12 graduate and you have a major problem, not just for uninformed legislators but for public understanding of the issues.
54
Liberal arts are so watered down and easy, it's just a joke. My kids in school laughed when someone was a 4.0 in college. They were sure they were English majors, etc. NeXt to education it seemed to be a really easy major and the kids who are really smart want a challenge. My daughter took some liberal arts classes and was so disappointed. She said the kids just said whatever the professor wanted to hear, there was no discussion at all. This was a leading state school. You can keep defending the brand, but word gets out.
1
Nicholas, excellent column.
I've long argued that while our civilization has made extraordinary advances in the area of technology, these advances long ago outpaced our capacity for wisdom. And it is our capacity for wisdom that affords us the ability to see the long-term implications of our exploitation of increasingly invasive technologies.
Wisdom can come from many places - from an honest study of the past, both ancient and not-so-ancient, be it past of history or of science, from a keener appreciation of the tales of literature and myth, from an appreciation of art, sculpture, poetry, and music (and the very human struggles of the men and woman who created it, often at an extraordinary price) and, finally, from the still small voice that emerges amidst the quiet of authentic spiritual practice.
Wisdom affords us the gift of perspective, that ability to see the world in a nuanced, multidimensional fashion - from which we can more intelligently select among a dazzling range of choices, within which more is not always better, and 'progress' can lead to obstacles that one never even contemplated having to confront.
To bring the point home, climate change itself is a problem created by our species eager embrace of life-enhancing and life-saving technologies. Humans today live longer, more secure lives - but because we do, we also have a more profound impact on the delicate ecosystem upon which our species, and all other life on this planet, ultimately rely.
I've long argued that while our civilization has made extraordinary advances in the area of technology, these advances long ago outpaced our capacity for wisdom. And it is our capacity for wisdom that affords us the ability to see the long-term implications of our exploitation of increasingly invasive technologies.
Wisdom can come from many places - from an honest study of the past, both ancient and not-so-ancient, be it past of history or of science, from a keener appreciation of the tales of literature and myth, from an appreciation of art, sculpture, poetry, and music (and the very human struggles of the men and woman who created it, often at an extraordinary price) and, finally, from the still small voice that emerges amidst the quiet of authentic spiritual practice.
Wisdom affords us the gift of perspective, that ability to see the world in a nuanced, multidimensional fashion - from which we can more intelligently select among a dazzling range of choices, within which more is not always better, and 'progress' can lead to obstacles that one never even contemplated having to confront.
To bring the point home, climate change itself is a problem created by our species eager embrace of life-enhancing and life-saving technologies. Humans today live longer, more secure lives - but because we do, we also have a more profound impact on the delicate ecosystem upon which our species, and all other life on this planet, ultimately rely.
15
"We need people conversant with the humanities to help reach wise public policy decisions, even about the sciences. Technology companies must constantly weigh ethical decisions ..."
That is wrong and arrogant. The NYT has some of the most educated people in the world, yet it is constantly forcing its liberal ideas and its prejudices on the rest of the world.
That is wrong and arrogant. The NYT has some of the most educated people in the world, yet it is constantly forcing its liberal ideas and its prejudices on the rest of the world.
4
Dear Baffled123, How can it possibly be, in your words, "wrong to weigh ethical decisions"? A Humanities education, at the very least, helps people to write what they meant to write. In your sentence "That is arrogant and wrong," "that" refers back to the last singular idea you expressed -- the idea of thinking. The NY Times has many educated employees, but they never claim to be among the most educated in the world. The most educated folks in the world are usually curing diseases or translating dead languages or discovering new sources of energy!
10
Forcing? The presentation of ideas isn't "forcing." You can choose not to read these ideas or you can, as here, engage with them. Which is the point.
2
And just how is the NYT "forcing its liberal ideas and its prejudices on the rest of the world"? Do they have some mind control device that makes you read the NYT? And not only read it, but make readers begin to agree with some of its editorial opinions? Doesn't sound like it's worked on you.
Besides, they also publish conservative columns (e.g., by David Brooks, Ross Douthat). NYT is much closer to a "fair and balanced" presentation of the news than The Wall Street Journal or Fox News.
Besides, they also publish conservative columns (e.g., by David Brooks, Ross Douthat). NYT is much closer to a "fair and balanced" presentation of the news than The Wall Street Journal or Fox News.
2
A very thoughtful argument. I wonder if we would be in the political situation we find ourselves in if we had fewer business majors and lawyers, vs a broader education with a dabbling in the business arts & sciences. Clearly "the bottom line is all that matters" ethic is and will continue to be a problem. Having said that I see a lot written about political indoctrination. Even in the late 1970's I had professors with no problem bringing their personal opinion to class although I do not recall ever being tested on it. We now see Christian, centrist, libertarian or politically right leaning students condemned or marginalized because they don't march in lock step with the lemmings headed over the cliff. Teaching what to think, not how to think, seems to be taking over many of our over priced ivy covered institutions of leaning.
4
EXPERIENCE + KNOWLEDGE = WISDOM
We need to move our thinking from a judgmental view to wisdom. This requires improving short and long term memories, because innovation comes by understanding how experience and knowledge progressed in the past and what should be the next progression of change. The problem is that we have forgotten most of the past by using only short term memory.
We need to move our thinking from a judgmental view to wisdom. This requires improving short and long term memories, because innovation comes by understanding how experience and knowledge progressed in the past and what should be the next progression of change. The problem is that we have forgotten most of the past by using only short term memory.
2
This is another of hundreds, possibly thousands, such arguments for the humanities that I have read in 60 years of life, and which were being made well before I was born (see, e.g., Hofstedter's 'Anti-Intellectualism in American Life'). That realization makes this quite possibly the most depressing article in this entire paper, in which there is hardly a shortage of depressing articles.
'Even science ...'? Perhaps 'especially'. The sciences also labour under the burden of ignoramuses. For many years Sen. Proxmire gave 'Golden Fleece Awards' to research that seemed, to him, frivolous and purposeless. Sometimes the scientists tried to defend their projects; and sometimes, an unexpected result led to a discovery only tangential to the original purpose but far more important. Too many people like Proxmire don't even understand how science works - they assume a linear process, in which you decide what you want and then just go invent it. Forget human values - without the other of what C.S. Lewis called 'the two cultures' you can't even have proper science.
'Lives of great men all remind us' that the real geniuses have had a lively interest in the arts, e.g., Stephen Jay Gould, the renowned evolutionary biologist, was a huge fan of baseball and Gilbert & Sullivan. One of many polymaths and intellectual omnivores I could cite. Because once you start using those brain cells, it becomes addictive.
(One note: Pop culture and 'literature' aren't mutually exclusive; room for both.)
'Even science ...'? Perhaps 'especially'. The sciences also labour under the burden of ignoramuses. For many years Sen. Proxmire gave 'Golden Fleece Awards' to research that seemed, to him, frivolous and purposeless. Sometimes the scientists tried to defend their projects; and sometimes, an unexpected result led to a discovery only tangential to the original purpose but far more important. Too many people like Proxmire don't even understand how science works - they assume a linear process, in which you decide what you want and then just go invent it. Forget human values - without the other of what C.S. Lewis called 'the two cultures' you can't even have proper science.
'Lives of great men all remind us' that the real geniuses have had a lively interest in the arts, e.g., Stephen Jay Gould, the renowned evolutionary biologist, was a huge fan of baseball and Gilbert & Sullivan. One of many polymaths and intellectual omnivores I could cite. Because once you start using those brain cells, it becomes addictive.
(One note: Pop culture and 'literature' aren't mutually exclusive; room for both.)
8
The key to all things is balance. One without the other is of little value and the last thing anyone needs when there are things to be done, is a bunch of people sitting around thinking about it. Reminds me of my girlfriend's neighbor, who, evidently refuses to get out in the sun, so she sits on her porch and reads all day. Which would be fine, who doesn't enjoy a day on the porch, reading, except, I guess, her kids end up at my girlfriend's house to swim. She told me about it last year when I commented on the glow about her face. She claimed they have a saying in their house that goes, "Somebody has to be the lifeguard!" I told her, maybe she just hasn't reached the part about the "big floppy brim", yet.
1
So long as corporate America continues to run this country for its own bottom line, we can't expect much support for humanities education. There is no room for the masses questioning unnecessary wars, bad tax policy, or any other policy when there is scads of money to be made by the few.
31
Now retired, but as a former head of a department at a major Wall Street firm, let me say we had more history, literature, religion, anthropology and poli-sci majors in our department than business majors. A major in business was simply not consider serious discipline in developing a research mentality, for acquiring a set of skills for searching the truth, whether it be the best corporate strategy or earnings possibilities or investment strategy. Literature majors were outstanding.
I graduated with a BA in English literature more than 4 decades ago.
The first thing to say is the study of literature has real life applications. Similar to the study of mathematics and science, the study of literature teaches and demands critical and analytical thinking skills; it requires curiosity, observation of details, recognition of patterns, puzzle solving, organizational skills and personal discipline. But more than the study of mathematics and sciences, the study of literature teaches and demands excellent writing skills, including the ability to form a conclusion, clearly argue its merit and support the argument with relevant evidence. These skills are applicable and desirable in any career pursuit.
The second thing to point out is the study of literature is a broad education in itself. Besides introducing students to great literature, it provides students with insights into philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology and many other disciplines. Good literature broadens our understanding and knowledge of the world beyond our immediate life experiences.
The third thing to say is my study of literature enriched my life and provided me with endless hours of enjoyment. Since college, I have been a life-long reader and student of literature. The need to consider and provide for financial security is real, but my life has been much more than a money-making pursuit.
The first thing to say is the study of literature has real life applications. Similar to the study of mathematics and science, the study of literature teaches and demands critical and analytical thinking skills; it requires curiosity, observation of details, recognition of patterns, puzzle solving, organizational skills and personal discipline. But more than the study of mathematics and sciences, the study of literature teaches and demands excellent writing skills, including the ability to form a conclusion, clearly argue its merit and support the argument with relevant evidence. These skills are applicable and desirable in any career pursuit.
The second thing to point out is the study of literature is a broad education in itself. Besides introducing students to great literature, it provides students with insights into philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology and many other disciplines. Good literature broadens our understanding and knowledge of the world beyond our immediate life experiences.
The third thing to say is my study of literature enriched my life and provided me with endless hours of enjoyment. Since college, I have been a life-long reader and student of literature. The need to consider and provide for financial security is real, but my life has been much more than a money-making pursuit.
17
We seem to aspire toward a society full of technocrats and managers who can discuss nothing deeper than Breaking Bad or Downton Abbey.
Standardized tests have been given a bad rap in this country, but that's only because they test the wrong stuff. Here's a prototype of a multiple choice test I'd like to see administered to high school seniors:
Literature
Name four of the tales in The Canterbury Tales. Where were the pilgrims headed? (You will be docked if your answer to this question is "Canterbury.")
Is it possible that the tragic hero of The Great Gatsby is someone other than Jay Gatsby? Make the case that another of the characters makes the tragic decision.
Who wrote Shakespeare?*
Economics
One school of today's economics is based on the notion that people are rational actors and that those rational actors can access perfect information in order to make informed decisions. Stop laughing and write something on this subject.
Music
Name four cutting-edge jazz musicians, each one's chosen instrument, and what Coltrane might have accomplished had he lived a few more years.
What do these people have in common? Mozart; Bird; Hendrix; Cobain.
History
Since the dawn of time, order and chaos have competed. How much order does a society need, and what price should that society be willing to pay in order to achieve order?
Just kidding. Name five Presidents and one Supreme Court Chief Justice.
*Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. As Noel Coward wrote, "Don't quibble, Sibyl."
Standardized tests have been given a bad rap in this country, but that's only because they test the wrong stuff. Here's a prototype of a multiple choice test I'd like to see administered to high school seniors:
Literature
Name four of the tales in The Canterbury Tales. Where were the pilgrims headed? (You will be docked if your answer to this question is "Canterbury.")
Is it possible that the tragic hero of The Great Gatsby is someone other than Jay Gatsby? Make the case that another of the characters makes the tragic decision.
Who wrote Shakespeare?*
Economics
One school of today's economics is based on the notion that people are rational actors and that those rational actors can access perfect information in order to make informed decisions. Stop laughing and write something on this subject.
Music
Name four cutting-edge jazz musicians, each one's chosen instrument, and what Coltrane might have accomplished had he lived a few more years.
What do these people have in common? Mozart; Bird; Hendrix; Cobain.
History
Since the dawn of time, order and chaos have competed. How much order does a society need, and what price should that society be willing to pay in order to achieve order?
Just kidding. Name five Presidents and one Supreme Court Chief Justice.
*Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. As Noel Coward wrote, "Don't quibble, Sibyl."
43
No matter what anyone else writes, you win the Internet! A hundred recommends.
6
My kids are learning most of this in AP high school classes.
The humanities are a discipline rich with hidden treasures. Malory's incomparable Le Morte d'Arthur would be my choice. There are few people walking around today who would know the title. Written circa 1485, the epic has become known, in a kind of nod to the beauty of the English tongue, "the matter of Britain." The long book also serves as a warning about how civilization and governance are quite fragile human inventions, and how dangerously close to anarchy and chaos the human species is, even in our "sophisticated" present-day world. The dreaded serpent in all of us can lead to a total disaster that can overpower any strength of purpose. Here, a young king's reign is doomed by his siblings. We have become worshipful of those geniuses of mathematics and technology who have "blessed" us with the Internet (with its frank invitations to indulge the dark side(s) of our nature from afar, without identifiable verification or accountability. Reading a book requires patience, a virtue in short supply in the age of Twitter and Facebook. This time spent in finding new words, in endless variations of intellectual delight and an attendant study of character and motivation that reveal our human nature through a glass darkly, can enrich the mind, heart, and soul of the most modest wage-earner. Technology is now the 21st century's town square, but the humanities are our raft in the tossing seas of our human condition.
3
Of course the righties want to gut the liberal arts. A thinking populace
that employs fact and reason is a mortal danger to their political
survival. Thinking has a well known liberal bias.
that employs fact and reason is a mortal danger to their political
survival. Thinking has a well known liberal bias.
83
I wouldn't go that far, not at all. 'The spirit of liberty,' said Learned Hand, 'is the spirit that is not too sure it is right.' And as the comment strings prove, liberals are just as prone as conservatives to set up their soapboxes and prate convictions impervious to any logic, facts, or evidence to the contrary. 'When the facts change, I change my mind,' John Maynard Keynes may or may not have told a critic; 'What do you do?" Yet it is very rare to see anyone in these comments ever change his mind; with most 'regulars' I could write their comments for them; I've often suspected that with Douthat and Brooks they have a standing Grouchoesque comment template, 'whatever he said, I disagree!' and then tailor it lightly to tether it loosely to the specific column. (I confess I've changed my mind twice based on comments from someone with whom I would usually disagree.)
An active mind, I suspect, is one that starts arguments with 'it's not that simple' and for as many 'liberals' as 'conservatives', everything *is*, alas, that simple. Dogmatism is a bipartisan failing.
An active mind, I suspect, is one that starts arguments with 'it's not that simple' and for as many 'liberals' as 'conservatives', everything *is*, alas, that simple. Dogmatism is a bipartisan failing.
1
I agree with all of the points made, but they are all off the mark because they justify a liberal education largely in terms of the marketplace. That Internet executive represents the marketplace and he just said that he doesn't care.
John Henry Newman gave the best justification for a liberal arts education: Students in the liberal arts "learn to respect, to consult, and to aid each other...[The student] apprehends the great outlines of knowledge, the principles upon which it rests, the scale of its parts, its lights and shades, its great points and little...A habit of mind is formed which lasts through life, of which the attributes are, freedom, equitableness, calmness, moderation, and wisdom."
Would that we had more of these people in government, business and industry, and in our churches.
John Henry Newman gave the best justification for a liberal arts education: Students in the liberal arts "learn to respect, to consult, and to aid each other...[The student] apprehends the great outlines of knowledge, the principles upon which it rests, the scale of its parts, its lights and shades, its great points and little...A habit of mind is formed which lasts through life, of which the attributes are, freedom, equitableness, calmness, moderation, and wisdom."
Would that we had more of these people in government, business and industry, and in our churches.
21
"...a humanities major who also did a lot of computer science, economics, psychology, or other sciences can be quite valuable and have great career flexibility...”
Wow! "Lot," of course is a relative word. To me, it means a lot. So, how many years of study does Katz think useful? It takes decades to attain a real grasp of the basics and a fuller appreciation of the meaning of "education." So maybe Katz doesn't mean a "lot." Just a shmear.
Wow! "Lot," of course is a relative word. To me, it means a lot. So, how many years of study does Katz think useful? It takes decades to attain a real grasp of the basics and a fuller appreciation of the meaning of "education." So maybe Katz doesn't mean a "lot." Just a shmear.
1
There were two freshman classes that I took in 1969 that forged my worldview. I took Black Lit where I read Eldredge Clever's Soul On Ice. Taught me about who had all the power and why they were resisting change- they were clinging to their unearned advantages. As a woman I saw how I was being held back. The second was an American history class, taught by a professor who was unafraid to cast a bright light on both the good and the bad. I became a critical observer of politics and power- a better citizen!!
6
In summary Mr. Kristof tells us in 750 words that high-ranking corporate officers and government regulators/leaders should be like Benjamin Franklin and John Adams…”Renaissance Men” with a broad education in both the sciences and humanities. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of such persons-in-charge today qualify. That’s because what you studied in college has little to no correlation with reaching the higher echelons of political or economic power. Either you meet the right people at the right university or you are a techno-nerd who strikes it rich with a techno-homerun. As for the 95% of us who are not movers and shakers with our thumbs on the pulse of economic and political ethical considerations, the highest paying majors are various types of engineering, computer science, and pharmaceuticals. The lowest paying majors are various visual arts, drama, social work, theology, counseling, and education. Liberal Arts education does little for the highest paid and Science does little for the lowest paid. In summary, while the US could use a few thousand Renaissance Men and Women to replace the current intellectual lightweights in Congress and the Executive Branch, there is simply no great demand for such polyglot skills in the work force.
2
Education is for the preservation and continuance of civilization, not for the acquisition of wealth. Better to be able to juggle one's sword and recite the Song of Roland while going to battle against the dark lords of corporate capitalism than to march with those dark lords against all that makes it worthwhile belonging to our species.
1
Anachronism wrapped in a theology smothered by reality. Any professional humanities teacher working in a research university knows that undergraduate education is focused primarily on competence in the received knowledge of the sciences. Few students will use such science-centered learning in the commercial world but they major in English, History, or Lit majors at their own peril. I routinely teach seniors who have not written more than a paragraph since their freshman year. Gather. Rinse. Repeat. This passes off as education. As for great books of poetry, literature, philosophy, or art that is a luxury they simply cannot afford. The problem is the success of science. The demands placed on students leave them with few options and douse interests they don't even know they might ignite. I point this out neither to lament or commend the notion of liberality that Mr Kristof or Mr Zakaria espouse but simply to point out that such values are no longer part of the mainstream of elite education. How much less those of society? There's no remedy for this current illiteracy other than to add two years of college learning devoted to humanistic learning ---entirely plausible were it not for rapacious costs and the fact that only the readers of this column _might_ think such cognitive efforts have a "pay off." Technocracy means we are all going to be far less capable of appreciating our humanity and at what cost?
5
You don't belong in the teaching profession, it would seem. I have taught youngsters who had only a cursory interest in my field on the first day of class, who years later follow it closely, albeit not professionally. The key to teaching is to make your field interesting or even captivating to those who will make their living in another discipline.
Liberal Arts. You don't work with them, they work on you.
One of the great ironies in modern America - an allegedly 'Christian' country steeped in the 'humanity' of the Bible's stories and lessons about humanity and helping the poor - is a place that can't seem to offer basic healthcare, easy voting or a living wage to its people without losing its temper and generating continental spite.
So much for the humane benefits of 'Bible study'.
Our greatest Presidents - Abraham Lincoln, Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt - didn't have any MBA training - their main talent was that they had some empathy with their fellow human beings and an understanding of social and economic oppression.
Today's leaders are famous for wrecking the global economy from the perch of Wall St. with white-collar fraud, theft and a complete lack of morality or regard for humanity.
Today's leaders are famous for turning the world's finest democracy into a dollaracracy, completely corrupting the human voting process with a dollared voting process - once again a complete disregard for humanity.
Today's leaders are famous for freezing the minimum wage and maximizing the maximum wage, a form of economic violence completely destructive to the fabric of society.
Humanities are a form of ethics, and there is little of it in modern American leadership.
Given the embarrassing failure of 'Christianity' in America, we should be teaching ethics and humanities all day long.
"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
- Theodore Roosevelt
So much for the humane benefits of 'Bible study'.
Our greatest Presidents - Abraham Lincoln, Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt - didn't have any MBA training - their main talent was that they had some empathy with their fellow human beings and an understanding of social and economic oppression.
Today's leaders are famous for wrecking the global economy from the perch of Wall St. with white-collar fraud, theft and a complete lack of morality or regard for humanity.
Today's leaders are famous for turning the world's finest democracy into a dollaracracy, completely corrupting the human voting process with a dollared voting process - once again a complete disregard for humanity.
Today's leaders are famous for freezing the minimum wage and maximizing the maximum wage, a form of economic violence completely destructive to the fabric of society.
Humanities are a form of ethics, and there is little of it in modern American leadership.
Given the embarrassing failure of 'Christianity' in America, we should be teaching ethics and humanities all day long.
"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."
- Theodore Roosevelt
230
Reminds me of the joke: "What is the value of a degree in philosophy? It enables one to accept with equanimity and contentment the lack of money one will have because one's degree is in philosophy."
It also reminds me of another line: "Once men tried to make machines that thought like humans. Then they discovered it was easier to make humans think like machines."
Wisdom, and the concept of wisdom, are not dead. But they are certainly under siege.
It also reminds me of another line: "Once men tried to make machines that thought like humans. Then they discovered it was easier to make humans think like machines."
Wisdom, and the concept of wisdom, are not dead. But they are certainly under siege.
5
I'd love to know who wrote that second quote.
The current devaluation of a liberal arts education is founded upon nothing more cogent than a belief by many that literature and the humanities do not equip people to solve modern problems because such training is thought to be less rigorous and less relevant than mathematics and science. That thinking is wrong because it imposes a false choice on everyone and because it presumes that the liberal arts curriculum is merely a haven for the slackers and less talented among our young people.
The classic liberal arts education at the undergraduate level included the requirement of meaningful courses in mathematics and science, not just "the history of calculus and the study of change" or "an introduction to organic chemistry". Similarly, the better schools required math majors to take courses in philosophy and history. To the extent that we have strayed from that approach, we have failed in our duty to prepare for the future
The classic liberal arts education at the undergraduate level included the requirement of meaningful courses in mathematics and science, not just "the history of calculus and the study of change" or "an introduction to organic chemistry". Similarly, the better schools required math majors to take courses in philosophy and history. To the extent that we have strayed from that approach, we have failed in our duty to prepare for the future
4
Regarding Rick Scott's usage of the word heuristic: he says, "A leader of a prominent Internet company once told me that the firm regards admission to Harvard as a useful heuristic of talent but a college education itself as useless." I think it's a misuse of the word heuristic. He's using it in the sense of an indicator, but heuristic does not mean indicator. It is a method of learning something. One wouldn't speak of admission to harvard as a heuristic of talent because it isn't a method of learning about who possesses talent. It is just an indicator.
8
Good column. Very thoughtful. As an old political science major, I too like the idea of studying economics and humanities (though I have no desire to rewrite any of my past educational experiences). We should all study economics to be better citizen-voter-politicians, and study both micro and macro. We should have all known what derivatives and non-collateralized debt obligations were and are. Our bad.
I think 'liberal' education means broad education, which, of course, is the most beneficial. The 'key pathway to success' is following your heart, not trying to become what some corporate society needs (i.e. cogs). We've let the monster grow too strong and now find ourselves just being food for its consumption. Sad.
I like most all of your points. I love the Adams' quote at the end, though I think we should all study every discipline he names. Why not? What's not worth knowing? Coding? I car-pooled to high school for over a decade with a brilliant biology and chemistry teacher, who like to write code for fun. His intellect was focused naturally to those areas. My classes in US history and government were my joy. I'm sure that's a reason I read the NY Times regularly and he does not.
We are not cogs. We are not the same. We should not study the exact same things, though basic, liberal education should be our lead. We've gone cuckoo over math these days in public schools. Why? To put all pegs into the same hole. Nah, not the way.
Love learning & be its guide.
I think 'liberal' education means broad education, which, of course, is the most beneficial. The 'key pathway to success' is following your heart, not trying to become what some corporate society needs (i.e. cogs). We've let the monster grow too strong and now find ourselves just being food for its consumption. Sad.
I like most all of your points. I love the Adams' quote at the end, though I think we should all study every discipline he names. Why not? What's not worth knowing? Coding? I car-pooled to high school for over a decade with a brilliant biology and chemistry teacher, who like to write code for fun. His intellect was focused naturally to those areas. My classes in US history and government were my joy. I'm sure that's a reason I read the NY Times regularly and he does not.
We are not cogs. We are not the same. We should not study the exact same things, though basic, liberal education should be our lead. We've gone cuckoo over math these days in public schools. Why? To put all pegs into the same hole. Nah, not the way.
Love learning & be its guide.
1
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have been a professor of Management for 37 years. As an undergraduate student, I majored in psychology with hefty side helping of economics and science. I am currently teaching a course called innovation and design to business majors. A large part of the course involves a process called design thinking. The class is learning how to think like designers by addressing through a project how we might innovate the college classroom. As part of this project, they have interviewed students asking, among other things, to describe classroom experiences that were memorable for their pleasure or for their pain. Two things pop out from what students say. Students value authenticity and they value opportunities to engage other students as well as the professor. Importantly, authenticity does not imply occupational relevancy. It does imply that what is being taught is real, and it is based on actual experience. So, if I take this to heart as a professor, I make sure to ground my lessons in experiences the students relate to as real and authentic. As my students will show in the concepts they create, this can be done in any subject, including anthropology, which incidentally Ideo has made into a billion dollar business, Rick Scott. You would want them in Fla.
4
Dante's Canto of Ulysses helped Primo Levi maintain his sense of being human in Auschwitz, Azar Nafisi turned to Jane Austen, Henry James and F Scott Fitzgerald during the Iranian Revolution, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer read Adalbert Stifler in a Nazi prison. In moments of crisis, literature often seems to assume a surprising value. It's also accessible to everyone at very low cost. I don't wonder that people with bad intentions find it a threat, but although it 's not for everyone, I do wonder at the common perception of it as a waste of time.
55
"Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage..."
1
It's difficult to gauge the impact that studying the humanities can have on college age students, but more predictable that elimination or sparse offerings of such courses does have the debilitating effect of desensitizing young people to the world around them. The humanities have already taken a severe hit when it comes to the offerings of secondary schools in this country due to budget cuts, and the swell of the tide towards electronics and social media consumes the hours spent by past generations in after school activities like band, choir, theatre, dance, and language and book clubs.
There's no reason to perpetuate those errors once teenagers reach college, and colleges should absolutely require that "techies" expand their reach to include at least one elective per semester that focuses on the humanities, probably more. Zakaria and Kristof are correct - those whose waking hours are typically spent joined at the hip with "problem solving" need to be exposed to more right brain activity.
In my case, the meager number of elective courses allowed 40 years ago during my own technical college education, and the tacit disdain shown by department faculty advisors for such led to two glaring deficiencies - an inability to write a cogent report, and a lack of appreciation for literature. While life eventually teaches us what we need as adults, it's taken much longer for me to correct those shortcomings than it would have if the college courses had been made available.
There's no reason to perpetuate those errors once teenagers reach college, and colleges should absolutely require that "techies" expand their reach to include at least one elective per semester that focuses on the humanities, probably more. Zakaria and Kristof are correct - those whose waking hours are typically spent joined at the hip with "problem solving" need to be exposed to more right brain activity.
In my case, the meager number of elective courses allowed 40 years ago during my own technical college education, and the tacit disdain shown by department faculty advisors for such led to two glaring deficiencies - an inability to write a cogent report, and a lack of appreciation for literature. While life eventually teaches us what we need as adults, it's taken much longer for me to correct those shortcomings than it would have if the college courses had been made available.
29
I think that the humanities themselves bear part of ;the blame; at times it appears that what they teach are creative ways to be offended or to feel oppressed.
But yes, one can learn useful stuff. For example: had our political leaders had a better understanding of Sino-Vietnamese relations, we might have avoided the Vietnam war.
But yes, one can learn useful stuff. For example: had our political leaders had a better understanding of Sino-Vietnamese relations, we might have avoided the Vietnam war.
1
Heck, aside from 'Sino-Vietnamese relations', had our leaders paid attention to how the French fared at Dien Bien Phu only a few years before, we might have avoided the Vietnan war. We didn't understand that Vietnam was a special case, with a thousand-year history of repelling invaders (like Afghanistan).
Set aside the domestic-politics considerations that trapped our leaders in the need not to appear 'soft on Communism'. In defence of the so-called best and brightest, the domino theory seems absurd to us only in retrospect. They came from a generation which had seen dominoes topple in Europe and Asia, as Hitler pushed over one nation after another and Japan spread throughout the East, as well as Soviet Russia, amoeba-like, consuming a series of small nations. Not to mention the colonial history of Africa, the 'great game'.
It has been said we're always fighting the last war; everything's obvious in hindsight, and we applied what seemed like perfectly reasonable conclusions based on our specific and immediate experience to a situation outside that experience. This is why breadth as well as depth is essential.
Set aside the domestic-politics considerations that trapped our leaders in the need not to appear 'soft on Communism'. In defence of the so-called best and brightest, the domino theory seems absurd to us only in retrospect. They came from a generation which had seen dominoes topple in Europe and Asia, as Hitler pushed over one nation after another and Japan spread throughout the East, as well as Soviet Russia, amoeba-like, consuming a series of small nations. Not to mention the colonial history of Africa, the 'great game'.
It has been said we're always fighting the last war; everything's obvious in hindsight, and we applied what seemed like perfectly reasonable conclusions based on our specific and immediate experience to a situation outside that experience. This is why breadth as well as depth is essential.
1
I think most people would be astounded to discover how much damage Bloomberg's educational policies did to arts education. In spite of his visible support for enriching talented students, he threw those most in need of an art education by the wayside. Please see State Comptroller di Napoli's survey to get a sense of the scale of the damage. Unfortunately, the current administration has kept some of those same policies in place ensuring that NYC children will still miss out on meaningful instruction. And Cuomo's insistence on high stakes testing can only further exacerbate the problem.
2
In the bygone days college offered degrees in humanities, businesses hired them and trained them for the world of work. Today businesses are not training anyone, they expect them to be fully qualified to occupy a work station and start doing what the company needs done to make money for the executives and shareholders.
Do humans need the humanities? Yes, but nobody wants to pay for the fact that you have a BA. Businesses use the degree process to get pre-trained employees and as a way to limit the pool of potential workers. A certificate of competence in a skill or discipline is what most companies would prefer to a degree.
The fact that the employee doesn't have a humanities background isn't seen as a liability. The fact that the employee isn't trained to think or make moral/ethical judgments is a plus because they will simply do what they are told to do without question because they have a mountain of college debt to be repaid. The perfect employee indeed, and one who will be sacrificed when the decisions of the executives run afoul of legal and ethical standards.
Do humans need the humanities? Yes, but nobody wants to pay for the fact that you have a BA. Businesses use the degree process to get pre-trained employees and as a way to limit the pool of potential workers. A certificate of competence in a skill or discipline is what most companies would prefer to a degree.
The fact that the employee doesn't have a humanities background isn't seen as a liability. The fact that the employee isn't trained to think or make moral/ethical judgments is a plus because they will simply do what they are told to do without question because they have a mountain of college debt to be repaid. The perfect employee indeed, and one who will be sacrificed when the decisions of the executives run afoul of legal and ethical standards.
85
Just so you know, business schools do have courses in business ethics, which too many business majors treat as a joke.
Why don't business schools let their majors take ethics courses in the philosophy department where it has been offered for decades? I have an answer to the question, but it is more than cynical and depressing.
No wonder much of the corporate world treats ethics as only an opportunity to boost the corporate/brand image, but in practice it is wink-wink when an ethical issue erupts, and punishment for most whistle-blowers.
Why don't business schools let their majors take ethics courses in the philosophy department where it has been offered for decades? I have an answer to the question, but it is more than cynical and depressing.
No wonder much of the corporate world treats ethics as only an opportunity to boost the corporate/brand image, but in practice it is wink-wink when an ethical issue erupts, and punishment for most whistle-blowers.
3
Unfortunately, the article may perpetuate the idea in some readers that a liberal arts education involves only the humanities, social sciences, and the arts, and that scientists would benefit from considering those areas as well. In fact, a liberal arts education has always had, as critical components, the sciences and mathematics.
The goal of a liberal arts education is to prepare an individual to use reason effectively in a civil society.
Knowledge of the sciences is more important than ever. That knowledge ennobles the mind of a literature major as much as literature ennobles the mind of the scientist.
The goal of a liberal arts education is to prepare an individual to use reason effectively in a civil society.
Knowledge of the sciences is more important than ever. That knowledge ennobles the mind of a literature major as much as literature ennobles the mind of the scientist.
19
Yes, but nobody's saying that the sciences are expendable; the big push is for STEM education. It's the humanities - the arts, philosophy and history - that are under attack.
1
But in today's brave new world if it's not quantifiable and a quick profit generator, it's viewed with disdain.
9
Kristof's focus is on post-secondary education, but the deeper concern is the elimination of critical thinking and the humanities from secondary education. My school district has cut social studies to the point where most schools relegate it to a interdisciplinary connection within the English language arts class... which has itself become a study of how to answer multiple-choice questions about only an excerpt of text. The district has cut almost all positions focused on curriculum and content, hiring instead data analysts, whose job is to help teachers read student test scores and teach with a focus only improving those scores. Surely our district is not the only one heading down this path, one which I daresay does not lead to (nor does it reflect) wisdom.
11
According to the writers of "Academically Adrift," a business degree was one of the ones where students demonstrated no increase in skills of critical thinking, reasoning, and writing at the end of 4 years-- learning nothing whatsoever. I can't imagine that these graduates will be of much use to companies, or to any other employer.
17
I am not sure of whether the findings in "Academically Adrift" that business majors demonstrated no increase in thinking skills is an indication of the number and type of students who choose the degree or the degree as it exists today. Many business students are choosing their major simply to be able to get a job - it is a decision born out of necessity rather than a love for learning.
I got a degree in finance and accounting. I also took college level courses in biology, astronomy, psychology, political science, history, literature, math, statistics, economics, theatre, writing, computer science, speech and presentations....
I remember a lot more from those courses than I do from all the accounting I took. Most of the technical aspect of accounting in businesses is pre-programmed into a computer. Companies need people who can think to figure out the things that went wrong. Both the technical and the liberal arts courses helped.
Of course, when I went to college at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, most people did not yet need a college degree just to get their resumes through an automated resume reading algorithm. So some of us actually WANTED the advanced education and the opportunity to use it later in life. I expect that was demonstrated - way back then - in an increase in thinking skills.
I got a degree in finance and accounting. I also took college level courses in biology, astronomy, psychology, political science, history, literature, math, statistics, economics, theatre, writing, computer science, speech and presentations....
I remember a lot more from those courses than I do from all the accounting I took. Most of the technical aspect of accounting in businesses is pre-programmed into a computer. Companies need people who can think to figure out the things that went wrong. Both the technical and the liberal arts courses helped.
Of course, when I went to college at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, most people did not yet need a college degree just to get their resumes through an automated resume reading algorithm. So some of us actually WANTED the advanced education and the opportunity to use it later in life. I expect that was demonstrated - way back then - in an increase in thinking skills.
2
The companies are run by business majors, so who needs critical thinking, reasoning, and writing when the whole point is to sell a brand or service, grab as much of market share as possible, and maximize profits while minimizing costs?
Wisdom and good judgment? Forget about it. Loyalty to the boss and networking are what get the promotions, pay raises, and bonuses--until one can get to the top and run the company based on same business values and practices. Critical thinking? Groupthink works just fine!
Wisdom and good judgment? Forget about it. Loyalty to the boss and networking are what get the promotions, pay raises, and bonuses--until one can get to the top and run the company based on same business values and practices. Critical thinking? Groupthink works just fine!
2
My brother passed away a few weeks ago, and the cards and condolences never stopped. He never voted, never read a book in his life. He tossed his school books in a corner and went off to play baseball, football, shoot waxed cards against a concrete curb. Or off to a dance, a pool party, or what not. He was Mr. Happy Go Lucky, never worried about tomorrow, and his grades were below passing most of his life. But friends? he had them. He radiated charm and personality, would be so naive with anyone, willing to give them the shirt off his back. Trusting, caring, he had personality plus, though he lacked common sense, and was taken advantage of, losing some prized possessions to people he thought would never steal from him. He was a poor judge of character, but his losses only reinforced his desires to do without material things. I often wondered how he made it to 61. But for every person who used him he had twenty solid friends who didn't. They loved him. We all did. No humanities, no book smarts, no common sense, yet he had it all. He put others first. Isn't that what we all aspire to do?
2
I love it when respected authorities use the word "wisdom" w/o defining what they mean by it.
Wisdom doesn't mean believing what anyone else says you ought to believe.
Wisdom is learning what NOT to believe.
Get that right and you won't have much else to worry about.
Wisdom doesn't mean believing what anyone else says you ought to believe.
Wisdom is learning what NOT to believe.
Get that right and you won't have much else to worry about.
A good liberal arts education also raises the possibility that there is much more to life than stuff, who has the most, the biggest, the fanciest.
We boomers were lucky to grow up in a time of shared plenty, when college loan debt was low to non existent, a time when the rich paid meaningful taxes and we, as Americans knew, we were all in this together.
We boomers were lucky to grow up in a time of shared plenty, when college loan debt was low to non existent, a time when the rich paid meaningful taxes and we, as Americans knew, we were all in this together.
160
Harvard is a feeder school for Wall Street.
The point is that one can begin reading the "Great Books..." at any time. I myself was trained as an engineer (because I got a scholarship). In my early 40s I started a self-education in the humanities by reading Will Durant's "Story of Civilization" and then the "Great Books of Western Civilization". I am still an engineer but my personal and professional lives have both been enriched.
8
Humanities and liberal arts are not the same.
Liberal arts implies that a humanities student would take a course in science or math and that a science student would take courses in literature or history. This is a very good idea.
Humanities does not usually allow for such interdisciplinary or multi disciplinary pursuits just as straight exact or life sciences would not.
The problem with humanities in the US (abroad there are different problems) is that one pays an exorbitant tuition for a non-employable education, in spite of all the intellectual benefits. However when a field like history (humanities for me, social science for others) serves as pre-law, then there is no problem. That is not possible for every field in humanities or soft social sciences.
The solution in the US, graded tuition.
If you study English pay less, a lot less than if you study computer science.
As for a liberal education, i.e. liberal arts, that should be a sine qua non for any education and any discipline.
Liberal arts implies that a humanities student would take a course in science or math and that a science student would take courses in literature or history. This is a very good idea.
Humanities does not usually allow for such interdisciplinary or multi disciplinary pursuits just as straight exact or life sciences would not.
The problem with humanities in the US (abroad there are different problems) is that one pays an exorbitant tuition for a non-employable education, in spite of all the intellectual benefits. However when a field like history (humanities for me, social science for others) serves as pre-law, then there is no problem. That is not possible for every field in humanities or soft social sciences.
The solution in the US, graded tuition.
If you study English pay less, a lot less than if you study computer science.
As for a liberal education, i.e. liberal arts, that should be a sine qua non for any education and any discipline.
10
I think it was Bart Giamatti when he was leading Yale who said "Those who know how will always work for those who know why." A liberal education is the guide to the "why's."
7
Well said, Nick, but let us take it one step further. I don't read Wordsworth, or G.M. Hopkins or listen to Beethoven or John Denver to get a better job or be a team leader or . . . I do so for the sheer joy of it, for communication with another human being and for the sheer joy at the sounds they have given us. That doesn't foreclose the love of economics or its functionality. Beauty exists on many planes.
4
The Fourth Reason (It really should be The First): The Arts, for those whose ears, eyes, and minds have been opened to them, provide untold joy and consolation.
2
It's the "sometimes" part of this position regarding an education in the Humanities that damns it. A major in a marketable skill and a minor in the humanities would seem to me to work as you envision. I graduated with a BA in sociology which was useless in paying my rent, as would a BA in English, Psychology, History, etc. Those undergraduate degrees all require post graduate work, Master and Doctorate degrees to be successful, something you should have mentioned in your piece today. I would tell my students that if you can't find a job listed in the NYT which can be had with your chosen major you should think again.
1
It would help if the education helps in any way in your foreign policy decisions,
- Iraq war was a catastrophe, now it is being corrected by more war. Did anyone even apologize?
- Saudi Arab is righteous friend, by what standards?
- Less said about the other conflicts, the better
By standards of liberal education, the record is abysmal. Pretense of spreading democracy and altruism no longer holds, educating some of the leaders who make these smart policies would help world at large.
- Iraq war was a catastrophe, now it is being corrected by more war. Did anyone even apologize?
- Saudi Arab is righteous friend, by what standards?
- Less said about the other conflicts, the better
By standards of liberal education, the record is abysmal. Pretense of spreading democracy and altruism no longer holds, educating some of the leaders who make these smart policies would help world at large.
4
Kristof's focus is post-secondary education, but a deeper concern is the elimination of critical thinking and the humanities at the secondary level. Our district has all but eliminated social studies from its schools, relegating it to a mere interdisciplinary connection to English Language Arts... which has itself become the study of how to answer multiple choice questions about only an excerpt of a text. The district has cut nearly all employees focused on curriculum and content, hiring instead more data analysts to work with teachers on how to read test scores and teach focused only on improving those scores. We are surely not the only district heading in this direction, a direction I daresay does not lead to (nor reflect) wisdom.
122
One of the most consistent messages of the humanities is the warning that money, greed, and materialism do not lead anywhere good. If people in business have not heard that message, business can easily become a force of evil, a producer of misery. One need not look far in recent business events to see the results of business unrestrained by ethics and moral considerations.
6
Many articles have been written on the advantages of having a liberal arts education. Yours does a good job in offer three concrete results, and emphasizing the breadth of possibilities-- but I wish you had looked a bit more into that; how, specifically, can dipping our feet in the various fields, like psychology, or geography, philosophy or anthropology take us further? Here's a similar article from the Atlantic today that goes to show how the skills acquired can deliver in quite a varied form of professional routes. Literature is a big player in the humanities, but not the only one. I have a background in literature as an English major, and wish I had expanded beyond the English department in my liberal arts explorations. Maybe launch a column or series speaking to liberal arts educatees on how their knowledge and skills paid off in the real world? http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/what-do-philosophers...
Nick, The third reason makes the most sense but demands of society an openness to "interactions with those around us" and all we are offering to each other now is anger and venom. One of our biggest teachers is made up of our leaders who are teaching anything but positive and encouraging and friendly interaction.
Let them eat Tapestry and Porcelain!
Let them eat Tapestry and Porcelain!
1
Soft skills is an unfortunate term. Guess it means not specific but general abilities that can be applied to a range of problem solving. Sure that's valuable in anyone, but would a job applicant boast about his/her ‘soft skills’?
What kind of example do many of those who run our politics offer? What values do the super rich who support our lawmakers appreciate? They value their increasing power and aim to get more of it. It's a sort of monomania, even addiction, focused on 1 thing--to keep accumulating power and wealth. And using our democracy to gain it.
Students of today might study the past in terms of the history of progress, and also of revolutions. What lessons can be applied to our faltering democracy?
What kind of example do many of those who run our politics offer? What values do the super rich who support our lawmakers appreciate? They value their increasing power and aim to get more of it. It's a sort of monomania, even addiction, focused on 1 thing--to keep accumulating power and wealth. And using our democracy to gain it.
Students of today might study the past in terms of the history of progress, and also of revolutions. What lessons can be applied to our faltering democracy?
5
One might just as easily ask Rick Scott if it is a vital interest of Florida (or any other state) to have a Republican governor who espouses such dangerous, anti-intellectual views. And it continues to irritate many of us that "excellence at communicating and working with people" is still referred to as a "soft" skill. For some people, "soft" skills are very hard to learn indeed, sometimes much more difficult than accumulating any technical knowledge. We are only beginning to understand just how valuable "soft" skills are to the workplace and employers. Of course you need both!
Conservatives who disagree with this are every bit as biased toward a liberal arts education as they claim humanities professors are biased against their views. Rather than embrace the challenge of debating the views of a more liberal institution and testing their own arguments, conservatives increasingly are ignoring science and research that doesn't fit their worldview, living less and less in the "reality-based community." And, most unfortunately, they are pulling their children in the direction of rejecting the value of a humanities education, in part by supporting politicians like Rick Scott.
Conservatives who disagree with this are every bit as biased toward a liberal arts education as they claim humanities professors are biased against their views. Rather than embrace the challenge of debating the views of a more liberal institution and testing their own arguments, conservatives increasingly are ignoring science and research that doesn't fit their worldview, living less and less in the "reality-based community." And, most unfortunately, they are pulling their children in the direction of rejecting the value of a humanities education, in part by supporting politicians like Rick Scott.
45
Humanities? All very well,
But money and Facebook do spell
What we long to attain,
Read Homer in vain,
It's Selfies and Cash ring our bell!
But money and Facebook do spell
What we long to attain,
Read Homer in vain,
It's Selfies and Cash ring our bell!
31
we badly need a re-emphasis on the humanities. Our culture
has gone awry with idiotic pursuits, lack of interest in the
facts and over emphasis on religion and dogma. A liberal arts
education teaches a young person how to think, and
enriches the mind. We should listen to Adams and heed the
wisdom of Mr.Kristof for writing this op-ed.
has gone awry with idiotic pursuits, lack of interest in the
facts and over emphasis on religion and dogma. A liberal arts
education teaches a young person how to think, and
enriches the mind. We should listen to Adams and heed the
wisdom of Mr.Kristof for writing this op-ed.
56
http://lifeamongtheordinary.blogspot.com/2012/04/opportunity-to-plan-ame...