Defending Higher Ed Humanities

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Monday, November 2. 2015

Defending Higher Ed Humanities

There are so many valid critiques of humanties curricula these days that it's hard to summarize them. Here's one effort: The Humanities Man the Barricades Against Growing Criticism.

One thing that stood out to me was the arrogance of the academics quoted. Like this:

Panelists spoke passionately and knowingly about the ability of art and literature to increase empathy and human understanding and to improve students’ critical thinking and writing skills. “From my experience, it is not possible to develop those skills without a liberal arts education,” said UNC system president Thomas Ross.

I think Herman Melvlle, Mark Twain, and even Bob Dylan might dispute that.

Posted by The Barrister in Education at 18:24 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

My wife, bless her heart, got her Bachelor's degree (BA) with night school classes over the course of fifteen years. This while she worked and raised four kids. Finally graduated a week before she turned sixty. \
I say this because I mean no disrespect for anyone that achieves it but the college degree of today is the equivalent of a high school diploma of yesteryear.
Colleges are not educating young people in courses that matter, fill in the blanks: medical, law, finance, education, &c. Some of you more learned readers are way more familiar with it than I am.
Uncle Sam taught me how to blow things up and kill people. General Motors taught me to be an Electrician, a trade I worked for forty years. Even those arcane or plebian skills are better than had I achieved a bachelor's degree.

What do they teach now? Non-traditional courses like the Moral Effects of Middle English Dress, or was Shakespeare Queer. all to the tune of money, large money, hundred dollar bills mere chump change.

And guaranteed graduation, no child left behind. Here's some kid, first job interview, spent the whole night before making charts and wowie-zowie presentation, the banker or other employment officer takes one look at it, also sees the kid wet behind the ears and all he says is "uh uh, screw", thumb pointing to the door.
.

#1 chasmatic (Link) on 2015-11-02 19:21 (Reply)

In my department they still teach physics. For now.

#2 James the lesser (Link) on 2015-11-02 20:27 (Reply)

Well, those familiar with physics know that if physics is dropped, it will be followed by the fall accelerating as time passes.

#2.1 JK Brown on 2015-11-03 10:04 (Reply)

Are there really people who think that science and engineering curricula don't teach critical thinking and writing skills? Scientists and engineers of my acquaintance write very clear and readable English, and needn't be embarrassed about their analytical abilities, either.

Maybe the humanities professors should think a bit more about whether it's possible to develop certain important human capabilities without studying science and engineering.

#3 Texan99 on 2015-11-02 22:30 (Reply)

Texan, I have observed in general that college education leading to a diploma in this or that is lacking, not what it used to be. Certainly the humanities when colleges hire teachers that are more concerned with Anti-Semitic or racial agendas than actual factual history. Re-writing the books to make the outcomes fit their notions of what happened and how.

Less wiggle room with science and engineering but still might get tilted a bit. Sure, water still freezes @ 0 Celsius and steel melts @2900 degrees F or close enough, but sea levels ebbing and flowing, warming or cooling periods, some speculation.
I would value a degree in tech over humanities since it's harder to bend facts than interpretations.

#3.1 chasmatic (Link) on 2015-11-03 01:23 (Reply)

QUOTE:

It is possible for the mind to indulge in false logic, to make the worse appear the better reason, without instant exposure. But for the hand to work falsely is to produce a misshapen thing—tool or machine —which in its construction gives the lie to its maker. Thus the hand that is false to truth, in the very act publishes the verdict of its own guilt, exposes itself to contempt and derision, convicts itself of unskillfulness or of dishonesty.

...

The reason of this is that, being automatic, they [the prevailing methods of education] lead neither to the discovery of truth nor to the detection of error. It is easy to juggle with words, to argue in a circle, to make the worse appear the better reason, and to reach false conclusions which wear a plausible aspect. But it is not so with things. If a cylinder is not tight the steam engine is a lifeless mass of iron of no value whatsoever. A flaw in the wheel of the locomotive wrecks the train. Through a defective flue in the chimney the house is set on fire. A lie in the concreted is always hideous; like murder, it will out. Hence it is that the mind is liable to fall into grave errors until it is fortified by the wise counsel of the practical hand.

—Charles H. Ham, Mind and Hand: manual training, the chief factor in education (1900)

#3.1.1 JK Brown on 2015-11-03 10:14 (Reply)

Texan: aha, I found it:

People are stunned and repulsed by the way college campuses have become lately.
from American Digest

"Every boy is considered a rapist, every girl a fragile princess.
Every statement that is not exactly according to the approved (ever-changing) party line is declared a "microaggression."

Every person that dares to question the top-down imposed dogma is considered a monster, drummed out of the public arena, their papers torn down, clubs closed or denied application, speeches canceled."

#3.2 chasmatic (Link) on 2015-11-03 02:15 (Reply)

Have as many kids as possible and let the most cunning and the strongest survive.

I know, it's only evolution but I like it.

#4 b moe on 2015-11-03 02:01 (Reply)

I guess I made it through during the good old days. I am thankful for that if what you say about Universities is generally true.

I enjoy challenging the arm-waving SJWs about their "facts". But hard facts can be over-rated. An autism-spectrum worker, or graduate with a MFA, can read a thermometer or press "Start" on the batch software.

Melville, Twain, Zinn, Solzhenitsyn, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, et al. went to places that I could never reach on a solo flight. They give me something to ponder while I am loading the magazine (sample vials, screws, hollow points) and sharpening the blade (shipping containers, sample preparation, Götterdämmerung).

The others were puzzled why I smiled when the VP Operations walked all the way to the back of the plant to throw a copy of one of my company emails and the reply into my face. I was denounced as the "Memo Master". Hoo-Haah! He buckled.

If you don`t develop a "perspective" and the ability to explain yourself or write it up, get your ass in the trench, When you finally die, they will use your ass to level the next piece of ductile iron.

The SJWs have attacked the colleges & universities since that is where their enemies (the ones who can think and communicate) are developed. The engineers and scientists are vitally important, but those idiots savant served Hitler, Stalin, and the Chairman very well as blindered, mute draft animals.

The colleges and universities are worth fighting for, if nothing else then to eliminate the SJW infestation. The humanities are vitally important. Without that perspective and the weapon of communication, grab your shovel; there is another canal to be dug.

Are you willing to retake the high ground?

#5 Mike_SMO on 2015-11-03 04:53 (Reply)

QUOTE:

The passionate endeavors to eliminate the classical studies from the curriculum of the liberal education and thus virtually to destroy its very character were one of the major manifestations of the revival of the servile ideology.

Mises, Ludwig von, The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality, 1956

Of course, all one needs to achieve an education in the humanities, is the ability to read. You no longer even need a library card. And with the internet, you can find other readers with which to discuss and argue.

If you can find an uncorrupted Humanities professor, by all means, take advantage. However, as exemplified by the cattle being produced, the Humanities department is for the cattle. Some may achieve independent thought, but most are like the guy in the bar in 'Good Will Hunting' spouting without original thought.

And it is within the college and university Humanities departments where the servile ideology of Hitler, Stalin, the Chairman is cultivated to this day, preserving it until this invasive species can again be cast upon the winds of mankind and the "uneducated" again be enslaved.

#5.1 JK Brown on 2015-11-03 10:36 (Reply)

National Review used to put out a book of fifty or so colleges that had core curriculum requirements for graduation. When my children were looking at schools in the late 90's I told them any on that list was probably acceptable, anything not was going to involve some discussion. (They both went to Asbury, which we were pleased with.)

About half of the list were evangelical and conservative Catholic schools, though even a few public colleges made the grade. I don't know if the information is still valid.

#6 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2015-11-03 16:09 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Monday, November 2. 2015

Defending Higher Ed Humanities