Wanted: A Better Defense of College Humanities

(From PopeCenter.org):

  “A Meager Defense of the Humanities”

A report on the humanities and social sciences fails to give a persuasive case for federal support.

By Jane S. Shaw

Please send money.

Sadly, that is the message of “The Heart of the Matter,” the 2013 paper published by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in defense of the humanities and social sciences. I read the report recently because it will be the subject of a public discussion at North Carolina State University in March.

Since the commission created to write this paper was packed with dignitaries and presidents of top universities, including Duke University’s Richard Brodhead and New York University’s John Sexton, I expected it to be substantive and elevated in thought and tone. But, possibly because it was packed with higher education luminaries, it turned out to be a plea for money rather than a discussion of the value of humanities and the social sciences. READ MORE HERE