Monday, September 17, 2007

Are the Humanities becoming unaffordable?

Rivisiting the Canon Wars, from the NYT:

Our nation, like most nations of the world, is devaluing the humanities vis-à-vis science and technology, so constant vigilance is required lest these disciplines be cut.” Louis Menand, a Harvard English professor and New Yorker staff writer who serves on Harvard’s curriculum reform committee, concurs: “The big question for humanists is, How do we explain why what we do is important for people who aren’t humanists? That’s been tough, really tough.”

1 comment:

Stephen Romanoff said...

No war was ever prosecuted without totally abandoning human discourse; and no peace was ever achieved without thoughtfully employing it. The humanities remain the sole resource for the expression of humankind's response to his/her own existence.

Stephen J. Romanoff
University of Southern Maine