Given the attacks on the humanities by the right ("Goethe is not taught
anymore!") and the left ("Why teach dead white males?") over the past
decade, how can we teach and research in the humanities in the years to
come? Drawing on thirty years of experience, a distinguished teacher and
scholar here presents a series of closely interconnected exercises in
understanding the present state and future possibilities of the
humanities, especially the teaching of "foreign" languages and culture.
Rather than rail at a worldwide conspiracy by universities against the
humanities, the author argues that the gradual erosion of the status of
the humanities has been due to the muddling of the goals of teachers,
students, and administrators: all are at fault. Teachers are at fault
because they have lost sight of the goal of their profession--the clear
and direct transmission of critical thinking and complex knowledge to
those who may not immediately benefit from it. Students are at fault
because they want social mobility without the necessary investment of
time in an apprenticeship to learning and the generation of knowledge.
Administrators are at fault because they want to have an economically
viable structure in a world in which value is too often measured by a
cost/benefit ratio. All three groups must rethink the university.
The underlying theme of the eight essays and addresses, four of them
published for the first time, is that teachers in the humanities are the
spokespersons of the university's history and future, doing the heavy
lifting in teaching the bulk of the students those intellectual
skills--critical reading, writing, culture, and thought--that will serve
them no matter what their major or future employment. The volume
illustrates a series of positions from how a teacher should be able to
get tenure to what can be taught in innovative, cross-disciplinary
teaching. Other topics address why one should teach European languages,
how books and jobs are related in today's academy, and whether
scientific research can have a place in the teaching of the humanities.
