Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
When I decided to go into the humanities track at high school, it came as a big surprise to family and friends. I remember the first day of study; our geography teacher who did not seem to be in love with her career, blamed us for choosing that dead end path. “You silly,” she said, seemingly joking. “You would end up working as teachers!”
What our teacher did, and perhaps the majority of people still do, was establishing a correlation between academic majors and job market; pursuing a career and pursuing a degree have long been identically perceived. The market value of degrees steers us blindfolded and masks the true value of humanities as vehicles for understanding ourselves and the world around us. How can we redress a balance in our life between humanistic and scientific aspects so as to have highly cultured citizens who simultaneously and responsibly have successful career, enjoyably pursue their academic interests and have a humanistic perspective on the unprecedented challenges of modern life?
Soft skills
I am always amazed by the brilliant oratorical and argumentative skills of many politicians, public servants, CEOs and common people, most of whom have degrees in humanities and arts. Imagine the world without such a spectacular array of arts and humanities: history, philosophy, music, literature, criticism, ethics, comparative religions, anthropology, archaeology, teaching, etc. Arts and humanities make us more empathetic, resilient and understanding of everything around us. They help us become more aware of who we are as humans. Classic education mainly taught humanities and arts for cultivating one’s character and moral values. Further, studying classical and modern languages and literature marvelously expand and diversify our worldview. Humanities also teach us how to think critically, weigh the pros and cons, understand other people’s views, figure out faulty reasoning. Arts and humanities have long been two essential branches of liberal arts along with mathematics, natural science, etc. Their ultimate purpose is to cater for the individuals’ intellectual and affective needs that are necessary for leading a mentally healthier life and augment their tolerance and wisdom.
A fake dichotomy
The gap between humanities and arts and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has basically contributed to underestimating the humanities and arts. It is true that STEM has made miraculous advances that turns the world into a completely different one. However, it makes the world vulnerable to unprecedented threats: intensive farming, climate change, loss of identity, wars, weapons of mass destruction, immigration, famine, pollution, water scarcity, uncertainties, obesity, unfair global trade system, human trafficking, drugs, poverty, employment, and the list goes on and on. Accordingly, the world has become more than ever a ruthless place, crushing our souls and turning deaf ears of the thunderous cries coming from school children, teenagers, and young generations to stop stealing their future and rights of living in a sustainable world. Amid the chaos, uncertainties, and madness we live in, arts and humanities, which are usually looked upon as fields of theories, should be called on and have their say. They could send us a lifeline to create a safer, more virtuous and sustainable environment by setting strategic futuristic plans promoting intellectual reforms, unleashing imagination, fighting against all forms of injustice and setting the tone for a healthy relationship between humans and nature.
Giant tech companies and humanities
Latest reports on employment opportunities in top tech companies show that people with background in humanities and liberal arts are steadily increasing. Creative engineers and artists are among the top hired people. Talent is being correlated to employment. More surprisingly or even dramatically, Google and Apple, for instance, have hired people with no university degree at all.
The game is changing
Arts and humanities are integrating in almost every science, including natural sciences. There is always a room for cultural variations in understanding the pillars of science. Psychology, for instance, is mandatory for the progress made in economics, agriculture, information technology, politics, etc. The current digital revolution would not have been that effective and game changer without humanities. Think about the human behaviour online and how does that promote marketing, consumer spending, designing emoji characters, faces, translation, and apps. Think about our ability to copy people’s behaviour and feel empathetic to them. This is simply because we have mirror neurons in our brains. Technology industry has exploited that in herding people to be fully consumed in digital and consumerist life. Translating one’s humanities and arts background in STEM-related fields would yield better leadership and creative skills, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, among many other badly needed strengths.
Digital humanities
A very promising and fulfilling line of research forging links between computer sciences and humanities is gathering increasing momentum day after day. Digital tools have augmented research in humanities and arts, leading to asking new research questions, employing more representative, comprehensive and multi- modal data, compiling corpora and archives, processing and interpreting data more efficiently and reliably. More importantly, the user-friendly digital tools have made it extremely easier than ever for scores of individuals in the broad community to ambitiously and passionately contribute to research in humanities, arts and natural sciences. Citizen science and research contributions have become a key part of scientific projects. The outcome proves to be so rewarding.
Finally, I do not argue against STEM. I also understand fully the deep concerns and even the fears parents experience when it comes to the career path of their kids. Life is much greater and more complicated for any science to address. In order to be qualified for the jobs of the future, soft skills which arts and humanities nurture are desperately needed. Automation is putting our traditional cognitive and manual skills at risk, sweeping many careers into oblivion year after year. Let’s make arts and humanities be integrated into STEM fields and make all our primary and effective armory for a tough, unprecedentedly challenging future.
By Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
Professor of Linguistics
Faculty of Arts
Kafr el-sheikh University
Email: [email protected]
