I see a lot of frustration in good students who get into literature classes but, when assigned to do research for term papers, find the criticism so unintelligible that it saps their enthusiasm. The traditional role of the humanities has been to make connections to people's lives, to enrich their perceptions of themselves and the world around them. In recent years too much writing and teaching in the humanities has been aimed at distancing us from life itself. I agree with Kathy's statement that the work of Jeff Berman and Cynthia Fortner, discussed on this list, offer a way back. As E.M. Forster would have it, we need to connect.
Humanities teach skills important to the world, as important as the languages of the sciences.
Humanists might show how quickly appllied vocational skills become obsolete, how quickly things change, and how to tell the enduring from the fleeting. They might also show how the humanities can teach people what it means to be the best kind of human, and how there are moral decisions to make. And it can show them how to write a good resume. Or reading Stendhal's Red and Black is a good introduction to the intrigues of corporate and sexual politics. MOre on the future of the humanities.