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기업 우선 문화가 최고 가치로 그 어느 때보다도 광범위하게 자연스러운 것인양 퍼지는 지금,
한 편에서는 인문학에 대한 지원이 지속되고 있지만 학교 내에서 이뤄지는 자연스러운 과정이 아니라
경쟁을 통해 기금을 따는 특별한 것 혹은 유명한 인사를 모시는 이벤트로 되어가고 있다.
가장 중요한 것은 역시나 사람들의 사고방식의 변화인데... 쉽지 않게 보임.
관련하여, 컴 정리하다가 작년 초에 찾은 뉴스위크 컬럼의 뒷부분 소개.
원문은 여기 클릭: Why Liberal Arts Degrees Matter
(원래 내가 아는 제목은 In Defense of the Liberal Arts이고
온라인에서 원문을 찾아보니 결론 부분이 약간 수정되어 있었음)
부재는 "The value of learning Shakespeare and critical thinking skills shouldn’t be underestimated"
아래 글을 읽어보면 다소 '실용적인' 관점에서 인문학을 조망하면서
인문학 공부가 경제, 삶의 가치, 사회 정의와도 불가분의 관계임을 지적함...It is just possible, though, that the traditional understanding of the liberal arts may help us in our search for new innovation and new competitiveness. The next chapter of the nation’s economic life could well be written not only by engineers but by entrepreneurs who have formed a habit of mind that enables them to connect ideas that might otherwise have gone unconnected. As Alan Brinkley, the historian and former provost of Columbia, has argued in NEWSWEEK, liberal education is a crucial element in the creation of wealth, jobs, and, one hopes, a fairer and more just nation.
Barack Obama started out at such a school (Occidental in Los Angeles) before moving to Columbia, where the core curriculum requires undergraduates to be grounded in literature, philosophy, and history. Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Oregon’s Reed College, nevertheless credits a calligraphy class he attended there with providing inspiration for the Macintosh. Employers say they value clarity of writing, and that they often find liberal-arts graduates expert in it.
We need to make sure that the liberal arts prepare people for a good life, not just the good life. For too long private colleges like mine have been seen, with more than a little justice, as provinces of the affluent. Such institutions devote a lot of resources to remedying this, but educations at the more elite private schools are prohibitively expensive, and always will be. Which is why the state universities that underwrite liberal-arts programs, including newish public honors colleges within large research institutions, should continue that good work. There is never enough money—or at least it seems as though there is never enough—but cutting the liberal arts is a false economy. If the country is to prosper—economically, culturally, morally—we have to trust in the institutions, old and new, that nurture creativity, and then hope for the best.