Living in the Past , Preparing for the Future
Robert C . Holub
Abstract of Presentation
Most humanists live in the past . We deal with topics from earlier centuries , or with issues that concerned our societies in earlier eras . Although they suggest mild reforms for the future , they operate almost exclusively with a model of higher education that lies in the past , or at least that has now passed into something that it wasn ’ t a few short decades ago – and continues to evolve . True to the genuine humanist credo , they seek to preserve this institutional past as well . The real “ crisis ” in graduate humanities education is not a recent occurrence .
Most humanities disciplines have been producing too many Ph . D . s for the available positions for over four decades . We have no national policy on graduate education , no mechanism to rationalize the chaos of programs ; nor do we have bodies or professional organizations that have sufficient authority or influence to implement such changes , or to help us implement them . In my research , I give three suggestions for how we can overcome these challenges . v