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Oh, the humanities – politicalbetting.com
Oh, the humanities – politicalbetting.com
In today’s @thetimes I’ve written a data-led defence of studying the humanities. Today’s children have a clear line of sight to their future careers, and are shunning humanities subjects as a result. I think that’s a bad idea.https://t.co/mVaplSUl2X pic.twitter.com/EyeSuNpVUq
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When I did my International Baccalaureate you have to take 6 subjects. Main language (English), second language (I took French), Maths, science (Physics), social science/humanities (Economics) and a second science/humanities/social science (Computer Science).
Continuing a varied education to 18 does make people well rounded I think, but the English setup is rather designed to narrow things down at 16.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Ly1Oh-xvs
Some may read a poem and it makes them happy, others it makes them cry. Thats ok people see different things in the same piece of art whether is happy/sad, hope/pessimism. I hated english lit because it was all this is how you should see this poem not how do you feel about this poem
The great advantage of my choice is that it threw me into a readymade friendship group of the few of us who had done the same, and so had identical timetables.
I'd have been pretty lost if I'd been the lone Maths/Further Maths/Physics student who combined that with History.
Admittely there was some kind of marking error or lost paper problem in that 30% of the school year also got a U, but I kind of liked it as a sign of what I thought of the subject.
That made continuing a mix for longer possible.
I'll let someone else post the picture...
It did mean that my love of history, sociology, geography, theology, literature, film, music and art were unspoiled by having to write essays or take examinations. I could just follow my interests.
As I near retirement I realise how important the humanities are in answering the only question in life which needs serious consideration: "How should we live?"
One thing that has changed at the school I teach at over the last decade or so is that pupils are no longer asked to pick one subject from pre-populated columns, but rather they list their chosen three or four subjects and it is my job to put them into four groups that can be timetabled such that as many as possible can do what they want: we normally get about 99% satisfied.
Certainly the way I was taught science, anyway, but I did my A levels in 1957. (Botany, Zoology, Chemistry and Physics.)
When someone says humanities I think Geography, History, Economics, Religious studies etc.
I did geography for my degree. Great subject for all rounders and people who can’t quite decide if they’re scientific or arty or a bit of both.
One is that there's a lot of content in the current A Levels; doing three subjects well is towards the limit of what many sixth formers can cope with.
The other is that schools and colleges adapted to austerity by squeezing the number of teaching hours students get- getting rid of that fourth subject in Year 12 was an important part of that.
When the original AS courses came in in the 1990s, the hope was that 2 A Levels + 2 AS would become the norm... But it never quite worked like that.
As we get into higher education, the courses become more about approaches to a piece than the formulaic "correct answer" expected at GCSE.
Konstantin Kisin vs. NBC Journalist on Elon, UK Riots and Civil War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pObVw7z6hog
UnHerd"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVEx-jIh4vQ
2 Why does the British government insist that some of its records must be kept secret for up to eighty years? Can this policy be justified?
3 The Romans kept slaves and enjoyed watching criminals being eaten alive by wild animals. Is it right that historians should speak of Roman civilisation?
4 Are famines caused by men or nature?
5 What has marine archaeology contributed to our knowledge of the past?
6 A fine suit of armour, made by a medieval Italian craftsman for a German prince, was taken from his descendant's castle by one of Napoleon's generals and conveyed to Paris. Fifty years later it was sold to an English collector whose grandson now wishes to sell it to an American museum. Is it part of Britain's heritage? If not, whose?
7 Is childhood happier today than in the past?
8 What have popular films done for the appreciation of history?
9 History contains many unsolved mysteries. Give an account of one or more and offer your own solution.
10 "Those who live by the sword, shall perish by the sword.' Do they?
11
Explain two of the following and show their historical importance: pacifism; the class war; racialism; terrorism; minority rights; inflation; religious intolerance; the Third World.
12 Describe a country house which you have visited. What does its design, fittings and surroundings tell you about the lives of the people who lived there?
We had to do three in two hours.
History and religous studies are definitely subjective to a certain extent with an establishment view of this means x. However x changes over time as research continues so subjective.....as for economics well thats just the science of explaining what we predicted would happen last year didn't happen....its more astrology than science
Not everyone here shares those sentiments about global warming and pedestrians, of course.
For years I have been walking by a very large and expensive house that has been backing Trump with many, many signs.
Yesterday, I again saw two Teslas parked in front of it, one red, one blue.
I don't want to make too much of this. The cars may not even belong to the owners of the MAGA House (as I have been calling it). But I have begun to wonder whether those Teslas were there to make a political point.
(I'll try to find a photo of the MAGA House to share with you by the end of this week, or possibly even earlier.)
And I remember a great lesson (with videos) on the eras of music and art and how they reflected the same fashions: baroque, romantic, modernist, impressionist etc. I particularly liked Matisse dancers to the soundtrack of Stravinsky’s rite of spring. One of those eye opening moments that stick in the mind forever.
Exposure to an interview of Tommy Robinson leads people to think extreme right views are common and to agree with them. Exposure to an one in which the interviewer challenges his views leads to the former, but not the latter. Interesting study with implications for how the media should cover.
I have no issue with young people shunning degree choices that won't result in a high earning career path, I think what needs to be addressed is why people with humanities degrees struggle to find higher paid jobs even 5-10 years after graduating. This has generally been my experience too among my friends from school and uni, those of us who chose STEM degrees or did medicine all had very well paid jobs within 5 years of graduating, those who chose arts or humanities were still stuck in various account management, call centre or other functionary job.
The key here is to figure out why the current jobs market doesn't value the skillset being taught in those degrees and how universities need to update the courses to start teaching those skills that are in demand within the context of what is being learned. History is the classic example for me, my wife studied history at UCL and she's now a lead AML investigator in financial services which on the face of it seems like something that would need a skillset from maths or law, but her history degree gave her the skills to be a brilliant investigator and spot needles in haystacks to protect her company from adverse regulatory outcomes.
If humanities and arts courses had properly kept up with the jobs market this wouldn't be an issue, I also think a lot of the jobs that people might get after a degree in one of those subjects are only available in closed shops like policy advice, think tanks, journalism etc... which heavily rely on who you know or who your parents/relatives know which puts off people who don't have that on their side. I think young people know that if they pick a course that has hard skills then they will only need to rely on themselves to get their first opening and that they won't be up against Olivia whose uncle knows the Editor and plays golf with him on the weekends etc...
TL;DR - it's rational
PE teachers are infamous sadists, so not to be crossed.
There was never any personal choice of subject or which Stream you went into - it was all decided for you on the basis of your exam marks.
History has too many options at A-level (maybe even GCSE) so that what is taught and even which countries' histories are taught vary widely from school to school. It is as if the English syllabus required an in-depth study of whichever books caught the teacher's fancy as they wandered through Smiths. I have some sympathy for those who would return to ambling gently through time from the stone age to last week.
(Someone posted recently that if Back to the Future were to be remade with the same timescales, Marty would travel back all the way to 1994.)
I wrote a bunch of twatty stuff about themes of racism and sexism in Shakespeare for my main coursework, assuming cynically (and correctly) that the examiners would lap it up.
He remained an 'expert' on teaching and indeed education pretty well to the end of his days.
Caused my sister and myself no end of grief.
Nigel Farage is the keynote speaker at Saturday’s “Keep Arizona Free Summit”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage-jets-again-bags-33502237
What level do you think this paper was?
ESSAYS.
Write an Essay on one of the following subjects :
Livery and Uniform.
The Alps in History.
Diplomacy:
Historical Impartiality.
Poetry and Politics.
It's how you study which creates future benefits - research, analysis, the ability to write coherently and to put forward a concise evidence-based argument are the tools you need in many administrative and non-administrative roles.
Learning those disciplines should prepare you for some of the aspects of work though not all. Workplace cultures vary significantly from organisation to organisation. The skills required are adaptability and flexibility so it hurts to have too rigid a mindset.
That is the magical thinking. It is not wholly without merit but, well, shades of Lucy Letby.
I will always remember the map of the Middle East where you needed to name the countries. Indeed, I would suggest that the only exam that people should do should be General Studies.
Not far from here we have a retired teaching couple who have come to show us all how to farm. so far, D minus
"Police solve no burglaries in half of the country
Charging rate across England and Wales continues to fall despite forces’ pledge to attend every scene"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/03/police-fail-to-solve-single-burglary-in-half-of-country
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y5ll3ler7o
Though rather as a sports team improves by working on its worst players skills, our national education system should put effort into our worst performers.
At my school back in the mists of time (1980s) the timetable restricted what you could mix. For some reason my (boys only) school churned out a production line of dull Maths Physics and Chemistry A level students (well over half) but you could take English, French or Geography with Maths and Physics or Maths with the Humanities but otherwise you had to decide which side of the fence you were on. And no chance of doing 4 A Levels unless one was Further Maths. In fact my school wouldn't let you study English, History and Geography together as it the workload was considered too heavy for anyone to pass all three successfully.
I ended up doing Geography; the ability to see the whole landscape as well as being able to drill down to the detail where needed has given me exactly the right skill set as an IT Project Manager, after a somewhat circuitous start to my career until I found what I was good at.
ESSAYS.
THE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER.
HONOURS SCHOOL OF HISTORY.
PART II.
V.
June 7th, 1929, 9-45-12-45.
Write an Essay on one of the following subjects :
Livery and Uniform.
The Alps in History.
Diplomacy:
Historical Impartiality.
Poetry and Politics.
It was one of my grandmother’s finals papers.
Edit: and yes, that is the whole three hour paper.
I reluctantly dropped history and did another STEM.
If Sunak had waited until October to call election then there is no way Farage would have been free to run and Reform would have half the vote they got.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISkI1YdA3AI
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24529497.five-key-points-scottish-drugs-deaths-figures/
ETA for younger PBers, Nuffield Science came from the thinktank of Lord Nuffield aka Morris cars.