At one time justification of the arts and humanities was unnecessary because, as Anthony Kronman puts it in a new book, “Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life,” it was assumed that “a college was above all a place for the training of character, for the nurturing of those intellectual and moral habits that together form the basis for living the best life one can.”
- Will the Humanities Save Us? by Stanley Fish, Think Again (NY Times Blog), 01.06.08
Considering I have a Sociology degree with a minor in Creative Writing, I can't say that my college classes prepared me exceptionally well for my current career but that freshman year focused on The Roots of Western Civilization and Philosophy definitely have informed who I am and the choices I make. I consider Morality and Ethics and Truth and big ticket concepts like them in my every day life. I cycle through those words and ideas that resonated in class in real world scenarios all the time. I learned, perhaps more than anything, to continue to acquire knowledge. I don't believe I know everything or learned it all in kindergarten. My classes may not have taught me how to put together a great power point deck or excel at project and people management but I've acquired those skills and I use those character-enhancing handouts and discussions and microfiche sessions and trips to museums as constant reference points in my quest to be a good human being.
Goodness, I hope we still value our universities as those kinds of training grounds.
update: edited for grammar, 01.13.08