Humanities are not the right courses to cut | Letters
Catherine Fletcher is completely correct to warn about the damage that current policies – not only in universities but also in schools – are doing to the humanities (We’re in a mess and we need the humanities more than ever, Journal, 5 February). But her warning comes much too late.
As I and other scholars have shown, the rot started with the 1985 government green paper which declared that the fundamental purpose of higher education was to serve the economy. Since then successive moves to shift the burden of costs on to families and businesses – charted in my book Everything for Sale: The Marketisation of UK Higher Education – have placed a question mark over any courses that are not thought to have some economic impact (the same has also been applied to research).
Until we recover the idea that higher education is as much about the public good as it is about private economic benefits – and that subjects that cannot command a market premium should nonetheless be protected and subsidised – we shall never be able to sustain the humanities and other essential components of an educationally balanced curriculum. Unfortunately, there is very little sign that this has been grasped by any of our current policymakers.
Roger Brown
Former vice-chancellor, Solent University
Catherine Fletcher’s defence of the humanities in universities is a strong and timely plea for a group of disciplines that has been subject to attrition since the Thatcher years. Implicit in her defence – perhaps she does not feel the point could be stated openly – is that the humanities teach people to think critically, and so to see through lies and hypocrisy; to understand other cultures; and to grasp the principles of historical cause and effect. Had these attributes been more widely imbued, the electorate might not have had the wool pulled over its eyes quite so easily.
Emeritus Professor Glyn Turton
Baildon, West Yorkshire
My daughter did a combined Italian and French degree at Bath University, and initially had reservations about the course’s value. She was always quite “techy”, but also loved languages, so she took advantage of their excellent work experience/study abroad support. After graduation she worked for a telecoms company, and she is now working in cybersecurity. Her languages are still useful in multinational markets. Degree choice is not necessarily narrowly linked to career options other than, say, medicine or some scientific careers. University is about experiences and opportunities, and not just a narrow curriculum area.
Sharman Finlay
Portrush, County Antrim
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