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Unit 2
The
humanities: Out of date?
1 When the
going gets tough, the tough take accounting. When
the job market worsens,
many
students calculate they
can't
major
in
English
or
history. They
have
to
study
something that boosts their prospects
of landing a job.
2 The
data
show
that
as
students
have
increasingly
shouldered
the
ever-rising
cost
of
tuition,
they have defected from the study of the
humanities and toward applied science
and
is
more
and
more
seen
as
a
means
for
economic
betterment
rather
than
a
means
for
human betterment. This
is a trend that is likely to persist and even
accelerate.
3 Over
the
next
few
years,
as
labor
markets
struggle,
the
humanities
will
probably
continue
their
long
slide
in succession. There
already
has
been
a
nearly
50
percent
decline
in
the
portion
of liberal arts
majors
over
the
past
generation,
and
it
is logical
to
think that the trend is bound to
continue or even accelerate. Once the dominant
pillars of
university
life,
the
humanities
now
play
little
roles
when
students
take
their
college
tours. These days, labs are more vivid
and compelling than libraries.
4 Here,
please allow me to stand up for and promote the
true value that the humanities
add to
people's lives. Since ancient times, people have
speculated about the mystery of
those
inner forces that drive some people to greatness
and others to self-destruction. This
inner
drive
has
been
called
many
things
over
the
centuries. The
famous
psychologist, Sigmund
Freud,
called
it
the
mind
or,
more
familiarly,
5 From
the
beginning
of
time,
this
inner
aspect
of
our
being,
this
drive
that
can
be
constructive
or destructive,
has
captured
our
imagination. The
stories
of
this
amazing
struggle have formed the basis of
cultures the world over. Historians, architects,
authors,
philosophers and
artists
have
captured
the
words,
images
and
meanings
of
this
inner
struggle in the form
of story, music, myth, painting, architecture,
sculpture, landscape and
traditions.
These men and women developed artistic
these
aspirations
and
also
educate
generations. This fertile body
of
work
from
ancient
times, the very
foundation of civilization, forms the basis of
study of the humanities.
6 Studying the
humanities improves our ability to read and write.
No matter what we do in
life, we will
have a huge advantage if we can read complex ideas
and understand their
meaning. We will
have a bright career if we are the person in the
office who can write a
clear and
elegant analysis of those ideas!
7
Studying
the
humanities
makes
us
familiar
with
the
language
of
emotion
and
the
creative process. In an
information economy, many people have the ability
to produce a
useful product such as a
new MP3 player. Yet, very few people have the
ability to create a
spectacular brand:
the
iPod. Most
importantly,
studying
the
humanities invests us
with
great insight and
self-awareness, there by releasing our
creative
energy and
talent
in
a
positive and
constructive manner.