How Humanities Professors Got Marginalized
In any discussion of the state of the humanities, the first fact is a numerical one. In School Year 2021-22, while a little more than two million people earned bachelors’…
Posts tagged with
“humanities”
Hacking the Humanities
We are living through a period described by technologists as an “AI Boom” or “AI Spring.” A swift and impressive gain of function in generative artificial-intelligence systems (AI), made possible…
The Post-Truth Classroom
Veritas. Lux et veritas. Veritas vos liberabit. Truth. Light and truth. Truth will set you free. These are the official mottos for Harvard, Yale, and Johns Hopkins. They reflect a…
Universities Have Forgotten Their Purpose: Pursuing the Contemplative Life
Editor’s note: this essay is adapted from a talk delivered by Jessica Hooten Wilson at Word on Fire’s Good News Conference on November 7, 2021, in Orlando, Florida. Universities are…
The “Permanent Crisis” of the Humanities
“Part of the story of why the humanities are always in crisis is that we have needed them to be in crisis.” This provocative declaration was made by Chad Wellmon,…
Peer Review, a Tarnished “Gold Standard”
I recently submitted a manuscript to an education journal, a review essay of another scholar’s work. It opened with a compliment of the author’s “highly-praised and influential work.” To that…
When Universities Don’t Step Up, Good Professors Are Forced to Step Down
With “cancel culture” running rampant on social media, in politics, and in the classroom, professors who put forth the effort to help students think critically and challenge their beliefs are…
Addressing Masculinity in Higher Ed
As a lecturer in the humanities, I have had the privilege and challenge of moderating discussions of controversial topics, often based on literary texts. Over the past two years, the…
Be Reasonable, But Not Naive, About the Crisis in Higher Ed
Let’s Be Reasonable: A Conservative Case for Liberal Education is indeed a reasonable book. Drawing on thinkers from John Locke to Allan Bloom, Ursinus College political theory professor Jonathan Marks…
The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed
Alan Jacobs’ new book, Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind, is a coaxing argument to read “old books that come from strange times.”…