A Defence

A recent article in The New Yorker has expressed concern for the decline of humanities by way of falling English major admission rates. This is not a new phenomenon. As the article states, the humanities have long been losing their employability appeal in favour of STEM subjects whose skillset is more tangible to a new generation of young people in need of a career. The author suggests that this is also evident in a lack of interest in studying those classically formatted, complex texts which have long been the backbone of the format; he cites a professor’s testimony in finding students incapable of identifying the subject and the verb whilst teaching The Scarlet Letter. Certainly, the Classics are no longer taught as they once were. Gone are the days of Ulysses being a subject standard in Secondary teaching. But does this mean that the fate of the humanities really lies in the gutter?

What the author of this article has overlooked is the enduring necessity of the arts and humanities beyond scholarly endeavours. The decline is not of the humanities but of the academic world failing to understand or appreciate the role it holds in the proliferation of the arts.

Humans will always tell stories; these are the skeletal fibre of culture and morals. It is as close to magic as humankind has come, the transformation of words into images in the mind of another, calling upon the lightning rod that is imagination and animating the mind in consequence.

This will not be stopped simply because academia removes itself from support of the arts. It will, however, remove the benefits of the arts and humanities from those at the helms of such institutions. By failing to update teaching methods or place any kind of passion into the education of young minds, the government is failing themselves. A recent study by Stirling University showed that the Scottish Curriculum For Excellence (the curriculum Scotland has used since 2010) is creating a “culture of performativity” and narrowing the scope of our young people. This study speaks in terms of career development and denotes an important issue within our modern culture: the need for attainment.

It is this need that both destroys and funds academia. I venture it is also this need that both funds and destroys humans. In an article entitled ‘The U-Shape of Happiness in Scotland’, the authors describe a peak in mortality and suicide rates in middle-aged persons despite high overall reports of happiness in Scotland. We are burning out and

Design: Megan Napier this culture of achievement-based value is not helping.

What academia fails to understand is the importance of celebrating and supporting cultural advancements like those studied in the Arts and Humanities. By encouraging exploration and interest in these subjects, the fruit of their presence can benefit a wider population.

Expressing oneself through art and literature is one of the most effective ways to connect with our fellows in this life. Great art is described as ‘touching’ for good reason. It is an access to the soul, not necessarily in a religious sense but in the way that all of us have that innate human nature that transcends the sum of our nerves and neurons. This ‘soul’ is the spark of creation.

Ideas are passed from generation to generation in art and stories, planting the seeds of progress in a mind potentially millennia and miles apart from the origin. The fundamentals of Greek philosophy and engineering are accessible to every child with internet access, is this not magic?

More than that, it is alchemy. In the act or experience of art, we are translating those incorporeal and essential parts of ourselves into something new. Something that carries the ability to light the imagination in others.

We are destabilizing the known world so it might be reconfigured in a way that is new, this is how progress is possible. Only by admitting that things may not be as we thought they were that we can pursue the truth of what they are. The earth is not the centre of the universe, nor is it flat, what else might we discover of its nature if we only allow our minds to change?

This is creative thinking; this is an effort of the humanities. It will not stop, but many will be worse for the denial of its value because it is essential to the survival of the species. Thus, it is far too deeply a part of humanity to be extinguished by lack of attention. Ideas will grow even on fallow ground; morals and culture will continue to be written, spoken, sung, painted, and expressed in all manner of methods. It is only those who choose not to tend the garden that forsake themselves from sharing its’ fruit.