Why Study the Humanities?

The morality within society is very limited. It seems at times to be an imbalance in society. From the way society is capitalistic and urges many to fight in pursuit in a end goal of monetary value. However this being said, there have been certain implications created by the government in order to limit the opportunity of many people of different ethnicities, religions, etc. In this sense, the people with the resources have been able to strive. And since the social construction of race and since race is so integrated into society, even if we claim that we live in an age of color blindness, many people cannot advance and those who advance are primarily white men. Now I"m not saying that there aren"t other people of color or women making a difference within society, I"m just saying that compared to white men it is very limited. It is due to the social construction of race and how we portray women that white men have prevailed time after time. We live In an era where we claim we don"t see color. However the thing is, we definitely see color. It is the first thing that pops into our minds when we see a person of color. We are not color blind. I"m white and I admit to having white privilege. And I admit to recognizing the color of a black man or a Chicano woman when they pass by. However, although I see color, I see them as equal. In my mind we are all people, even if society has enforced ideas that make it seem like we are not equal. Its strange in a sense because injustice happens on a regular basis, however we claim to live in a time where racism doesn"t exist, when in fact it exists on the daily. The only way we can learn to eradicate racism for real is recognize that we in fact at times are racist and we do have prejudice and try and control our actions and recognize our mistakes, only then can we be able to truly be open minded, when we start to care for one another, and wish on them what we wish on our selves. Our government is also funny in the way that it has set up the school system. The majors that are primarily focused on are science and math, technology is booming they say. In a way this correlates to the idea that we live in a capitalistic society and our main goal is a monetary one. However what happened to learning for the sake of learning? Our society makes it seem like learning is not enough. That philosophy is not enough. That English is not enough. That the humanities in general are not enough. You might ask what does that have anything to do with society? Well let me respond by saying what are the two things that philosophy and English teach? Philosophy, broken down in translation to "love for wisdom", teaches one to think and how to question and discuss. In this sense, the government may be threatened because if people have the capability to think, they have the capability to voice out, they have the capability to change society, and they have the capability to unravel the truth of the corrupt society we live in today. English on the other hand teaches us how to be human. It gives us a skill for critical thinking and it gives us a heart and soul. English is also communication. Through writing ideas can spread and knowledge can be obtained, voices can be heard and change can be made. Now you tell me why is it threatening? The government is scared of change. They like their power. They like their money. They like it all and they don"t want to change a single bit. Presidents come and go but their real power is limited. Those elected to legislative or judicial branches often are accompanied with a high degree from a university and those at a high university have been given, for the most part, resources, and who has those resources, people who are privileged. And the cycle continues. The wealthy stay wealthy. The poor become poorer. The ideas stay the same and slowly through time ideas in general will slowly disappear and the only ones saying anything are the big shots, until something revolutionary happens, and the flaws are revealed. With English program slowly diminishing and the humanities in general slowly fading away, our capability to think critically and to philosophize will be taken as well as our capability to see the truth in the world and in our very own government will dissipate. We will lose our capability to invoke change, we wont even recognize that we need change, our individuality will slowly fade, and we will become more money oriented than ever. With our focus on money, our qualities of kindness, compassion, and generosity will unfortunately vanish. We will become more and more technical and our ways of thinking will change. Although this may seem depressing and upsetting, this in a way is the truth, unless something happens to stop society from taking this route. I do strongly feel that with a lack of emphasis on the humanities and one"s capability to think, change will become very hard to invoke and create because in order to want change we are going to have to think critically and we are going to have to emphasize with those facing hardship and we are going to have to philosophize and wonder if things are truly as amazing as the government claims it to be. In a society that is ever growing and focusing more precisely on economic success and technical studies, our future looks very grim. Very grim indeed