"The humanities is about the study of ideas... it's about seeing the relationship among these seemingly desperate disciplines..." -Elñora Tena Webb What are the humanities, exactly? The humanities encompass many disciplines: history, visual and performing arts, media and communications, language, music, religion, philosophy, culture and literature. If you think about it, these disciplines make up at least half (if not more) of the courses that we take in primary, secondary, and postsecondary education. This fact makes the humanities a large part of our lives as we develop physically, mentally, and emotionally. But just how important is it that we are exposed to and learn the humanities? Seven professionals from 4Humanities and the UCL Center for Digital Humanities have provided 9 reasons as to why the humanities are so important in a single infographic. They begin by stating, "The Humanities are academic disciplines that seek to understand and interpret the human experience, from individuals to entire cultures, engaging in the discovery, preservation, and communication of the past and present record to enable a deeper understanding of contemporary society" (Terras, Priego, Liu, Rockwell, Sinclair, Hensler, and Thomas).
Adapted from the infographic, here are several key points as to why the humanities are necessary in our society: 1. The humanities teach us how to understand and relate to others in the world through their languages, histories, and cultures.
2. The humanities foster social justice and equality, teaching us empathy.
3. The humanities teach us critical thinking, to be skeptical, to consider all sides of an argument.
4. The humanities teach us to think creatively and question anything and everything in the world.
5. The humanities develop informed and critical citizens and, without it, democracy would not flourish (Terras, Priego, Liu, Rockwell, Sinclair, Hensler, and Thomas).
The infographic goes on to give a few statistics: 1. A 2012 survey of 652 U.S. born Chief Executive Officers and Heads of Product Engineering showed almost 60% had degrees in the Humanities.
2. In 2011, of the 650 UK Members of Parliament, 65% had an Arts, Humanities, or Social Science degree.
3. Over 2/3 of Humanities and Social Science graduates enter the private sector, primarily the financial and business sectors, followed by wholesaling and retailing. These sectors represent some of the fastest growing areas within the economy.
4. Skills developed from studying the Humanities are in demand from employers: 89% want effective oral and written communication; 81% want critical thinking and analytical reasoning; 75% want employees to analyze and solve complex problems; and 75% want employees to connect choices to ethical decisions.
5. Despite the evidence of the importance of the Humanities, only 0.45% of federal research funding went to the Humanities in the U.S. in 2010 (Terras, Priego, Liu, Rockwell, Sinclair, Hensler, and Thomas). These facts alone shout the importance of the humanities in education. By being exposed to the humanities, we are encouraged to think of scenarios in new ways, to explore our emotions and creativity, to ask questions and thirst for more knowledge. Scientists may be able to understand the language of the formula, but the Humanist can understand the languages of tongue, of emotion, of curiosity, and of play, and these things can and often do birth our inventors and leaders. A new media based company called "Reinvent" is collaborating with Georgetown's Design the Future of the University Initiative in order to ask leading scholars, "What is the role of the humanities in creating a sustainable and interconnected future?". In one webcast of this series, Elñora Tena Webb speaks about the importance of the humanities. Check out what she has to say here. On November 16th, the Arts& Initiative at UAB will be holding its final salon with the title (you guessed it), "Arts& the Humanities." The salon will feature music producer Dr. Henry Panion, III; documentary filmmaker Michele Forman; and poet Adam Vines. We are thoroughly looking forward to an enriching discussion and hope you can join us! RSVP here.
1. Webb, Elñora Tena. "Incorporating the Humanities More Fully Into Community Colleges." Reinvent. N.p., 16 Jan. 2016. Web. 05 Nov. 2016. http://reinvent.net/events/event/the-keys-to-career-success-overall-fulfillment-questioning-contextualization/
