The heart of the humanities
In a culture that too often values people simply for their labor, learning for learning’s sake is its own good.
(Illustration: francescoch / iStock / Getty)
The humanities have faced strong headwinds in recent years. While there are some notable exceptions to dwindling enrollment numbers, the overall decline of humanities majors is disconcerting. Friends of mine in higher education tell of whole departments being put on the chopping block, once popular courses being discontinued, and their own tenure suddenly in jeopardy.
Why are these historically robust disciplines getting moved to the periphery of college course offerings and looking at a precarious future? The reasons are many. Clearly, technology has created a drag on the humanities, which typically require more reading and writing than web browsing and podcast listening. Students today seldom see their parents reading. Social media remains adept at shrinking attention spans. “Luckily, we still have some kids who can tear their faces away from their phones for about 75 minutes at a time and find these ideas compelling,” an English department chair said to me recently.
The grip of market forces on students and universities alike is real. Tuition inflation means increased personal debt for students, which creates fresh worry over earning potential, at least when contemplating the career prospects of their peers in science, technology, engineering, and math. University presidents explain budget cuts to faculty using language about “non-revenue-generating departments,” “undersubscribed enrollment,” and “no discernable future market growth potential” for particular disciplines.
