Defensiveness is not necessarily a healthy attitude to inhabit for a long period of time. Defensive people are often not very persuasive, because they’re afraid to entertain any critique of what they’re defending. When defense becomes automatic, it may close off inquiry and innovation.Sure, but hidebound and self-righteous nerdocrat eggheads who can't talk to normal people are often their own worst enemies -- and the worst enemies of the liberal arts and humanities. They turn people off, man.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Nerd News: Improve the Liberal Arts
Instead of defending them, let's improve them! Or, at least, the teaching of them. How about let's teach the humanities instead of making those classrooms seething pots of overcooked theory, ideological demagoguing, and social engineering? Improve the quality of the product, and there will be more demand for it. WELL, DUH ... I've said this for a while now. Great quote:
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2 comments:
I think, as well, that humanities professors ... feel generally underappreciated, since our culture (and even university culture) sometimes seems not to value what we do.
In some ways, I feel this is backwards.
Catherine Stimpson, one of our speakers, gave a moving talk on liberal arts education and the problem of war at our symposium demonstrated how a range of liberal arts disciplines might illuminate some difficult aspect of the human condition.
Point in case, any bets on what view Prof. Stimpson has of war and how the liberal arts can provide illumination? I may be wrong, but I have difficulty imagining anything but the idea that she believes the liberal arts can prove to more people how evil Bush was.
I do agree that the sciences should play a greater role. I have wondered sometimes what a 'liberal sciences' program would look like. I lament that I did not take the opportunity to get a better science education in my undergrad years.
Interesting article.
Def yes to more REAL science as opposed.
One reason I dare say plenty of normal folks don't "appreciate" liberal arts is because ideologues have ruined the reputation of a once-noble pursuit.
More like this:
http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_4_history-of-freedom.html
Less like: "US Out Of North America!" or whatever.
The memes "all war is bad" and "war must be avoided at all costs" are common in the academy, but they are desperately simplistic and completely inadequate.
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