[KIM SEONG-KON] Banishing the humanities from college

The recent news that programs in the humanities at Chung-Ang University face an unprecedented crisis is depressing. Ever since a big corporation took over the well-known private university last year, it has reportedly undergone radical restructuring on the basis of economic efficiency. In the eyes of businessmen, the humanities programs naturally seem the least efficient and valuable. "I`m afraid they are planning to banish the humanities from the university," lamented a professor at Chung-Ang University recently. "Universities used to be `the ivory tower.` But sadly, they have become industries today."

Undeniably, the humanities are the least efficient academic discipline. But that is the nature of the humanities. Scholars of the humanities like to observe an issue in every possible angle, contemplate it profoundly, and discuss it doggedly, like digging a tunnel until a crack of light finally shines in the distance. That is why professors of business administration invariably hate to attend faculty meetings sponsored by the college of humanities. "The meeting drags on and on," they complain. "Professors of the humanities spend two hours on an agenda we can go through in half an hour. We can`t stand the inefficiency!"



The humanities are also the least productive academic discipline when it comes to making money. The humanities do not bring in fast money; rather, it consumes money carrying out dubious research projects that do not seem to be useful for everyday human lives. There`s a joke that while engineers build stoves and scientists invent ramen, the people in the humanities just eat instant noodles and then complain about them. No wonder businessmen think of the humanities as redundant and useless.

Unlike sciences, which produce concrete outcomes, the products of the humanities are usually inconspicuous and intangible. Yet the humanities help us understand our world, mold our mind, and broaden the horizon of our spiritual capacity. The perceptions and insights we acquire from the study of the humanities are absolutely necessary to enrich our lives and enhance our society. The humanities, for example, enable us to ponder such fundamental questions as "how to live a worthwhile life," "how to build a better society," and "how to perceive the world in which we live."

Many people point out that if only Wall Street financiers and fund managers had been educated properly in the humanities, and thus had greater morals and ethics, we could have prevented the recent financial crisis that devastated the whole world. By the same token, perhaps we could have avoided the financial crisis that eventually required the disgraceful IMF assistance in the 1990s if we had valued the humanities in our education. Watching our politicians wrestle and fist-fight in the National Assembly, we witness the inevitable outcome of neglecting humanities education at college. And watching our leftwing extremists who denounce even the Constitutional Court`s decision, we realize we have completely failed in our liberal arts education at college.

The primary aim of a college is to provide a liberal arts education. Banishing the humanities from campus is, therefore, like abolishing liberal arts education from college. What is a college without liberal arts, after all? In the United States, a college is a place where students, through liberal arts education, are trained to become open-minded global leaders, not a narrow-scoped professional. To become a professional, one attends graduate school to earn a professional degree, like an MBA, MD or JD.

In Korean universities, however, college students stumble between a crippled liberal arts education and shallow professional training. To make matters worse, many Korean college students are primarily concerned with passing the bar exam or various job exams and interviews. As a result, numerous students graduate from college still uncultured and uneducated in the humanities.

In his recent address at the Korean-American Community Foundation in New York City, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, president of Dartmouth College, emphasized the importance of a liberal arts education at college. He lamented that Korean college education is plagued by the negligence of the humanities and liberal arts. According to President Kim, students of physics should be encouraged to read Shakespeare and medical students should engage in the arts and humanities. He pointed out that Korean students` concerns seem to evolve primarily around two selfish issues: how to enter a first-rate university, and how to secure a better job. We should teach our students to break the shell of egotism and tackle larger issues such as "how can we enrich our lives" and "how can we make a better world." Then our students will grow into global leaders and perhaps even win the Nobel Prize.

Colleges are no longer the ivory tower. The humanities should not be relegated to the realm of old archives, but must be integrated into our society. All college students should have ample opportunity to be exposed to liberal arts and the humanities during their four year experience. Then we will see a marked improvement in our society, and no one will assert that the humanities should be banished from our universities.





Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and director of the Seoul National University Press. - Ed.