Humanities citizens and industrial consumers (Sarah Churchwell, Times Higher Education)
How the humanities may lead us to greater self-knowledge, beyond the demands of the market place.
20
02, 2017
15
02, 2017
The humanities at Davos (YaleNews)
The humanities at Davos: Yale's President Peter Salovey, a scholar of emotional intelligence, speaks at the World Economic Forum about the place of humanities. From the article: Speaking at the reception ... Salovey emphasized the ways that the humanities can promote understanding, such as how the study of languages can provide insights into a culture, reading literature can [...]
12
02, 2017
Singapore’s sciences require the humanities (Alfred Chua, Today Online)
Singapore's sciences require the humanities: how a leading university understands the need for engineers to train in the humanities. From the article: Technology and innovation may be the twin forces to power Singapore’s new economy but increasingly, social sciences and humanities are getting some unexpected attention and gaining importance in the workplace and helping policymakers [...]
9
01, 2017
What do the humanities have to say? And who should listen?
What do the humanities have to say? And who should listen? A note from Mary Beard, at year's end: They have just issued on the website a top 24 of Cambridge research stories this year. On my reckoning, 19 of those are pure science.... You’d think from looking at this roster that none of the work that [...]
10
12, 2016
The business of Britain: Theresa May speaks about investment in science, but not in humanities
The business of Britain: Prime Minister Theresa May speaks about investment in the sciences. But what of the humanities? From her speech: I want to ask you to work with me to show that the forces of capitalism, globalisation and free trade offer the best hope for the problems facing so many people in our country.... [...]
3
12, 2016
History and the contingency of knowledge (Willard Dix, Forbes)
History and contingency of knowledge: the ways that studying the past can teach us how we can better understand one another today. From the editorial: My introduction to the power of the liberal arts came in an undergraduate course studying the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.... Until then, I had assumed (as most high school students [...]
5
10, 2016
Is education useless?
Education is useless (or rather: is education useless?): a neighborly discussion about what’s worth learning, and where one should learn what's needed -- or useful -- for life. Crimpet: Hello, neighbor. Crumpet: Why are you so happy, Crimpet? You look like you won the office pool. Crimpet: Nothing as wonderful as that. But I’m glad to [...]
12
09, 2016
No literature allowed (Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post)
No literature allowed: parents see little need for their children to receive a broad university education, as its ROI seems negligible. From the article: For me, there’s nothing more depressing than meeting incoming freshmen at Mason who have declared themselves as accounting majors. They’re 18 years old, they haven’t had a chance to take a course in [...]
6
09, 2016
What was Shakespeare thinking? (Scott L. Newstock, Chronicle of Higher Education)
What was Shakespeare thinking (and why does it matter)? The ways that old, even ancient, methods of learning can produce original results. From the article: You take it for granted that Olympic athletes and professional musicians must practice relentlessly to perfect their craft. Why should you expect the craft of thought to require anything less [...]
17
06, 2016
Science first, humanities later (Vinod Khosla, Medium)
Science first, humanities later: logic and computer science beat Jane Austen and Shakespeare. From the editorial: Though Jane Austen and Shakespeare might be important, they are far less important than many other things that are more relevant to make an intelligent, continuously learning citizen, and a more adaptable human being in our increasingly more complex, diverse [...]