In 2018 Australia's leading national university, the Austrailian National University (ANU), decided to break off consultation with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation over a bequest to fund a course on Western civilisation. It is not every day that a university decides to turn down a $3 billion bequest to fund a humanities program (Groch,…

Martin Davies' paper seeks to vindicate the efforts of the Ramsay Centre to fund courses in 'Western Civilisation' at selected Australian universities. He begins by lamenting the rejection of vast amounts of philanthropic money for the humanities, and all too quickly dismisses the stated grounds for the Australian National University's decision to…

In a cultural environment that maintains that post-secondary education ought to produce job ready graduates, the importance of the liberal arts and the competencies they teach, along with the questions they engage, often comes up for debate. In such a culture, honors may appear frivolous, elitist, and rear-guard. Angela Marie Salas defends both…

In this small essay, I will reflect on Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth's arguments on the decline of educational professionalism in the United States. The purpose is to consider this loss of professionalism, and I will consider it in light of the arts and humanities in the Danish educational debate. Two reflections are presented: first, the…

Bryant Griffith is a Regents Professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Director of the Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral Program. Previously, he was Professor and Director of the School of Education at Acadia University, and Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Calgary. His research interests include situated…

The author advocates that humanities scholars should seek and study programming languages. He believes that, increasingly, an appreciation of how complex ideas can be imagined and expressed as a set of formal procedures--rules, models, algorithms--in the virtual space of a computer will be an essential element of a humanities education. Students…

English-medium schools have been in existence in Bangladesh since the time of British colonial rule and English literature has been part of the curriculum almost from their inception. Considered to be the carrier of the values, culture and worldview of the colonisers in the colonial era, it is today connected with the neo-colonial world…

In the past fifteen years the volume of humanities education has not diminished. Nevertheless, there are indications that all is not well in humanities education. What is the root of the problem? Looking at the general situation, it is reasonable to say that "university education is shunting humanities discourse aside." This is a complex…

The author, a captain in the U.S. Coast Guard and professor of English at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, argues in this article that, contrary to images perpetuated in popular culture, military officers do not eschew the arts as exemplified in such films as "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket" where the…

This article presents excerpts from a debate on the report by Professor A.S. Zapesotskii, the rector of the St. Petersburg Trade Unions University of the Humanities, titled "Ensuring the Quality of Higher Humanities Education." Participants in the debate were as follows: (1)Antonina Pavlovna Beliaeva, a doctor of pedagogical sciences,…

This essay argues that digital storytelling is a hybrid, multimedia narrative form that enables critical and creative theorizing. As an assets-based social pedagogy, digital storytelling constructs a safe and empowering space for cross-cultural collaboration and learning. As illustration, the essay analyzes in detail one student story, using as…

Over the past several decades film and video have been steadily infiltrating the philosophy curriculum at colleges and universities. Traditionally, teachers of philosophy have not made much use of "audiovisual aids" in the classroom beyond the chalk board or overhead projector, with only the more adventurous playing audiotapes, for example, or…

The third aim of education is the development of civilized persons. (MM)

Reexamines the role of the humanities in higher education. Specifically focuses on Kirkwood Community College (Iowa), Richland College (Texas), and the Community College of Philadelphia. Explains that the goals of these three institutions are to (1) tighten requirements; (2)strengthen existing courses; and (3) create opportunities for faculty…

Warns that the worst danger in emphasizing a body of knowledge is that it encourages the superficial form of knowledge currently popular in the game "Trivial Pursuit." Analyzes the game's questions covered in the category on literature. Lists recommendations for humanities professors trying to prepare for the future. (SED)