Faculty in Denial about Own Role in Decline of Humanities

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | June 30, 2018 | Mark Bauerlein

[reaganaut1]

If you want to see one example of why a new populism has emerged in American universities in the last 10 years, take a look at a statement issued last week by the Association of University Professors and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The incapacity of the experts and professionals who wrote the statement to understand why their own diminishment has happened is abundantly in evidence.

The motivation for the statement stems from the deterioration of the liberal arts in higher education. The statement puts it this way: “the disciplines of the liberal arts, once universally regarded as central to the intellectual life of the university, have been steadily moved to the periphery and increasingly threatened.” Note carefully the phrasing. We have a passive verb, “have been steadily moved,” implying an outside force has displaced the liberal arts. The liberal arts themselves, which is to say, the professors who administer them, have played no role in that marginalization. It’s somebody else’s fault.

The clause quoted above doesn’t end the sentence. After a dash, we have another 11 words that amount to a list of the culprits. They are: “some administrators, elected officials, journalists, and parents of college-age children.” Though the authors don’t specify their actions, anybody who has followed higher education matters can infer what these interlopers in the Ivory Tower have done to harm the fields. The politicians have cut university budgets and journalists have written stories on political correctness in the humanities and social sciences, as well as rumors of the low marketability of liberal arts degrees. Parents have taken their word and pushed their kids toward STEM and business fields. When enrollments in English, history, and the rest drop, administrators see those departments as cost-ineffective and look for ways to restructure them

[freedumb2003]

>>At this point, I’m a little unclear on what you mean by “entry level position”. Please elaborate (and no, I’m not trying to be an ass).<<

I understand completely. Consultants frequently have to do many things, even in tech and accounting. Entry level positions (usually given such grandious titles as “Management Analyst” or “Business Analyst” and the like) really are hired to do grunt work such as “here is a list of 1000 widgets. Come up with some sort of classification system based on size, color and taste, then create a cross tab and a brief slide presentation.

By tomorrow.

This is the sort of thing where we need someone will take the initiative — the senior consultant explains the intent but the person determines the actual classification system. It also sucks since who the heck wants to spend all night working with and classifying 1,000 widgets?

But the pay is good even if it can feel like a soul-stealing job (which it is). It also can have rewards in case that little classification system changes the way a huge multi-national company handles its widgets across the globe.

That is entry-level in consultancies. I think the same is true for office clerks, etc.

The bulk of jobs need smart people who can learn and are willing to work. The ones that don’t in fact need specific STEM skills (case in point for a starting Mechanical engineer or JAVA programmer).

No one needs a Womyn’s studies major except someone who needs womyn’s studies courses to future womyn’s studies graduates.

IMHO.

[NorthMountain]

OK ... thanks.

In my line of work, we tend to hire a little more specifically ...

In the scenario you describe, “A” has demonstrated a capacity for logical thinking ... “B” is a mental train wreck.

“A” gets the job.

Hands down.

[cgbg]

College in the liberal arts these days can be easily replaced with the Internet. Their sole value is providing “credentials” for any employer stupid enough to rely on “credentials”.

As employers slowly wise up the value of these degrees will get lower and lower, while the cost of obtaining them is getting higher and higher.

Colleges are beginning to get that “horse and buggy” feel to them.

[Captain Rhino]

True. And not just corporate offices. Academy (already discussed), religious institutions, government, etc.

This type of self-excusing reasoning will persist until the Chinese begin to eat our lunch (or actually do). Unfortunately, these idiots would probably welcome their Asian overlords with wide open arms.

You can bet they, the Chinese, have absolutely no time for this nonsense.

[Jacquerie]

From the column:

<>They got rid of the honorific term civilization and replaced it with culture, and then with cultures, which, they believed, eliminates the implication of the old term that some societies are civilized and others are savage.<>

The practice is called relativism. It is how our betters justify the muzzie and third-world invasion.

[WVNan]

Yesterday my malfunctioning air conditioner was repaired by a man whose father told him that “if he learned to do things with his hands he would never go hungry”. He is probably the richest man in the community. He can do anything and is so busy it’s like a gold strike if you can get him. He walked away with $1300 for spending about 2 hours replacing the broken part in the air conditioner. He had a wise father. Atlas Shrugged.