The Properties and Importance of Studying the Humanities

The most important ideas a student can come away from this class with regarding the humanities are the communication skills gained. It would seem that it is common when signing up for a humanities course that this is just a required course and nothing more. Everyone may have the thought of, “is this course really necessary during college,” and the answer is yes. Going online for any question that needs answering is the common go to nowadays instead of asking questions face to face, but is this hurting us in the long run?

Many may ask what exactly the humanities are? In the article, “What are the humanities,” by Stanford professor Josiah Ober, he states,” The humanities can be described as the study of how people process and document the human experience.

Since humans have been able, we have used philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history and language to understand and record our world.” The values of humanities can help us think and make decisions based upon past mistakes or accomplishments people have made.

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The newest technology being spilled throughout our society is causing less and less importance to gaining the knowledge of this information. Critical evaluation and communication skills will lack without the humanities in this generation today. The newest technology may improve the day to day lives of people, but humanities also has the power to improve quality of our lives as well. In our world today, students have grown up on the internet. Any information they ever needed is just one click away.

This is a speedy way of getting the information needed, but evaluating and reflecting on the actual information they are getting is being lost. Having the humanities is what helps us make sense of the world around us. Studying and understanding the humanities values such as philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history, and language can help students today feel connected to people in history and look at their own experiences.

Let’s say we have a girl named Sarah who is just starting out college. Throughout high school she has used technology to communicate, gain knowledge over lessons, and for general everyday use. Now, the argument that technology is important is not invalid, but must be closer looked at. People with easy access to others would feel more connected and more supported by others, leading to happiness and more participation in families, groups, communities, and society more generally. In college, there is access to tablets, computers, and phones that are used to communicate with each other, classwork, and group work. Technology today has helped with business, healthcare, education, and even the defense of our nation itself. Without our growing knowledge of the newest technology, our society would not grow or better itself. The access it provides us keeps us one step ahead in life. It helps us communicate with people all over the world in a split second. In the song,” Freewill,” by Rush, he is trying to state that there is no fate, but that you can make your own choices in life. Freewill is about humans having the ability to have the freedom to choose and make their own decisions. We all have the decision today on how we want to communicate, but is it hurting us?

Sarah may never gain the communication skills she needs in a career. She may want to be an executive manager for a large corporation, but with that comes responsibility of speaking, scheduling, and being social with employees and clients. Since she has relied on the internet for all her life, she may not have the skills to maintain this type of career. I’m sure many of us have noticed a huge majority of people sitting down and staring into their phone screen. Even our young generation today would rather stay inside and turn on their television or computer to communicate with friends instead of going outside like kids use to in the past. The communication values of men, women and children has been going down for a long time, with all this technology there isn’t even relationships that have excitement anymore. The idea of meeting a person face to face without looking at them online, having to know every detail about them is how todays society views being normal. In John Donne’s poem “No man is an island,” he states that, “every man is a piece of a continent” and “any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.” This is stating anyone who isolates themselves from others do not thrive in society. A person living alone or only communicating through technology is like living on a deserted island. Humans are suppose to be social, each decision does affect another person overtime. Learning and understanding the humanities and the values help create an understanding of why something is the way that it is, or why a piece of art was designed this way.

Humanities helps us look at both sides of an issue that may arise and we are able to study both sides of the case. It teaches us to sit back and think why something is this way. Learning about the past and people’s experiences provides us with stored knowledge that can later be used to better future experiences. Studying philosophy and languages from different cultures teaches students how other societies are different from our own. Being tempted to look up a society online is far different from actually sitting down with someone that grew up in it and learning and communicating with one another and sharing the similarities and differences that are shared. Humanities also teaches us empathy for people outside of ourselves since the viewpoint is of someone else’s life. Humanities tells us why we need these certain things in the first place. Taking this course will show how important being in the moment is and opening up to people and learning new things. Beginning to see multiple individuals ask questions and actually think creatively is what creates a better society in the end for all us.