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.
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 "hard" skills that they bet will lead to employment.
In other words,
a college education 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.
Over the next few years, as labor markets struggle,
the humanities will probably continue theirlong 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.
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 somepeople to greatness and others to self-destruction.
This inner drive has been called many things over the centuries.
The famous psychologist,
SigmundFreud, called it the "unconscious mind" or, more familiarly, "instinct".
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 "languages"
that help us understand 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.
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!
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,
thereby releasing our creative energy and talent in a positive and constructive manner.
Perhaps the best argument in favor of the humanities is the scope of possibilities
that are widely open to us.
Did you know that James Cameron,
world-famous director of the movie,Titanic,
graduated with a degree in the humanities?
So did Sally Ride, the first woman in space.So did actors Bruce Lee,
Gwyneth Paltrow, Renee Zellweger and Matt Damon. Dr. Harold Varmus,
who won a Nobel Prize for Medicine, studied the humanities.
Even Michael Eisner,Chairman of the Disney Company, majored in the humanities.
Famous people who studied the humanities make a long list indeed.
It's easy to see that the humanities can prepare us for many different careers
and jobs we can undertake, whether medicine, business, science or entertainment.
If we study only mathematics,
it's likely we will be a candidate only for jobs as a mathematician.
If we include studying the humanities,
we can make breakthroughs on many barriers
and are limited only by our effort and imagination.
Of course, nowadays,
if we study the humanities alone,
we are liable to miss many opportunities.
Each one of us needs to become as technically
and professionally skilled as possible to help meet the needs of modern life.
In fact, increasingly a pairing of technical knowledge
and inner insight is seen as the ideal in the establishment of a career.
If I were the Dean of Admissions at a medical school
and two people applied to our school,
both having the required basic scientific courses,
one a philosophy major and the other solely a pre-med student,
the philosophy applicant would be chosen.
In summary, the humanities help to create well-rounded human beings with insight
and understanding of the passions, hopes and dreams common to all humanity.
The humanities,the ancient timeless reservoir of knowledge,
teach us to see things differently and broaden our horizons.
They are as useful and relevant in our modern age as they have always been.
Doesn't it make sense to spend some time in the company of the humanities,
our outstanding and remarkable treasure of knowledge?
Who knows how famous YOU might become!