The humanities bring home the bacon: a Canadian study looks at the earnings power of humanities and liberal arts graduates. From the article: [Ross Finnie, Director of Ottawa's Education Policy Research Initiative] says more research can help pinpoint the soft skills and figure out how post-secondary institutions can help develop them. “If we identify those skills, we can [...]
The mission and meanderings of learning: thoughts on the purpose of education 2000 years ago. You have been wishing to know my views with regard to liberal studies. My answer is this: I respect no study, and deem no study good, which results in money-making. Such studies are profit-bringing occupations, useful only in so far [...]
Business people need the liberal arts: why more than specialization is required to succeed in business when you're really trying. From the article: Businesses want workers who have “the ability to think, the ability to write, the ability to understand the cultural or historical context of whatever business decision they’re making,” added Rachel Reiser, assistant [...]
Gnomic genomics of happiness: is happiness in our genes, and can our euphoria alter the way our genes express themselves? From the article: The study indicated that people high in eudaemonic happiness were more likely to show the opposite gene profile of those suffering from social isolation: inflammation was down, while antiviral response was up. Since [...]
Science, industry, and racial barriers: one of America's most eminent historians reflects on a lifetime of change and stasis But the challenges I, my brother, Buck, and my sisters, Mozella and Anne, faced were always formidable. Living through years of remarkable change, the barrier of race was a constant. With the appearance of each new institution [...]
STEM without poetry is like life without metaphor: how scientists may improve their writing and understanding by reading literature. From the editorial: It is within the lines of poetry that students can discover, celebrate and appreciate other cultures, dialects, ethnicities, world views and experiences. As science educators, we have integrated literature and poetry into scientific training. [...]
How can we reintegrate knowledge in a simple and useful way? Forty years ago, a leading designer reflects on the challenges created by divisions in higher education. From the article: Unfortunately, universities today are becoming discontinuity headquarters, with each department avoiding communication with the others and with the rest of the world. Used as it [...]
Caring for the soul: where psychiatry and religion meet. Religion and science collaborate in order to help the spiritually afflicted, and thereby challenge the doctrinal conventions of each. From the editorial: Is it possible to be a sophisticated psychiatrist and believe that evil spirits are, however seldom, assailing humans? Most of my scientific colleagues and [...]
Against Reading: why life is better spent doing other things. Ferreus. Hi, Procopius. What are you up to? Procopius. Hello, Ferreus. I’m just catching up on my reading. Ferreus. What magazine is that? Procopius. The Economist. It’s a bit stilted, but it helps me understand world affairs. Ferreus. I looked at it once. It was [...]
Of books to books: Geoffrey Crayon speaks to volumes in the library of Westminster Abbey, and ponders the ways time and technology transform our knowledge. “Language gradually varies, and with it fade away the writings of authors who flourished their allotted time…. Formerly there were some restraints on this excessive multiplication. Works had to be transcribed by [...]
