|
|
|
The views expressed on this page are
solely
those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of County
News Online
|
|
Laura Walker, President, Bennington College
Higher Ed Dive: Opinion
President Speaks: How higher education can avoid leaving the humanities behind
The head of Bennington College shares ideas for how universities
contending with big budget cuts could work with liberal arts colleges.
Laura Walker
Feb. 17, 2021
As the president of a liberal arts college in New England, I was
particularly dismayed to learn late last year about the University of
Vermont's cuts to humanities programs on the heels of similar cuts at
other institutions throughout the region.
Data is cited for these cuts, of course, and that data indicates that
enrollment in arts and humanities majors is shrinking. It points to the
real financial pressures colleges and universities are facing, from
reduced public funding to the prospect of smaller student populations.
But, this data — the facts — often does not capture the invaluable and
profound role the liberal arts play in shaping who we are as people. As
Dan Chiasson points out in a recent essay for The New York Review, it
is impossible to use enrollment data to measure the value of the
"perception-altering insights'' humanities programs provide.
Ninety years ago, in the depths of the Great Depression, Bennington
radically reimagined the liberal arts classroom as a laboratory for
deep learning and rebuilding democracy in the United States. Now, in
the midst of a pandemic and rising costs of attending college, we're at
it again, building on Bennington's progressive values with a strong
focus on the arts and humanities.
Self-directed learning, intellectual inquiry, academic rigor and
creative expression are critical parts of our diverse and dynamic
community; and we value science and public action as well as the
humanities. At Bennington, we have no traditional majors and we ask our
students to design their own courses of study, cross-pollinating the
arts, sciences and humanities with other disciplines. The result is, we
find, those "perception-altering insights."
I'm new to the Bennington community. I arrived on campus last summer,
following a long career in public media where I all too often found
myself defending the importance of journalism and the arts, and facing
the challenges of raising the funding to support these programs at New
York Public Radio, in New York City.
What I have already learned in my time here at Bennington, and what I
knew in public media, is that the study of the arts and humanities — to
use a STEM analogy — is like a body's tissue and arteries, binding all
together and providing the nutrients to make everything function.
At New York Public Radio, we often developed innovative solutions to
advance the arts and humanities by partnering with other arts
institutions and media. Whether it was developing programming with
Carnegie Hall or The Public Theater, co-producing news programs with
WGBH or ProPublica, or distributing our programs like Radiolab or On
the Media to stations around the country, we were better
together.
What's happening in Vermont requires us, and colleges throughout the
country, to find innovative ways to educate our students for lives with
deep meaning and to provide them with ways to be leaders in creating
change. How can Bennington, a small college in the southern part of the
state with a long-time focus on the humanities and the arts, work with
UVM and other schools that are under pressure to make cuts to their
liberal arts offerings? How can UVM and others with large research
centers and significant STEM funding create mutually beneficial
partnerships with liberal arts colleges throughout their state?
Some ideas include building joint areas of study and exchanges in which
students can take advantage of the course offerings of a variety of
institutions; developing fellowship programs for students to study
humanities during the summer or post-graduation; or humanities programs
designed specifically for business majors or healthcare workers. These
partnerships seem especially promising in light of the pandemic because
we are all much more comfortable with online learning, though we
certainly know the limitations as well.
Of course, partnerships will not save struggling institutions and some
will not survive this era. But at Bennington, we plan to thrive by
strengthening, not diminishing, our commitment to the arts and
humanities at a time when they are critically needed. That may mean
colleges change the way they fundraise, especially for schools like
ours that must look for support outside of our communities. It may also
mean a different structure for postsecondary education, with smaller
schools providing instruction in critical areas, especially the
humanities. We need to support one another.
To be sure, students want to develop skills for successful careers. But
before too many humanities courses are cut, let's also deeply consider
other data: Students steeped in the humanities bring immense value to
the workplace — a larger perspective that sparks creativity, complex
problem-solving skills and the ability to change course to consider new
perspectives. But there is an additional value: how they engage
throughout life as citizens and the conceptual frameworks they learn
that enable them to develop bold scenarios for the future, from
addressing climate change to contending with what we have recently seen
in Washington, D.C.
Let's not be too quick to dismiss the humanities. Instead let's embrace
them as an essential part of the future, as many employers have
realized. Tech companies are turning to students with degrees in the
liberal arts because they value the perspectives they bring. Future of
work strategist Heather McGowan has argued convincingly that as
artificial intelligence takes over even more tasks beyond the routine,
there will be a new premium on employees who can think strategically
and conceptually to find new solutions.
At Bennington, we've long believed that it is the intersection of
disciplines, grounded in the humanities, and the real-life application
of those studies, that leads to success in the labor market and in
life. Some labor studies suggest that as graduates with liberal arts
degrees learn how to apply their skills and articulate the benefits of
their education, they see a rise in wage and job prospects, though
these gains are often over the course of a career and not immediately
upon graduation. As an institution, we have an obligation to collect
this data and to share it with other institutions, funders and
students. Only then will the change happen.
|
|
|
|
