The Humanities in Education

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The Humanities in Education

Education is the opportunity to learn and grow in your community, society, workplace, and even inside you. Education, quoted from Jon Spayde, a well-known interviewer and editor in his article titled Learning in the Key of Life, is about power: the power to know about the world around you and the people near and far from you. Education is culture, passed down from one group of people to another. We learn about these people through the humanities. Earl Shorris, a teacher for lower-class students quoted in the article Spayde wrote, said to his students on the first day of class, "You've been cheated. Rich people learn the humanities; you didn't. The humanities are a foundation for getting along in the world, for thinking, for learning to reflect on the world instead of just reacting to whatever force is turned against you" (60). What a powerful statement Shorris shared with his students. But why are the humanities a foundation? What foundation is Shorris talking about? And what constitutes the humanities? This foundation is the basic understanding of other cultures, and the ability to relate to many different types of people. This can be difficult to achieve, but education has the humanities to help. The humanities can be defined many different ways. The Readers Digest Dictionary defines the humanities as: the branches of learning (as philosophy, arts, or languages) that investigate human constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes (as in physics or chemistry) and social relations (as in anthropology or economics) (652). This was the third definition of the word. The definition defines the humanities the best, as we know them today. But Spayde has another very interesting way to define t...

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...e people from all races and countries. Keeping an open mind while traveling through your educational journey will help you enjoy and love the lessons you learn. Just remember to learn to embrace other people and cultures, and love the subtle subjects that are offered in the humanities. They truly will open doors of ideas that you didnt think you had in you.

Works Cited

Mission Statements. The Presence of Others. Ed. Marilyn Moller. Boston:Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 51- 57.

The Readers Digest Encyclopedia Dictionary. Ed. Sidney L. Landau. Pleasantville: The Readers Digest Association, 1966. 652,1336.

Rose, Mike. Lives on the Boundary. The Presence of Others. Ed. Marilyn Moller. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 105-119.

Spayde, Jon. Learning in the Key of Life. The Presence of Others. Ed. Marilyn Moller. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 58 64.

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