Going on the Offensive: Advocating for the Humanities
Geoffrey Galt Harpham Abstract of Presentation
Immediately after World War II, the current system of American education was consolidated and mass liberal education at the secondary level and at the collegiate level was developed with Humanities as the heart and soul of this enterprise. Within a generation, every department was affected including the Humanities. But it was harder for us to justify research than for science, because scientific research is tied to technology, innovations, sometimes the military, as well as the production of wealth. I’ m suggesting we take stock of how we educate people and what we educate them for. Professors are evaluated in three areas: Scholarship, Teaching, and Service.
On Scholarship, the Humanities have a vast, important research assignment:“ total responsibility for everything we know about everything.” My second point concerns Teaching. Our profession is face-to-face. In every class, we create face-to-face communities, and we’ re responsible for them. If we don’ t understand that, we’ re missing the point. The last area, Service, shouldn’ t be an afterthought, but our first thought. We should be citizens of our campuses: deeply engaged, deeply involved citizens. We should take Service very seriously and encourage our graduate students to do the same. Every professor should be able to answer the question: How does what you do contribute to the common good? The Humanities have a past that we can be deeply proud of. They played a singular role in development of this country, and many of its best features. Going forward, if we permit ourselves to be excited and inspired in the right way, we might actually have a great future as well. xvii