Students and staff are being encouraged to make a stand in support of humanities education in a national day of action (photo/TEU).
Studying the humanities often gets a bad rap through persistent misunderstandings – but a national day of action calling for the nation to ‘love humanities’ aims to highlight its value to our society.
It is a theme that Massey University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences has ardently voiced and proactively addressed, through the launch of its refreshed Bachelor of Arts degree last year. College academics also contribute regular think pieces to mainstream media and run public debates on the relevance and vital importance of arts graduates to the modern workplace and society.
The Tertiary Education Union’s (TEU) Love Humanities national day of action and social media campaign (#lovehumanities) on Wednesday 22 February at universities across New Zealand is timely and a great way to raise awareness, says Massey’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley.
'Love-bombing' for the humanities
At Massey’s Manawatū campus, TEU representative Heather Warren is running a ‘love-bombing’ event at lunchtime, inviting participants to write why they love the humanities onto a cardboard heart then have their photo taken for sharing on social media. There will be a movie or show ticket prize for the top slogan.
At the Auckland campus in Albany, TEU representatives will be handing out postcards with inspirational quotes from humanities writers and thinkers. Humanities staff members across Massey’s three campuses are being invited to take part in the on-campus and social media campaigns.
Humanities subjects are those that, literally, teach and research human culture and the human condition, and include history, literature, linguistics, modern and ancient languages, philosophy, classical studies, religion and musicology.
Professor Richard Shaw, director (BA) external connections, says in a recent opinion piece on arts education that “Universities are places where you learn how to cope with people who are not like you, to judge the merits of competing claims to truth, and to intellectually and emotionally deal with different points of view.
“They are where you learn to behave like a civilised adult. This is especially important in the faculties of arts, where the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities invite students to use their intelligence freely in making sense of, and exercising good judgment in, a complex and changing world.”
In a statement in support of the Love Humanities day, the Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH) says: “According to 2016 data from Universities New Zealand - Te Pōkai Tara, not only are approximately 97 per cent of arts graduates employed three years after graduation, but 90 per cent of graduates from our disciplines are in degree-relevant roles such as teachers, managers, policy and planning roles. The average arts graduate is earning above the national median for salary and wage earners.”
TEU says that over recent years the humanities have been under attack in universities across New Zealand and the world, and that “it is time we fight back and let it be known that the humanities are a vital part of society.”
The TEU campaign aims to reclaim the mission of universities set out in the 1989 Education Act to develop a tertiary education system that:
- Provides for a diversity of teaching and research that fosters, throughout the system
- Contributes to the development of cultural and intellectual life in New Zealand
- Strengthens New Zealand’s knowledge base and the attainment of social and environmental goals.
For more information go to TEU Love Humanities web page, and Facebook.
Join the social media conversation using #lovehumanities