In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth

Parents Forum
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<p>new timely article from the NYTimes
thoughts? reactions?</p>

<p>By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: February 24, 2009
One idea that elite universities like Yale, sprawling public systems like Wisconsin and smaller private colleges like Lewis and Clark have shared for generations is that a traditional liberal arts education is, by definition, not intended to prepare students for a specific vocation. Rather, the critical thinking, civic and historical knowledge and ethical reasoning that the humanities develop have a different purpose: They are prerequisites for personal growth and participation in a free democracy, regardless of career choice.</p>

<p>But in this new era of lengthening unemployment lines and shrinking university endowments, questions about the importance of the humanities in a complex and technologically demanding world have taken on new urgency. Previous economic downturns have often led to decreased enrollment in the disciplines loosely grouped under the term “humanities” — which generally include languages, literature, the arts, history, cultural studies, philosophy and religion. Many in the field worry that in this current crisis those areas will be hit hardest.</p>

<p>Already scholars point to troubling signs. A December survey of 200 higher education institutions by The Chronicle of Higher Education and Moody’s Investors Services found that 5 percent have imposed a total hiring freeze, and an additional 43 percent have imposed a partial freeze.</p>

<p>In the last three months at least two dozen colleges have canceled or postponed faculty searches in religion and philosophy, according to a job postings page on Wikihost.org. The Modern Language Association’s end-of-the-year job listings in English, literature and foreign languages dropped 21 percent for 2008-09 from the previous year, the biggest decline in 34 years.</p>

<p>“Although people in humanities have always lamented the state of the field, they have never felt quite as much of a panic that their field is becoming irrelevant,” said Andrew Delbanco, the director of American studies at Columbia University. </p>

<p>With additional painful cuts across the board a near certainty even as millions of federal stimulus dollars may be funneled to education, the humanities are under greater pressure than ever to justify their existence to administrators, policy makers, students and parents. Technology executives, researchers and business leaders argue that producing enough trained engineers and scientists is essential to America’s economic vitality, national defense and health care. Some of the staunchest humanities advocates, however, admit that they have failed to make their case effectively.</p>

<p><a href="http://nytimes.com/2009/02/25/books/25human.html?8dpc%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://nytimes.com/2009/02/25/books/25human.html?8dpc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>If my kid wanted to major in religion et al ( and I do believe that at least casual study is important to any undergrad degree, I would rather they defer their studies altogether, than attend a school without arts/drama/music/language/literature</p>

<p>If you want to attend vocational school & I don't have a problem with that- then attend vocational school.</p>

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<p>You go to college to get an education, not job training. I guess I was brainwashed by UW (Wisconsin). So many people got their liberal arts type education then found employment in nonmajor fields using their brains and ability to think. </p>

<p>You can't make a humanities thinker into a science/engineering thinker so forcing people to major in something with no aptitude for it won't make them successful at it. Society needs all kinds of educated people to enrich our lives. There are many jobs where the unspecified bachelor's degree is desired- employers must have reasons for this.</p>

<p>I agree with the vocational technical schools for job training. I also find it discouraging that so many students want a business degree instead of a broader undergraduate education, one can get a masters in a business field for job purposes with other degrees.</p>

<p>Often I think the journalists who write for publications like the NY Times have no sense of being educated, they only look at economics, not the whole person. Their definition of success seems to be monetarily driven, not the intangibles that improve our society.</p>

<p>I am glad that even the BS degree requires so many humanities and social science credits, as a chemistry major it was good to have a breadth, not just depth, of knowledge.</p>

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<p>In these days when so much is so uncertain, I have advised my D and my students to follow their hearts. We know far too many people who have gotten their educations in so-called marketable fields, only to end up in dire straits right now. There is no point in trying to figure out where the best education is and how that could lead to the best jobs later. Nothing is guaranteed. Do what you love, and you will be able to sort out the job stuff when things settle down.</p>

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<p>This is the fourth major recession of my working life. I majored in one of the many "useless" majors at Brown; I have never worked a day in my field and yet have never been unemployed... not ever. I graduated during a recession and had a job offer months before I graduated; my liberal arts education serves me well every single day despite not having prepped me for any particular career. It taught me to think, to write, and to speak concisely; it allowed me to view the world from many different perspectives; it encouraged me to ferret out answers when not readily available.</p>

<p>I think all of my employers appreciated that. No doubt I had managers who wished I'd been an accounting major but it doesn't take too long for someone who is reasonably numerate to learn to read a balance sheet or learn how to do a discounted cash flow analysis.</p>

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<p>If the world only needed scientists and engineers.....and everyone knew at 18 that they wanted to be a scientist or engineer...then I would go along with diminishing the humanities and social sciences.</p>

<p>As much as I love a number of scientists and engineers (not all of them knew - at 18 - that was the career they would pursue) I'm glad to know many humanities, arts, and social science majors who are working as teachers, business people, social workers, clergy and any number of other useful and productive occupations.</p>

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<p>"I also find it discouraging that so many students want a business degree instead of a broader undergraduate education"</p>

<p>well... some feel you go to college to learn a skill..Not everyone wants or needs the humanities</p>

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<p>Let the next generation pull away from humanities. That will create a scaricity and drive up the value of those who remain. Sounds fine to me.</p>

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<p>I think there is a difference in degree utlity/marketability between the top ranked schools and lower ranked schools, no matter what the major.</p>

<p>A Brown (HPYS etc.) religion major is going to get more job offers than a "What&Whereisthat" University humanities graduate. The Brown graduate has proven he/she is smarter by acceptance/graduation from an elite school.</p>

<p>Employers want capability but they also want prestige. A table of organization that includes Ivy graduates is more marketable to potential customers, merger partners, lenders, and acquisition prospects.</p>

<p>The idea that $200,000 in debt for a theatre arts degree from Nowhere U. is a sound life choice is stupid.</p>

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<p>new college graduates need to realize that someone from a top school will get a lot of interest from employers, even in a down economy, no matter what the degree is in. However it is not an assurance of success because the ivy leaque grad will be expected to deliver more business, speak better, be more creative, work harder and have very good social skills.....if this isn't true, the top school degree isn't going to help.</p>

<p>for instance, I am in marketing for a well known science oriented company, we joke that the ideal job candidate for us would be an MIT engineer that was president of his fraternity. We are looking for technical skills and people skills.</p>

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<p>Note that the tougher the times, the more everything is scrutinized. </p>

<p>It is becoming obvious that we as a society can't afford everything. Do we use our scarce resources to train dancers or cancer researchers? Do we want musicians or auto mechanics? Should we train painters or English teachers at public expense?</p>

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<p>I am not trying to be difficult, but is there any empirical evidence that humanities teach "thinking" better than other majors? Do humanities grads choose their spouses more wisely? Do they anticipate this market meltdown more successfully?</p>

<p>FYI, I have a first degree in the humanities, and a "minor" in quantitative methods. My children have business degrees with humanities minors. </p>

<p>Last night I asked one of them what they learned from studying business. The answer? How to think.</p>

<p>I thought it was kind of funny.</p>

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<p>I'm wondering what would-be social prognosticators will say when most of the software and engineering jobs have been outsourced to India--not because Indian engineers and programmers are better, but because they are cheaper. When the majority of diagnostic radiologists are located in China, or Bangladesh--not because they are better, but because they are cheaper. And so forth.</p>

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<p>Quote" I'm wondering what would-be social prognosticators will say when most of the software and engineering jobs have been outsourced to India--not because Indian engineers and programmers are better, but because they are cheaper. When the majority of diagnostic radiologists are located in China, or Bangladesh--not because they are better, but because they are cheaper. And so forth"</p>

<p>Doesn't matter because the day we do that is the day the US becomes a third world country anyway. If we lose our research and science base we are toast</p>

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<p>Our societies unwillingness to defend our job base from foreign depredation has been our downfall. There isn't enough real economy left to revive.</p>

<p>Maybe we can all get jobs a servants for the new "corporate royalty" caste.</p>

<p>The Pentagon has already complained that we are losing our ability to maintain our nuclear deterrent capability. This is the legacy of an administration that claimed it "kept us safe". Perhaps we can outsource our nuclear weapon and other defense needs to Iran.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
is there any empirical evidence that humanities teach "thinking" better than other majors?

[/quote]

Good question. I haven't seen better "thinking" skills in humanities grads versus those in more quantitative fields. Ideally, those thinking/analyzing/writing skills should be developed in high school.</p>

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<p>while Ambassador to France, John Adams famously said:</p>

<p>
[quote]
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>There was an implied hierarchy in the disciplines from the more useful to the more artistic while at the same time acknowledging that the ability to study the arts was essential to future generations. To Adams, unless you had a strong basis in the practical arts, study of the liberal arts was not a priority.</p>

<p>We have a similar situation today, with a shortage of highly skilled students in the "useful arts" and an oversupply of students with a general liberal arts education. Too many students need additional training beyond a college degree to be immediately productive. At most liberal arts colleges you can navigate your way through graduation without taking anything more than "math for musicians' to satisfy a quantitative skills requirement. </p>

<p>In virtually every country, except the US, post seconday education is pre-professional. Nobody goes to college in the UK, France, Germany or Japan simply to learn "how to think". That is generally the function played by secondary education not universities. Around the world a college education is essentially free with the cost largely covered by the State. Other countries look with envy at the leading US universities in the areas of science, engineering, economics and business and they will send their best and brightest to be trained here in those fields. Nobody in his right mind will come to the US and spend $200,000 to study the Classics or literature. </p>

<p>It is certainly a reasonable issue for debate in this country, how much the federal and state governments should invest in educational fields with no clear return on investment. </p>

<p>The current administration is taking the position that the US needs to strengthen its leadership in medicine, science and technology and will invest billions for research in those fields as a matter of national necessity. Sure, a few radiologists in India may also benefit but medicine is largely a business of proximity: you don't fly to India to see your doctor. Same thing with science and engineering: most technology businesses develop from cross-pollination with research universities. Silicon Valley is in California to a large part because of its dependence on research and talent from Stanford and Berkeley. Most technology companies along route 128 in Boston developed as spin-offs from MIT.</p>

<p>If liberal arts colleges want a piece of the pie they will have to come up with a better value proposition. Just claiming to teach "how to think" doesn't cut it.</p>

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<p>It is a little bizarre to claim that humanities fields have no clear return on investment.</p>

<p>Scores of top executives of high performing companies (as measured by ROI, forget whatever social good comes of their products, the tens of thousands they employ, etc.) earned BA's in history, political science, English, or comparative literature. Exactly what return on investment do you want?</p>

<p>The CEO of P&G has a degree in Renaissance History. I guess the shareholders are too stupid to notice.</p>

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<p>The fact that many executives of big companies have undergraduate degrees in the humanities is hardly a proof that the education they received bears any causal relationship to the success of their respective businesses. Most of the companies they run existed long before they were appointed to run them and if one looks at current track records many of these executives, especially in the financial services sector, have been running these businesses into the ground. Hardly an endorsement of their contribution!</p>

<p>Most high growth companies are created by individuals with highly specialized skills, generally in engineering and technology. According to a recent independent study the economic effect of MIT alumni-founded companies and its entrepreneurial ecosystem, if the active companies founded by MIT graduates formed an independent nation, their revenues would make that nation the 11th-largest economy in the world. Similarly, you could probably attribute a major portion of the revenue of Silcon Valley companies to Stanford engineering and science graduates. </p>

<p>The effect of large government research programs at the NIH, NASA, the DOE and other such facilities can be directly measured through the development of new drugs, vehicles, communication systems and alternative energy technologies. These are highly tangible and direct benefits. With limited educational resources there is arguably a greater ROI in training a new math or science teacher than a history teacher. Not that ROI should be the only metric, but it is clearly part of the equation. </p>

<p>As the article argues, proponents of a liberal arts education, which is a uniquely american construct, need to advance a stronger case for why that educational model is still relevant in times of economic uncertainty.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Doesn't matter because the day we do that is the day the US becomes a third world country anyway. If we lose our research and science base we are toast

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Indeed. I would suggest that we are already sliced and in the toaster because we have let a goodly portion of our manufacturing base go already. Allowing the auto industry to go would be the final straw.</p>