With universities around the world cutting liberal-arts programs and even eliminating entire majors such as history, there is every reason to worry about the fate of the humanities. In an era of deepening technological determinism, we are going to need these disciplines now more than ever.
WELLINGTON – Among the expected casualties of the digital revolution is the study of the humanities. Although a focus on human experience in all its diversity has long been a core mission of universities, the liberal arts are increasingly being dismissed as irrelevant to the digital future, or at least to the digital economy. Who would want to invest their time and money studying subjects that are unlikely to “pay off,” either for students or university budgets?
WELLINGTON – Among the expected casualties of the digital revolution is the study of the humanities. Although a focus on human experience in all its diversity has long been a core mission of universities, the liberal arts are increasingly being dismissed as irrelevant to the digital future, or at least to the digital economy. Who would want to invest their time and money studying subjects that are unlikely to “pay off,” either for students or university budgets?