Place of humanities in education being questioned

By Karen Seidman. As countries compete for the most engineers and scientists, and the greatest technological and medical breakthroughs, and as funding to universities is being cut, the need for humanities in higher education is being questioned.
At a forum at McGill University on Tuesday debating the relevance of humanities education, about 40 academics and students who gathered in the arts building lamented the economic realities of the world today that pressures students to take programs that lead directly to jobs.
Yet enrolment in McGill’s humanities programs — which typically include literature, history, languages, the arts, philosophy and religion — has been steady, or increasing slightly, said Maggie Kilgour, who organized the event. More...