Redefining What It Means To Be Human In The Absence Of The Humanities

Redefining What It Means To Be Human In The Absence Of The Humanitiesby Terry HeickThis post has been updated from an early 2013 post.The world is swirling in winds of digital code.The humanities provide a kind of embedded moral code that force us to confront our own habits, trends, and Notions of recreation. In an age of shifts and fluidity, this is definitely a "thing." Within the immense gravity of Google, Apple, and the data mobility, the shift away from the humanities is accelerating. According to the New York Times, Stanford University has 45% of its staff in its Humanities department, but only 15% of its students. At Harvard, there has been a 20% decline in humanities majors in the last ten years.That's a lot. Who cares?If literature Provides a kind of shared framework for what people are "for" and how we MIGHT act and what we should tend range towards or resist, it is not a huge leap to believe that without the humanities, we are then Redefining what it means to be human in the absence of the kind of sustained, millenia-long reflection the humanities represent.This should make-us at the very least uncomfortable.The Stories That LingerLet's define the humanities as "the study of ourselves through our collective human expression."In education, Reviews These expressions-what makes each one of us unique, expressive, and capable of giving and receiving love are Curiously Gathered under a single content area- "humanities." Practices here include literature, art, design, music, and philosophy- activities that elevate our lives beyond mere survival.It's easy to spot right away, however, that the "non-humanities" -science, technology, engineering, and math-Also have roles to play in the humanities. We do not stop being human Because We test theories or require a data or perform calculations, nor are these "industries" any less human than writing poetry or composing music.The humanities then, provide extraordinarily diverse modeling of human trials, failures, humility, and triumph. Ezra Pound's "Literature is news that stays news" is a useful line. Out of the billions of episodes of published media, the things that linger-for whatever reason-growing niche to be useful, like a trail of bread crumbs back to ourselves.Humanities as a term has Become opaque and abstract, the which can be seen in how Casually we treat it in education (see the Common Core Standards). The artificial categorizing of the universe into narrow Sects of knowledge (narrowed further by standards) is partly to blame here, the which is another article altogether. For now, let's define the role of the humanities.What should they "do"?

 What Should The Humanities Do?In a digital age of connectivity, data, and access, at first glance the purpose is not much different than it has ever been. More than anything else, the humanities provide for us with a shared moral and cultural memory.Mark Twain provides an archetype for the wildness of childhood, while leaving a picture of slavery and the moral impossibilities it brought with it.Flannery O'Connor's work to make sense of Southern American "traditions," or Shakespeare's struggle with the overlapping consequences of action and inaction act as a kind of echo, or endlessly looping gif animation that acts as a cautionary tale. Closely studied, Reviews These "memories" can lead to self-knowledge and inform morality and ethics while promoting affection, faith in one another, and compassion.What is worth understanding?What should I accept, what should I question, and what should I resist?What system of ethics do I use, where does it come from, and how does it change?What are "people for"?In short, we learn what it means to be human. Is this not even more immediate and useful in an era where every digital discovery is an "opportunity" for substance or distraction? When students are too quick to Google without fully understanding exactly what they're looking for and why?The Thoughtless mitigating Ambition Of TechnologyAs a system preoccupied with endless assessment, data, utilities, research, and "career readiness," Education has Become incapable of using abstraction to understand. Death of a Salesman, The Scream, Oedipus, King Lear, Chopin, et. al, all provide models of morality, rebellion, self-criticism, and Propriety, but Reviews These ideas are all package in forms and structures alien to many modern readers.Students accustomed to actuating learning through YouTube channels and learning simulations and mobile apps may naturally resist the "dwell-time" Necessary to distill the patterns embedded in the humanities. And even Reviews those students naturally interested or disciplined enough to try will hear Reviews These pursuits Often discredited by Reviews those asking if such knowledge will lead to "a job," missing the fact that it should Illuminate the kind of work and "jobs" worth having.In modern education systems, we are more interested in helping students process endless streams of useless data Often the which seems practical until we measure that practicality by what it fails to do-ie, help a student understand Reviews their own citizenships, legacies, gifts, and opportunities for meaningful actions and relationships in their own community.In this way, education is proving both flexible and unstable.The humanities are interested in what is uniquely possible in each one of us, suggesting the work we might do, and the place we might do it in. How one can be ready for a career without being Able to answer Reviews These kinds of questions is not clear.The ultimate distinction here then is one of affection and needs. Technology needs the humanities more than the reverse is true. By bridling technology's thoughtless ambition, the humanities can let us PROVE-to ourselves-that we are not confused about what we are slowly becoming.Humanities Not As Content, But A SequenceAnother way to contextualize this age of information is as an age preceding one of wisdom or true community. Information has always existed. It now comes packaged and fragmented Oddly-Briefly in tweets or tags, or search results 46 pages long. This means it's always out of context. Properly applied humanities, then, Provides that context. They can make-information whole again, causing impatient would-be Googler's to extend Reviews their thinking just a bit more.To refine Reviews their questions.To search for people and communities and primary source documents rather than the misleading and superficial distillations that Google retrieves all too Often Because It's just a search algorithm and it does not "know" anything.Mastering technology requires us to know what we need, the kinds of questions we should ask, the kind of work we are called to do, and the demands placed on our own humanity by Reviews those around us.This is why we need to teach the humanities. The humanities are not simply colors and sounds and stories and dances and ethical frameworks, nor are they self-indulgent reflection; rather, they represent our collective documented expression over Thousands of years! Here is who we are and what we've done and the mistakes that we've made and what we value in a hundred different forms and languages ​​and patterns! What a miracle!In an increasingly urgent and immediate and even digital illusory world, the humanities will show us where we're going if we're willing to read more than 140 characters at a time, and read them as something other than "stories," and teach Them as something other than "classes" and "content areas."Reviews These "stories" are artful and Often troubling demonstrations of who we are by framing where we've been, every single time paralleling the trouble we've already seen and pain we've already felt. Nothing new ever happens. You want to see the future? Let's trace our collective arc.How wearable technology MIGHT impact our identity and affections? What mobile devices might do to our physical interdependence? Want to see the thin, blurry line between modern medicine and bio-engineering? Wonder what a culture Seized by apathy or fear looks like? This what literature, music, art, and other forms of human expression can help us understand.The humanities precede technology just as you and I must always precede the tools we create.