Mike Corey
06-19-2013, 05:27 PM
President Brodhead, in his capacity as Co-Chair of the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, delivered a report on the humanities and testified before Congress today.
The recommendations have gotten some national press, as in this story (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/arts/humanities-committee-sounds-an-alarm.html)from the New York Times.
The 61-page report, called “The Heart of the Matter,” which was shepherded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and based on meetings held around the country over two years, arrives trailing some of its own controversy, thanks to recent allegations that Leslie C. Berlowitz, the academy’s president, had misrepresented her scholarly credentials. But, more crucially, it lands at a time when the humanities and social sciences are themselves often accused of being frivolous at best, fraudulent at worst.
The Times quotes Brodhead as saying that people talk about the humanities and social sciences “as if they are a waste of time. But this facile negativism forgets that many of the country’s most successful and creative people had exactly this kind of education.”
This does not seem like the strongest point with which to lead advocacy for a rededication to the humanities, but it may not be (is likely not?) a fair representation of the report's contents.
The recommendations have gotten some national press, as in this story (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/arts/humanities-committee-sounds-an-alarm.html)from the New York Times.
The 61-page report, called “The Heart of the Matter,” which was shepherded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and based on meetings held around the country over two years, arrives trailing some of its own controversy, thanks to recent allegations that Leslie C. Berlowitz, the academy’s president, had misrepresented her scholarly credentials. But, more crucially, it lands at a time when the humanities and social sciences are themselves often accused of being frivolous at best, fraudulent at worst.
The Times quotes Brodhead as saying that people talk about the humanities and social sciences “as if they are a waste of time. But this facile negativism forgets that many of the country’s most successful and creative people had exactly this kind of education.”
This does not seem like the strongest point with which to lead advocacy for a rededication to the humanities, but it may not be (is likely not?) a fair representation of the report's contents.