News articles and commentary on the place of the humanities in the modern world.
Sifting through and sifting out: ways employers are testing the college degree (Ryan Craig, EdSurge)
Sifting through and sifting out: ways employers are testing the college degree. Do employers (and students) expect too much from university education, or too little? From the article: According to the Gallup-Lumina survey, only 11 percent of [...]
The arts of medicine
The arts of medicine: for those in the healing field, knowing their patients requires more than the natural sciences. From the article: "[T]oday’s medical curriculum teaches new doctors about culture and communication. It is no longer good enough [...]
Solve problems, find work, enjoy automation (David Autor, Journal of Economic Perspectives)
Solve problems, find work, enjoy automation: how technology enhances the value of the humanities. From the article: The final section of this paper reflects on how recent and future advances in artificial intelligence and robotics should shape [...]
Therapy and the nurture of nature (Fiona Macdonald, BBC Culture)
Therapy and the nurture of nature: how landscape and the natural world foster (from the Greek, therapeia) wholeness. From the article: For many writers, the act of observing nature has healing properties. Amy Liptrot found it [...]
Good books in Damascus (Mike Thomson, BBC)
Good books in Damascus: how a library can offer a respite from war and civic disintegration. From the article: I ask [Abdulbaset Alahmar], in a besieged town that has only had access to two aid [...]
Poetic Justice (Elisa Gonzalez, The New Yorker)
Poetic justice: how a poet may know the justice system, inside and out. From the article: Reginald Dwayne Betts has wanted to be a lawyer for almost as long as he has wanted to be a poet. [...]
The humanities bring home the (Canadian) bacon (Nikki Wiart, Maclean’s)
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 [...]
Business people need the liberal arts (Yoni Applebaum, The Atlantic)
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 [...]
Gnomic genomics of happiness (Will Storr, The New Yorker)
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 [...]
STEM without poetry is like life without metaphor (Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy and Uri Wilensky, Hechinger Report)
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 [...]