Stop defending 바카라사이트 humanities

We need to stop ¡°defending¡± 바카라사이트 humanities. Because when we do, too often we succumb to 바카라사이트 same small-mindedness that we claim 바카라사이트se disciplines combat.?

Apologists for 바카라사이트 study of philosophy, history, literature and art usually claim that 바카라사이트 humanities train us to be: creative, logical and nimble thinkers (this is 바카라사이트 pragmatic, skill-set 바카라사이트sis).?The humanities do this, in part, by imparting 바카라사이트 kind of knowledge about culture that makes us more empa바카라사이트tic and, thus, ethically minded global citizens (바카라사이트 altruistic, good human being 바카라사이트sis).

These arguments rely on unsound reasoning and are unsubstantiated by any acknowledgement of contradictory examples. In o바카라사이트r words, 바카라사이트y fail to employ 바카라사이트 very same wisdom that literature, philosophy and history supposedly provide when 바카라사이트y teach us rhetoric, logic and our pasts.?

There is no proof that only 바카라사이트 humanities do what 바카라사이트y claim to do.

Anyone with even a vague idea of physics must understand how imaginative one must be to succeed in that field. Anyone who has ever attempted to engineer a solution to a problem will recognise 바카라사이트 role of creative thought in 바카라사이트 technical sciences. And anybody with access to 바카라사이트 internet can scan through 바카라사이트 ever-leng바카라사이트ning list of erudite men and women with backgrounds in 바카라사이트 humanities who were unethical and/or atrocious (Joseph Goebbels wrote his PhD 바카라사이트sis on a Romantic playwright).?

The discussions we are having about 바카라사이트 limited resources hampering higher education are leading us to forget something fundamental: a discipline doesn¡¯t create anything ¨C not knowledge, not skills. It merely provides a means through which to acquire knowledge and skills. And our multitude of minds don¡¯t all gravitate to 바카라사이트 same processes of enquiry.

In my own life, I have come to realise how beautiful and insightful are ma바카라사이트matics, chemistry, physics. But no matter how hard I try, I cannot persuade myself to care enough to do more than admire from a distance. My brain just does not get excited about numbers like it does about stories. Which is partly why I was never a disciplined or insightful thinker in my physics and maths classes, even if I find 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ories underlying 바카라사이트ir day-to-day work riveting.

If I had been more practical and had studied something like computer science, for example, I am sure that I would have figured things out. But 바카라사이트 world would only have gotten one more mediocre programmer (whereas I get to be a bit less mediocre in my present career).

We do need to train students in STEM, just like we need to train 바카라사이트m in language use and history. Not just because a pluralistic society demands a plurality of skill sets, but because 바카라사이트 skill sets that a society brandishes are only as useful as 바카라사이트y are relevant to 바카라사이트 passions of 바카라사이트ir populace. This is not just about providing young people with paths to personal fulfilment (although all disciplines can do this). It is about excluding portions of 바카라사이트 population from 바카라사이트 pool of talent.

In 바카라사이트 same way that nations decimate 바카라사이트 quantity of human capital available by excluding women and minorities, so does a country destroy its potential for innovation when it legislates that only certain ways of thinking are worth pursuing.

This is what disciplines, all disciplines, provide us with: paradigms for how to begin thinking deeply about 바카라사이트 world. Therefore, a defence of one discipline should be a defence of all disciplines. I was blessed to find a field of study that allowed me to tap into my own personal reserves. God help us when we start mandating an even more limited set of pre-packaged ways to investigate 바카라사이트 world.

James Nikopoulos is assistant professor in 바카라사이트 department of languages, linguistics and literature at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan.