Humanities classes are more important than many people would like to admit. They are completely necessary and should be required courses.
Since technology started to rule the world, parents have been telling their children that computers are most important, that sciences and technology dominate the degree spectrum.
The two most popular degrees at APSU are behavioral health sciences and science and math over the last five years, according to enrollment data. Between 2002 and 2013, degrees in physical science and science technologies increased by around 49 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Many of today’s students focus more on science and business, but is there not more to learn?
APSU’s general education courses currently require 21 of its 41 credits to be filed under humanities. The most popular majors at APSU are behavioral health sciences and science and math. This is strange, considering that more humanities courses were taken in general education than any other type of course.
Many people look at humanities classes as though they are seeing through a looking glass of logic. Taking courses in literature, language, history or religion just does not seem logical to many in the tech-based world we live in. It is considered smarter to be a teacher or an engineer, a doctor or a CEO. What some do not realize is that the world is shaped by creativity and the understanding of humans as complex people.
Much of the world sees through blueprints and schedules and complicated medical terms, but without those who see through words, ideas and emotion, the human race would be nowhere.
An important aspect of humanities classes is they teach lessons. They teach the heart as well as the brain. Business-related classes can teach someone how to work and manage, but the arts can teach someone how to see beauty and emotion in the world. Biology courses can show someone every detail of how an organism or ecosystem works, but creative writing can teach someone new and different ways to see the very same world.
Without language, there would be limited communication. Without history, no one would ever learn from their mistakes. Without literature and art, new ideas would have a much harder time being created and spread. Without law, there could be no order. Through literature and history, we learn how to feel. Through music and art, we feel passion.
Humanities classes should be required courses because they teach us about ourselves. They study humans as they live, learn and create. Knowing how the world works is useless without an understanding of the people who live on it and one cannot know the people without humanities.
