We need to study the humanities

and the suggestion that "arts" degrees no longer need to be taught at university has stunned me.

We need English, not simply as a language by which we "communicate" but as literature which enriches our lives. We need to know histories, not simply so as not to repeat past mistakes, but to understand ourselves and our place in the world. We need other languages to discover other ways of seeing the world. We need much more than "science, mathematics and technology". 

I don't know who made the suggestion that arts no longer need to be taught at university. It was a "tweet" forwarded to me with the question, "What do you think?"

As someone who has tutored university students for almost forty years I would say the arts are absolutely essential. When the late Senior Cat did his Bachelor of Arts degree at university he was required to do ten units. He was required to do his three chosen strands (English, Latin and History - three units of each) and one science subject (Geology .) He chose Geology because a very close friend was studying Geology and could give him some help. He also found that studying History helped him understand the geology he had to learn. In return he helped his friend do his compulsory unit of history. 

They no longer need to do that. Science students do not need to do any arts subject at all. It shows. They have difficulty putting ideas on a page. I read their essays. I don't always understand the subject matter but I know when their ideas, if they have any, are all over the place. Even when they use a "spell-checker" there are spelling errors. My grammar is not perfect but I don't use "these two is" and like constructions. 

When I ask them which subjects they studied in their final two years of school more and more of them seem to be avoiding any arts related subject which involves actually writing anything.  There is plenty of "two unit maths, physics, chemistry and 'tech' studies" or similar combinations. They are subjects which will get them into the courses which are considered "desirable". 

I was talking to someone who still teaches part time in one of the medical schools recently. He sighed and said to me, "I wish they were made to do Latin the way we were. At least they might understand the English language that way."  It's been a long time since Latin was compulsory for medical students. 

My great-niece gained a place in a selective high school in another state. The school teaches French, Latin and Japanese. Great-niece had some Japanese lessons in junior school but the amount of actual language teaching was very small. We talked about this. We talked about French or Latin because there was not room for both. When I asked him Brother Cat was not sure which she had chosen to do "but at least she will be doing one". 

We are both acutely conscious of this because languages were not taught in the "area" schools we attended. There were no teachers available. We both know we missed out on an important part of education. Brother Cat has no second language skills at all. He went into the science side and never had a chance. I was fascinated by other languages from a very early age. I have never formally studied one but my "day job" involves multiple languages. If I had not managed to teach myself what I need to know I could not do it. That would mean other people could not do their jobs either. 

We need people to study the arts. We need it to foster imagination, critical thinking skills and the capacity to communicate with each other. Humanities are surely about humans?