Honors and the Humanities: Necessary as Air and Water

Larry Andrews' brief but substantive essay covers the waterfront. In it, he ranges from the health of the humanities to Cardinal Newman's inspiring vision of what the humanities do to bring out the best and the most exaltedly human in each of us. The essay renews in me the notion that honors ought to hold steady in its commitment to making sure that students, specifically the increasing number of students for whom college may seem primarily a means of assuring future financial stability, have more than a passing acquaintance with the humanities and the rest of the liberal arts, the competencies they teach, and the questions with which they engage. The importance of the humanities has come up for debate, as Andrews' summarizes so succinctly. Similarly, honors may seem frivolous, elitist, and rear-guard in a cultural environment that maintains that post-secondary education ought to create job-ready graduates. At the yearly meeting of the National Collegiate honors Council, it is almost a given that at any moment, in some session or in a hallway conversation, people are bemoaning the fact that their own schools are questioning the expense of honors, the messiness of honors, and even the place of honors within the institution itself. Further, as someone who attended a quasi-elite college and was told that there was no need for an honors program there because "all our students are honors students" and who is now an honors administrator at a broad-access regional institution where some colleagues wonder aloud about elitism, I know that the question about the place of honors is a vexed one. We may, however, have the collective energy, wisdom, and idealism needed to defend both honors and the humanities and to prepare a compelling case that those least likely to be steered to either "h" are those who might best be served by them Far from being elitist, both honors and the humanities protect the equalizing function of higher education. The recent American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU it notes that simply having access to college enrollment does not mean that each student has an educational experience to that of other students. For example, reporting that in 2012 "70.2 percent of African American community college students were enrolled in a career/technical education program, compared to 67.9 percent of white community college students, 60.7 percent of Asian community college students, and 64.1 percent of Latino college students," the authors suggest that, despite the fact that such programs may well offer good outcomes in the form of job preparation and employment, "the disproportionate enrollment of historically disadvantaged populations in these programs has the potential to limit opportunities for transfer to four-year institutions, thereby contributing to existing disparities in bachelor's degree attainment for these groups" (Witham et al. 18-19). The brief by Witham et al. cites research indicating that individuals with college education "are more likely than those with just a high school diploma to have consistent health insurance coverage and healthy lifestyles that reduce reliance on social and healthcare services" (6). The study also notes that "college graduates are almost twice as likely to vote as those with just a high school diploma, are much more likely to consider themselves informed about current political issues, and are more likely to participate in volunteer activities" (6). Once again, research finds that postsecondary education provides benefits that extend beyond job prospects and implies, at least to me, that we in higher education are called to assert as persuasively as possible that humanistic study is required for the well-being of a robust democracy and an engaged citizenry We in honors need to be making the case for humanities. …