From the GI Bill to Pell grants, higher education has provided the stepping stone to a better life for ordinary Americans. Once a bastion for the rich, scholarships and attention to access and diversity have helped colleges and universities level class distinctions, basing admissions on the promise of and ambition for self-improvement and societal contribution.
Education must be holistic, not piecemeal. We train students for jobs, but also for life. The liberal arts teach us to ask why we do things, an essential coupling with learning how we do things in the STEM disciplines. Our next great discoveries will come not just from those with prodigious technical skills, but from those who can imagine, compare and connect.
To elevate the status of the humanities with the general public requires a transformation in our own attitudes about our public function. Our scholarship, no less than that in science, engineering, and business, investigates the varied nuances of what it means to be human, our contexts for interpretation, and ways we can fathom and improve our destinies. These are essential real-world issues, and we need to voice them collectively before we no longer have a voice.
Our culture is committed to motion, enthralled by commotion and addicted to auditory accompaniment. Whether we work, exercise, drive, shop or recreate, sound propels us on our way. Seldom do we press the mute button as we channel-surf through daily routines. And when we do, usually accidentally, the result is often uncomfortable. Such pauses, after all, offer occasions to remove ourselves from the rush of what we do so we may take stock of who we are.